Taylah's Exchange to University of Wisconsin, Whitewater | USA
I decided to do the exchange program because I had a dream. Not the kind of Martin Luther king dream but a dream that I went to a university in Wisconsin. The next morning I got an email saying I was eligible to go on exchange and one of the top American Universities listed was the University of Whitewater in WISCONSIN… crazy I know. It took a lot of hard work and saving up but I wouldn’t take any moment back. The University of Wisconsin in Whitewater, a small-ish country college, located about 2 hours from Chicago and 2 from Milwaukee. I lived in a 12 story building and shared a room with a Japanese exchange student: Nao (pronounced Now). She was one of the loveliest, caring person I’ve ever met, we weren’t best friends but we clicked and we got on really well. Not only did I learn about American culture, I learnt about Japanese, Mexican, Spanish, German etc cultures. With about 50 exchange students at Whitewater we all formed a family of sorts.
I heard lot of “Are you from England?” , “Omg your accent is to die for” and “Do Australians speak American” mostly from some of the sorority girls… Yes some of the stereotypes are very real, it’s freaky but not everyone is like what you see in the movies. American parents love Australians, one of my American friends: Dom, his mom told me to marry her son and she’d get me free perfume from Chanel…I considered it, not going to lie, but American parents showered me with food, pumpkin pie, roasts, biscuits and gravy- which is actually just scones with chicken gravy which is totally awful but it’s a proud Wisconsin tradition. The food from the cafeteria was a horror story, good luck finding regular vegetables and fruit without it being covered in bright yellow liquid cheese and tons of maple and chocolate syrup. EVERYTHING will give you diabetes, but most of it is sooo good, hey I only gained 1 kg of fluid from the whole 6 months and I ate cheesy puffs, ice cream and ramen every night and I’ve got a sloth of a metabolism. Everything is deep friend too, like deep friend oreos, deep fried pickles, double deep fried chips, man I even had a deep fried toasted sandwich and it was possibly the best thing I’ve ever had. If you end up going to Whitewater go to Jessica’s restraunt, they have the best home cooked breakfast and Italian dinners, and it’s so cheap. Whitewater was a small ton so student got discounts everywhere for food and with my accent I usually got up to ~50% off food everywhere! You have an endless supply of coffee everywhere, but no where uses real milk its all creamer and 2% milk that is really 98% water with 2% milk%, the milk content of a coffee in America comes from the whipped cream they put on top, although some of this may sound gross, I loved every second of being immersed into this cuisine of food, some of it I liked, others not so much, but all of this allows you to experience so much more and you walk away with some hilarious stories.
All the international students were joined at the hip, we did everything today, go hiking up a mountain, canoeing in a lake, playing football (soccer) and American football together, we’d holiday together in our breaks and we’d house the coolest parties.
Lived on floor 9, in room 901. I was all the way at the end of the hall, so I was furtherest away from the showers which meant my shower walk was long and awful. You share showers with all the girls on the floor, and theres no where to get changed except for your room. Floor 9 had the best combination of people 50% American, and about 50% international students, I lived next door to this huge Mexican guy named Humberto- Baeto for short, he was the coolest person I’ve met, but one more night of his Mexican and red neck country music blasting I could of died. I also met an American girl on my floor Miranda, and she became a life-long friend, she taught me so much and also how to make a vodka Oreo fudge smoothie. I used to go to bed at 9pm every night, until I met Miranda, she’d keep me up till 1am, we’d watch AHS and eat tonnes of ramen. We still talk and we’re making plans to travel together. You really don’t entirely lose all contact with everyone you’ve made friends with, I still keep in touch with majority of my international and American friends.
By going to America I was hoping to bring back an American guy, instead I brought back an Australian (actually from England), but I wouldn’t have it any other way. As corny as it sounds you really can find love if you open yourself up to new possibilities and opportunities. Maybe it won’t be a soul mate you find, but maybe a life long friends who gets you in every shape and way or maybe an family who treats you as part of theirs and looks after you, or maybe you’ll get all three if your lucky enough. I never considered myself lucky until I did this exchange program from then on I’ve had so much luck and so much success in almost everything I put my mind to.
An exchange program throws you into the deep end and you learn how to support yourself and you learn who you are. Before leaving I was the most unassertive, shy timid girl you could meet but since coming back home to Australia I’m bursting with a good amount of confidence and love for everyone and everything. Take it from a girl who balled her eyes before taking a plane out of Australia and the girl who balled her eyes taking a plane leaving America. It’s worth it, if I could go back, I would do it again a million times. There’s nothing to miss out here… it’s Perth, but you’re missing on a tonne of laughs, smiles, new friends and the best time of your life if you don’t take an oppurtuniy like this. Sometimes it literally has to fall into your lap or your dreams for you to notice that you need a change. I desperately needed a change if I wanted to become the person I wanted to be and this experience has really shaped me into someone who I love.
- Taylah studied abroad at the University of Wisconsin-White Water in the USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Murdoch University Study Abroad & Exchange - Outbound
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTACT US!
EMAIL: studyabroad@murdoch.edu.au
PHONE: +61 8 93607836
VISIT: Murdoch University, Student Centre, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA, 6150
FIND US!
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/murdochoutbound
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/murdochoutbound
