I went to Sydney, Australia for my spring semester of junior year and it was a life changing experience. Going abroad was something I always knew I wanted to do and I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to go abroad. I planned it out my freshman year that I would go abroad my junior spring semester in order to give myself some time at Berkeley first and then also to ensure that I did not have to miss football season my junior year. When it finally hit my time to go abroad, I was so nervous but also incredibly excited. Here, I’m going to tell you about my experience and why I highly recommend going abroad.
Gaining true independence
While college affords a great opportunity to grow in independence, it does not compare to going abroad. In my case, I moved from socal to norcal for college and have an uncle and aunt 30 minutes away and my brother lives an hour away from me. So, I still have a sense of family even though I’m a six hour drive from home. However, when I went abroad, I had the entire Pacific Ocean separating me from all of my family and friends. To increase the stakes, I also went abroad alone and knew no one in my program prior to arriving in Sydney. By living abroad, I truly had the feeling of being independent and on my own since everyone I knew from home was thousands of miles away. Additionally, travelling around Australia furthered my personal growth as I planned and organized trips by myself and for my friends for the first time. In the end, my time at Berkeley was vital for transitioning me into an independent life but going abroad was a massive factor in launching me to my current feelings of independence.
Travel bug
Prior to going abroad, all the trips I took were with my family or small weekend retreats with friends and organizations. I never truly planned a trip by myself that involved travel longer than a few hours by car. Yet, in Australia, I was traveling around as often as I could in order to truly maximize my time and immerse myself in Australian culture while also seeing everything it had to offer. These trips took me to incredible places like swimming at the Great Barrier Reef, seeing penguins at Phillip Island, witnessing the natural beauty of Uluru, road tripping around Tasmania and so much more. I fell in love with traveling and seeing the world and am excited to continue my adventures as often as I can; I’m even going to Norway and Denmark in January partially because of this travel bug!
Worldwide friendships
Going abroad exposed me to people from all over the world and provided me with amazing friendships spanning the globe. Most of my friends in Sydney were from the East Coast of the United States, meaning I have friends to go visit the next time I travel East. Additionally, one of my closest friends is Norwegian and I’m so excited to go visit her in January as saying goodbye in Sydney was just so hard. These friendships also allowed me to gain an appreciation for others’ lived experiences as all my friends have such different backgrounds to my own. Overall, these friendships helped open my eyes to the world while also expanding my network globally.
Global appreciation
The culture shock was a massive learning experience from my time in Australia. The Australian way of life is quite different from that of Americans. One thing that sticks out to me is how beaches would be full of people at 2pm on a weekday, yet I can’t see that same thing being true in the United States. One thing I heard that accurately describes this mindset is that “Australians work to live, while Americans live to work.” This statement is so intriguing to me because I do see it and I think Americans would benefit from being a little more laid back when it comes to work. Since coming back from Australia, I’ve tried to integrate that mindset into my workflow in order to lead a happier, more fulfilling life. Furthermore, I gained an appreciation for learning about different cultures, especially through my discussions with classmates. I loved hearing from my classmates and their worldview as a means of growing my own, and I feel this is something that is so special about spending time living in another country.
Overcoming personal challenges
One of my biggest takeaways from being abroad was overcoming personal challenges and barriers in order to lead a happier, less restrictive life. As someone who often struggles with anxiety and being alone in uncomfortable environments, being abroad set all my alarms off. I mean I willingly sent myself across the ocean alone. Yet, I continually challenged myself to break down any personal barriers and achieve my goals. For example, I don’t like heights yet I always wanted to go skydiving and bungee jumping. While abroad, I did both of those things and even did a slingshot ride in Surfers Paradise. Also, I despise being alone in new environments and never saw myself being a solo traveler, but two of my trips I took alone and I found a nice sense of peace in the solidarity. Wherever I could, I challenged myself personally because I knew it would help me grow as a person.
I mean it when I say, going abroad was truly a life changing experience and something I will always cherish. If you were to take just one thing from this blog, please challenge yourself to go abroad – you won’t regret it!