A wonderful experience

Along with the pure excitement I had before arriving I was, understandably, extremely nervous. 22+ hours of flight time, a new country, not really knowing anyone. As soon as I got to Australia, however, I fell in love. The people (staff and just general citizens alike) are incredibly sweet and welcoming, and the atmosphere is a reflection of the scenery: calm. Wollongong is such a nice, scenic place and I'm lucky to have spent the time there that I did.

I had some expectations for my time abroad, but UOW and the whole experience fully exceeded them. The grading takes a bit to get used to since it's so different, same goes with the way classes are split into lectures and tutorials, but once you get the hang of it it's actually really easy and a nice change of pace from our American class setups. I loved the classes I took (and even managed to do well considering the grade differences), I loved the campus and I really loved the accommodation I was lucky enough to be put into, but what I loved the most were the people I met. My roommates, in classes, on campus, I really could not have asked for better people to come into contact with, and I'm now lucky enough to have found some amazing lifelong friends.

For anyone thinking about this program, do it. It's scary at first, downright terrifying even, but it's 100% worth it. Wollongong has a strange (but beautiful) way of making it feel like your second home, even after such a short period of time.