Lets be honest, every college student considers studying/working abroad at least once during the duration of their college career. Whether they have a bad case of wanderlust or just want to branch away from the norm for a little, traveling abroad can be both exhilarating and frightening.
I had always wanted to go abroad however never found the time, what with being so indecisive, transferring schools and switching my major approximately a million times. But when the opportunity arose to spend my summer interning in Sydney, Australia, I jumped on it immediately.
As if sitting on a 20 hour flight to the other side of the world on my own wasn’t scary enough, the mystery of who I was going to live with, who I was going to meet and what experiences I would endure while abroad had me questioning whether I could actually go through with it or not.
However, little did I know that spending my summer in Sydney was going to be the best two months of my life. There are a few main reasons I believe that everyone should go abroad during their college career whether it be for a summer, like me, or a whole semester, these reasons are what made my time abroad the experience of a lifetime:
1. The sites: being able to see the ever-famous Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour, Darling Harbour and Bondi beach on a daily basis as well as the accessibility to take weekend trips to the beautiful Blue Mountains and Australian rain forests is something that you can only experience while living abroad. Sliding down waterfalls, jumping off cliffs, skydiving over the beach, surfing at Bondi, shopping at The Rocks and scuba diving at Cairns are just a few of the incredible things I got to see and experience while being abroad.
2. Living situation: not only do you get to visit a whole new country, but you get to temporarily live there. Living in a surprisingly nice apartment right in the center of the city with my three other American roommates was the most fun I could have imagined. We got to experience living in a different country for the first time together and every time a native Australian mistook us as one of them and asked us for directions around the city, of course we went along with it, faked an accent and gave them directions to who knows where just because I mean we did live there, close enough, right?
3. The culture: it’s really incredible to be able to see how other cultures live. For example, I was surprised at how different the workplace environment is in Australia. As a public relations intern, I expected everything to be very serious. However, I was greatly surprised when my time in the office was spent listening to my coworkers curse in their quirky Aussie slang, have a few drinks during lunch break and my favorite, constantly asking me if college life in America was truly like it is in the movies, “do you and all your mates just get really drunk all day?”, “are frats and sororities actually real there?”. The extremely easy-going environment was a shock at first, but I loved every second of it. Similar to the chill work environment, most people picture Australia full of “naturey” people who look and talk like Steve Irwin. However, to my surprise everyone in Sydney was extremely posh. Aussie girls would not get caught dead in leggings and Ugg boots (even though Uggs are Australian), instead you would see high-end winter fashion at every corner, complete with heeled ankle booties, large cardigans and the perfect amount of accessories. Aussie boys kept up with the girls well, mostly wearing colorful button-downs, skinnier pants and nice suits with skinny ties. Although the accents were thick, they were nowhere near the “crickey!” level of Steve Irwin; those “bogan” accents are only in the outback. Most Australian accents in Sydney were almost British sounding, the only time it was difficult to understand an Aussie in Sydney because to their bizarre yet extremely entertaining slang.
4. The nightlife: If you think going out in the states is fun, try it abroad. Australian bars and clubs completely outshine anything in the states. The pubs were full of people at every hours of the day, Aussies do love to drink especially during the World Cup, and their clubs resembled that of the best LA clubs, except better. With multiple famous DJs, weird maze-like levels, trippy decorations and casinos at every corner, how could you not go out at least 6 times a week? Although the price of alcohol in AUS is through the roof due to high taxation, their beer is about triple as strong as American beer and their box wine (interestingly enough the cheapest alcohol there) was beyond delicious. And lets not forget about the Australians, every pub and club was stock full of fashion forward women and extremely good-looking Aussie men who love Americans, I mean who wouldn’t love that.
5. The food: Although Australia isn’t particularly known for the food, eating kangaroo for the first time was definitely an experience. Since the country is so close to Asia as well, the Thai and Chinese food was unbelievably delicious. Typical American foods were even different in Australia. Calling their coffee “long black” and “short white” and selling things like macaroons and aioli wraps in McDonalds, made ordering in AUS a little bit more difficult, yet new and fun.
6. And last but not least, the people: going anywhere by yourself is scary, let alone a different country. However, if there’s one reason you should go abroad, it’s the people you meet along the way. I got extremely lucky with my three American roommates who eventually became like my sisters. I wouldn’t trade anything for the extremely close-knit group of friends that I made within my abroad group who were from all over the USA as well as a group of Australian locals who eventually became like my brothers. As corny as it is, experiencing going abroad causes you to form bonds with people that you never thought were possible in such a short amount of time. Not only will you be making new friends, you’ll be making friends from all over the world, for life.