Name: Bec Joyce (the one in the middle!)
Hometown: Melbourne, Australia
Graduation Year: 2019
Fun Fact: I lived in the Netherlands for six years during primary school. I also rowed for Australia in 2014 for the Junior World Rowing Championships, and was also on the Junior Australian Cross Country Ski team in 2013.
Her Campus: What is it like living so far from home?
Bec Joyce: It is hard but I like it, I have become very independent- I always have been so that has made it easy for me to move. I moved here knowing no one and not knowing much about America either, I had only visited once before, so that was pretty hard to adjust. It’s hard living so far away from home because I can’t just call home whenever I want because Australia is 16 hours ahead of us so this makes it difficult to stay in touch with everyone at home. The flight home takes 3 days of travel and the longest flight is LA to Melbourne and that’s 15 hours, so it sucks that I can’t go home whenever I want, and flights are so expensive. I will only get to go home for Christmas and then summer holidays, which don’t last long because of rowing, so I will probably only get about 5 weeks at home each year. However, I like living so far away from home because it is so different, it’s just an amazing experience, so all the hard parts are worth it. I have had to give up a lot of things to come here but I gain a lot coming here, too.
HC: What are the major differences between Australia and the U.S.?
BJ: There are the obvious differences like climate, money, food, language, the side of the road that you drive on, but the biggest thing for me has been the culture. In America it is very fast paced; everything has to be done now and there is a sense of urgency with everyone, and you don’t really find that in Australia. The language barrier was very surprising as well, both Australia and America speak English but they are so different. Often, people don’t understand me and I don’t understand them. Not using the metric system has also been very challenging, I never know how cold it actually is because I only know Celsius, and same goes with distances and weight. The change in temperate is very different too, I have been in snow before but it never gets as cold as I have been told it will get here. I have spent a lot of money on new winter clothes recently because I have never had to dress so warm in my life.
HC: Anything you miss about Australia?
BJ: I miss being so far away from the ocean, in Australia pretty much all the major cities are on the coast and I have never lived so far away from the beach before. I used to go swimming at the beach every week and it is very strange not to be able to do that anymore. I also miss my farm and all my pets, I have two dogs and then at my farm we have horses, donkeys, cows and sheep. I have never not had a pet so I miss my animals. I also miss the food! Food is very different here, all food tastes so sweet and there are a lot of weird foods here that I would never have thought of making before, such as pumpkin pie and all these weird desserts with marshmallows.
HC: What are you involved in on campus?
BJ: I am involved in a group called MSAS, Michigan Student Athletes for Sustainability, and in this group we are working on making the athletic campus and student athletes more sustainable. I really like being a part of this group because I have been able to meet a lot of student athletes and we work on really important things to make our footprint on the earth smaller.
HC: What advice would you give to other freshmen?
BJ: I would say to always look at the big picture, whether you’re tackling homework or an essay, or whatever, just take a step back. I find that always helps me when I’m not feeling great or when I’m struggling, to just look at the big picture and keep things simple.
HC: Favorite Netflix show and/or movie?
BJ: Right now I have become obsessed with the OC, I had never seen it before and it’s a really good show, but a bad obsession. I never really watched TV before the OC, but my favorite movie is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, it’s just a really cool story about how he goes to awesome places.
HC: Favorite quote?
BJ: “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ― Dalai Lama