On Australia and College

I’ve officially been in Australia for two weeks. When I go to bed tonight and say goodnight to Sunday, my friends back home will be waking up to Sunday. It’s a little weird.

It’s definitely a nice change of scenery. I’m living in an international hostel in a leafy tropical suburb, which is about a thirty minute bus ride from the city. Having to ride the bus to school kind of makes it feel like high school except there are old people on the bus. These past two weeks have been all about making friends, exploring the city’s museums and parks, swimming in the Caribbean-like sea, and playing with koalas and kangaroos. Not a bad existence!

I gotta say though, I can’t wait for classes to start! Right now I kind of feel like my life has no direction and I need something to focus on. And I’m really missing William and Mary, missing my friends, being envious of the shows that they’re going to and of Bill Nye the science guy visiting (!!), missing the comfort of home. But hey, I’m here to get away from that familiarity! I’m sure I’ll get over it once I start getting into the swing of things here.

I just watched the Princess Diaries, and I liked this quote: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on, you’ll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey.”

This is something I need to keep in mind! This is kind of why I’m studying abroad.

I also recently came across my “brag sheet” from high school, which is just answers to some questions my college counselor asked in order to get to know me better. The first question is, Why are you going to college?

I think this is a good thing to reflect upon every now and then. Here was my answer four (wow) years ago:

I am going to college to learn to think for myself, to meet people who will help me grow as a person, and to throw myself into a completely new environment. I am hoping college will expose me to diverse faces and places because I believe that is the best way to become a more cultured person. I want to take classes about subjects I am interested in, and I want to take classes about subjects I don’t think I’m interested in, but which will prove these thoughts wrong. Right now, I feel like I am a well-rounded person, that I enjoy and am decent at most matters, but since now is not a time for Renaissance men, I hope that college will give me the opportunity to explore what I would beg to spend the rest of my life doing. I know I am interested in cultures and languages and in sciences, and I want to pursue those interests and make a career out of them.

College at William and Mary has really surpassed any of my hopes and expectations. I also think, however, that I may have already squeezed my college education for most of what it’s worth. In my comfort, I began approaching the upper asymptote of the learning curve, which is why I’m here, in Australia. I’m so lucky to be here in sunny Adelaide. I hereby pledge to put myself out there, get involved in the community, and make the best of it, learn as much as I can from this experience! No more missing Williamsburg.

Dear reader, I implore you to think about why you are or were or are planning on going to college, whether college is what you thought it would be, why or why not, and could you reap the same benefits from another institution? For me, I can say that the perspective I have gained from my education at William and Mary is tremendous and unique. I hope that my time at Uni Adelaide will be as fruitful! Wish me luck on my first day of school tomorrow. 🙂