INTERNSHIP IN THE LAND DOWN UNDER Jackie Kostek studied abroad through the Boston University Sydney Internship Program during the fall 2007 semester
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In those last weeks in Australia, I felt the pang of missing something. Even before I had left, I was already missing Australia. Maybe it was because I knew how utterly unique my experience abroad had been, or maybe I was sad to realize in a few short weeks I would have to give up the immense amount of freedom I had grown accustomed to. The freedom that allowed me, only three weeks into my trip, to book a solo weekend in Tasmania.
Looking back on my Australian experience, I can say I don't have a single regret. I lived in the heart of Sydney, only a ten minute walk from Darling Harbour (yes, this is where the cast of Real World Sydney stayed), and a thirty minute walk from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the famous Sydney Opera House. I fell in love with sunny Sydney, but there is too much to see in Australia to spend all your time in one place so I made an effort to travel as much as possible. In almost four months in Australia, I was only in Sydney for three full weekends. The other weekends included surf camp, rappelling down a 90 foot waterfall in the Blue Mountains, snorkeling with a shark in the Great Barrier Reef, and three different extreme camping trips with our favorite group of crazy Aussies.
After eight weeks of Australian history and culture classes, I was ready to immerse myself in the work force, a part of foreign culture study abroad students rarely experience. The last thing any student expects abroad is to hold a nine-to-five job but in my program, through Boston University, we did just that. After finals and a week break in the Great Barrier Reef, I was nervous but ready to start working for a popular entertainment news show, "A Current Affair". Waking up early and actually having to look presentable, instead of throwing on gym clothes and hustling to class, was a bit of a rough transition. My first couple of weeks were spent learning the ins and outs of the newsroom and heading out on shoots with the camera crews and reporters. This let me build friendships with my coworkers and gave me an abundance of information to absorb. I was pleased to realize I really do love hunting for news.
It wasn't until three weeks into my internship when I caught a break. A reporter asked me to head up a story that would follow up on something he had done a few months prior. It wasn't that the story was particularly riveting, but it was my chance to make a real contribution. I researched the story, tracked down sources, went out with camera crews to do the interviews, and wrote the story. It was the first time I realized I may actually have a shot at becoming what I want to become: a television reporter or host.
At the end of my last day at "A Current Affair", everyone who I had worked with for the past two months flooded the newsroom forming a circle around my desk. One of my favorite cameramen presented me with a gift and thanked me for always “brightening up the office.” Before I knew it, the tears were falling and I was, between sobs, trying to get out a thank you. Saying goodbye to A Current Affair was difficult, but saying goodbye to Australia was nearly impossible. It has been just over a month since I've returned, and I miss Australia everyday but I can feel nothing but blessed for my experience abroad.
THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF STUDYING ABROAD
Sierra Falter studied abroad on the Humanities and Western Civilization program in Italy and France during the 2007 fall semester.
During the fall of 2007 I went on the Humanities & Western Civilization Program which allowed me to spend six weeks in Florence and six weeks in Paris with travel time on weekends and during the ten-day break in between each city. I spent my travel time visiting Pisa, Lucca, Rome, Cinque Terre, Padua, Padermo del Grappa, Verona, Milan, Venice, Fiesole, Vienna, Barcelona, Paris, Normandy and Reims. This is the list I crafted after the fact;
DO:
Carry a journal with you at all times.
Try deep dish pizza in Venice - you have to find it first!
Make the trek up to the top of the Duomo in Florence.
Swim in the Mediterranean.
Hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola to Corniglia to Vernazzo to Monterosso al Mare, the five small villages that make up Giniru Castle, if only to admire the sunset after you made it.
Eat Weiner schnitzel in Vienna with ketchup if you must try it at all
Rent a bike in the town of Laurea, Italy and ride around the ramparts!
Buy a pair of gloves in Milan.
Spend the money for a gondola ride in Venice - it is worth it.
Bring an extra battery for your camera so that if and when your camera dies in front of the Coliseum in Rome you will be prepared!
Rack up a 600 room service bill when your family comes to visit;
Snap over 3,000 photos, don't forget one of yourself in front of the Pantheon! Try and sneak a few photos in the Sistine Chapel when the guards aren't looking.
DON'T:
Eat Pizza Hut in Barcelona, even if you think you'll die unless you have a slice.
Forget to bring your swimming suit. You'd never guess when you may need it, i.e. hostel communal showers.
Try your voice at karaoke at Florence's Red Lion Irish Pub - you may just become another "annoying American" who doesn't know how to sing.
Pose for a photo holding up the Leaming Tower of Pisa unless it is a creative pose and one the other 5,000 tourists
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BITTEN BY THE TRAVEL BUG
Katie Rages studied abroad in Stirling Scotland during the 2007 fall semester
The ruins of Duntelm castle sit high on a cliff overlooking the ocean at the northern end of the Isle of Skye, off the west coast of Scotland. The wind rushes in off the ocean at an incredible speed-- you can lean over the edge of the cliff and be completely supported by air. Duntelm is, without a doubt, the most wildly beautiful place I have ever been. Eerily remote in its splendor, you get the feeling that you have stepped back in time, or maybe into a place that isn't touched by time at all. Only the remains of the castle, abandoned since the early 1700s, and the historical marker nearby, remind visitors that they are still in the 21st century.
Less than an hour earlier we'd been climbing up the side of a mountain ("Just a wee little walk," Gordon swore) in the driving rain. It couldn't have been more than 50 degrees, I was soaked to the skin, and the sun hadn't shown its face in two days. A Kansas native, I had foolishly assumed that September would be a warm month, and my water-logged KU hoodie had long since ceased to be effective against the elements.
Our bus pulled off the one-lane "highway" into a field. Nearby was some sort of decrepit sheep-fencing with a large "Do Not Enter" sign prominently displayed. Further in the distance was a large pile of rocks that might once have been a building. I looked out the window nervously. The wind was blowing so hard the bus was shaking. My friend Erin and I looked at each other.
"This seems like a really good way to get pneumonia," she observed.
The view from Duntum Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Then the sun appeared. As if by magic, the cloud cover began to dissipate. The long grass, bent back on itself 90 degrees by the wind, took on an emerald sparkle, and I could see the glint of the ocean in the distance. Summoning up what was left of my energy (we'd been up and driving around Skye since 7:00 that morning), I hopped down off the bus and followed Gordon, our guide, and the other 20 members of our tour group along a muddy track. We hopped the fence, climbed over a little rise, and then-- for want of a better cliché-- time stopped. The world became at once unbelievably huge and forever a smaller place.
I had been dreaming of studying abroad at Stirling University in Scotland for more than two years, but that day, three weeks after I'd arrived in the UK, was the day I realized that I was actually, finally there. I was well and truly bitten by the travel bug. Suddenly even Stirling, a wonderful town in its own right, wasn't enough for me. I went somewhere almost every week: Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Brussels, Paris. My friends and I visited map dots and national capitals, everything from world-famous places like Loch Lomond to the "dodgiest pub in Stirling" (where I ended up discussing the Dalton Gang of Oklahoma and Kansas, incidentally). I learned to love things that were different, new and unexpected, and I learned to seize opportunities that came my way, because who knew if I'd ever be able to come back?
People say that studying abroad changes you, but I don't think that's true. I think it gives you the chance to be the best version of yourself, and whether you take that chance or not is up to you.
around you will be impressed with.
around you will be impressed with:
Get lost in Vienna at three in the morning and then get in a taxi
where the driver knows no English (unless you can speak German).
Eat too many chocolate croissants in Paris (is this possible? Yes).
Excessively pack. Avoid bringing ten pairs of shoes when three will
be just fine. An 80 lb, bag will cost you $60 to check on the plane and
on the way home your luggage will get heavier.
Sienna Falter in front of the Pantheon in Rome.
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Jayhawks Abroad
6
Fall 2008