Hey guys!
It’s Fabi. I am a first semester junior and a political science and anthropology major. In 10 days, 16 hours, 1 minute, and 29 seconds, I will be leaving the States to head to Australia, or as the Aussies call it, Straya to attend the University of Newcastle. This program is provided through TEAN (The Education Abroad Network), who Rollins partners with to make sure students have a great experience.
To be honest, I have no idea what to expect. When someone asks what my expectations are, this is my answer: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I’m a pretty type A person so I’ve done (if I do say so myself) superhuman levels of research on all things Australia like places to visit, academics, and slang (I see that they shorten every word). No amount of research will prepare me for actually being there and experiencing Australia myself. If there’s one thing I have already learned from this study abroad thing, it is to go with the flow and embrace the fear of new places and failure. Being a naturally clumsy and awkward person in a place I have never been, I am bound to make some mistakes. My goal is to learn how to better cope with failure and to stop being so hard on myself.
The only thing in the way now is the journey to get there. About that…it is going to be long and tedious. First, I have to catch an early morning flight from Miami to Los Angeles. I am then stuck in Los Angeles with nothing to do for 13 hours except binge-watch Queer Eye and Blackish for the 2nd or 3rd time (who’s counting anyway?) After those 13 hours, I will finally board a plane to Brisbane, and from Brisbane to Cairns, where TEAN will be having their orientation.
Despite my fears of being in an unknown place (happens to all of us, it’s human), nothing compares to the excitement flowing through me. In fact, I’ve been dreaming of studying abroad since middle school. It’s surreal that I leave in a few days. One of the reasons I decided to go to Rollins was because of its study abroad program. I specifically chose Australia cause many of my favorite people, such as Hugh Jackman and Steve Irwin, are from there and of its proximity to destinations I want to explore such as Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. My love for travel has developed over the years through family vacations to places such as Spain, Turkey, and my family’s native country, Cuba. Naturally, my next step is to live and study in a country I have never been to 10,000 miles away from home. These experiences have influenced my identity in ways I cannot begin to describe. Hopefully, my experience will also help me learn more about my identity and that of others.
I would try to write a cute good-bye paragraph but that is too much work. Also, nobody has time for that. So peace out girl scouts.
-xoxo, Fabi