The last year, which I spent at the University of Virginia, was the most exciting, thrilling, jam-packed and instructive of my whole life! To give you a flavour of what I got up to – I got caught up in the whole excitement of Barack Obama being elected to the Whitehouse, even being persuaded to go out canvassing for him on the streets of Charlottesville; flew to New Orleans for Thanksgiving and got to witness the delights of Bourbon Street; spent Spring Break (woop woop!) building houses for Mexican immigrant families in Texas; attended a couple of memorable Frat Parties; met, and started going out with another international student from New Zealand; got to take a weight-lifting class for academic credit!
I don’t know of anyone who has come back from his or her year abroad an unchanged person. Not only do you learn a hell of a lot about every aspect of your host country - the people, the culture – you learn a tonne about other countries and cultures too, through meeting so many other international students. The clichés are true – it really does broaden your horizons, change your perspectives. You learn a lot about yourself too. I’d say I learned more about myself in those 9 short months in the US, than I did in 21 years of living.
It makes you realise that there’s a whole world outside of little Ireland, just waiting to be discovered. And you’ll get a better insight into more of it through 9 months spent on exchange than you probably would in 15 years’ worth of holidays with your mates. Go on, take the leap, it’ll change your outlook on life!