Andrew Riha: University of Newcastle - Australia

I've always wanted to study abroad, but I didn't start thinking seriously about it until the summer after my sophomore year of college. I realized that it was time for a change so I looked into study abroad.  Australia appealed to me from the start because they spoke English (I wasn't ready to learn about the complexities of Computer Engineering in Spanish) and because of their culture which is renowned for its hospitality.  I applied for the study abroad program called the Regents' Semester in Australia, which is based at the University of Newcastle in Newcastle, Australia.

Newcastle is a city of 350,000 people on the east coast of Australia and a two hour drive from Sydney.  It used to be heavily industrial but is now gearing towards tourism and it boasts of some of the best beaches to surf at in all of Australia.  (I didn't learn how to surf, but I did give body boarding a try.)  The University of Newcastle itself has around 20,000 students and is built on Australian bush meaning there's trees everywhere!

I lived on campus in International House (IH).  IH is a community of 200 students, and is made up of half Australians and half international students so there were many opportunities to make new friends and learn about cultures from all over the world.  I took four classes, all of which transferred to my Computer engineering degree program here at ISU.  The best part about it all, though, was that those four classes were on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday so that meant I had a four day weekend every week to enjoy the culture and travel!

I traveled and experienced as much as I could while I was overseas.  Before I arrived in Australia, I wandered around Fiji for 3 weeks where I got my PADI Open Water diving certification in between soaking up "Fiji time" by lying on the beaches and basking in the sun in the middle of January.  During one of my four day weekends once I got to Australia, a friend and I took off to Townsville in northern Australia where we went on a 3 day diving expedition to the Great Barrier Reef where I got my PADI Advanced Open Water certification.  For Easter break I went to New Zealand and bungee jumped, skydived, hiked on a glacier, white water rafted over the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall, and spelunked through caves speckled with glowworms.  Once I got back to Australia I went on a few winery tours (the BEST days ever); checked out the Blue Mountains; traveled to friend's houses in Scone, Sydney, and Newcastle; saw the Lord of the Rings Symphony performed at the Sydney Opera House (directed by Howard Shore!); and visited the Outback.  The Outback was by far my favorite trip of them all because it was so different from anything I've ever experienced before, and we were fortunate enough to see Uluru (Ayers Rock) silhouetted against the magnificent blue Australian sky.  Being an Astronomy minor, I was also quite impressed with the stars in the Outback - we slept in swags every night (sleeping bags with a mattress), and I can't think of anything more peaceful than drifting off to sleep watching shooting stars fall across the Milky Way.

Everyone comes back from studying abroad saying they're a changed person.  I must say that I'm one of those people too.  Instead of changing dramatically personality-wise, my time overseas made me reevaluate what's important.  Studying abroad made me realize there are much, much bigger things in life than just getting through college and falling in line with the rest of the Engineers.  While I was in Fiji especially, I talked to many backpackers who were anywhere from 18 to 45 years old.  Everyone had different philosophies on traveling and life, but one story is especially worth mentioning and typifies what every International student realizes in one way or another.  Life is all about priorities.  If you want to study abroad, make it a priority and you will.  If you eventually want to work for half a year and travel around the world for the other half, you can.  It's all about priorities.

I would recommend study abroad to EVERY engineer so they can have similar realizations and have as much fun as I did.  At first I thought it'd be tough to take courses overseas that would transfer for engineering courses here at ISU.  After some research through the ISU Study Abroad Center and Engineering International Programs Office, I learned that I could take classes that would fit perfectly into my degree program, even as a Junior.

I look back on my time spent in Newcastle and all I can do is smile.  The friends I made, the places I visited, and moments I experienced were amazing.  Fair dinkum, an Aussie would say “it's heaps fun”.

So what are you waiting for?  Check out the Study Abroad Center and Engineering International Programs Office, and get ready for the best semester of your college career.  Good on ya mate!