Going on Exchange!

Oh exchange, how I miss you. I am currently in the middle of midterm season, counting down the days until winter reading week when I am back in Cardiff, where I spent my year abroad. Going on exchange was one of the best decisions I made for myself. It was truly an incredible ten months that I think about every day. Just like my transition to Carleton, my transition to studying at Cardiff was filled with highs and lows. However, the toughest transition of all was returning home after the most amazing year of my life.

How do you leave behind a world full of constant adventure and new experiences? I knew I was going to miss seeing a new country every weekend, and constantly living out of my suitcase. Despite that, I knew I had a lot waiting for me back at home here at Carleton. I wanted to be able to take what I had learned abroad and further foster it within the Carleton community. Getting involved with the ISSO in September during International Orientation Week was an extremely rewarding experience as I met current and new international students at Carleton. Continuing my involvement with Carleton’s ISSO and the Carleton’s Exchange Association, has shaped my past semester, with all the events I’ve participated in and the new people I met. I love working with current and past exchange students, as I understand what it’s like to be in their shoes and I want to ensure current exchange students have the same amazing experience that I did while I was on exchange.

I miss everything about being on exchange, but I knew that I was eager to be back with my best friends in Canada. My biggest challenge in the future is going to be taking what I learnt on exchange and making sure that it translates into my school work and my career. Despite that challenge, I realize that there is so much to be learnt as a result of being on exchange that I know I came back with skills I might not recognize yet. Until then I will eagerly take advantage of all the opportunities that I have to talk about my exchange.

I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to be abroad once again. I am not sure when that will be, however I hope it is in my near future. It’s tough to focus on the future when the past was so amazing, however exchange will always be an amazing experience that I had, and I know that it will continue to play an important part of my life in the years to come.