My life in the USA

It was exactly a year ago that I began to get butterflies in my stomach because I was so worried about coming to America. There was a huge part of me that did not want to go away, and I only bought my plane ticket a week before I left. I did not know how I was going to live away from my friends and family in a foreign country for such a long time. I now realize how silly I was being. I firmly believe that I made the right decision in coming here and I have no regrets.

 I have been here for about 8 months and in that time I have tried to do as many American things as humanly possible. I have been to a host of American fast food restaurants, although I must admit that Steak n’ Shake, Culver’s and Five Guys are my favourites. I experienced a real American Thanksgiving with a great family and great food. I joined many different societies, such as the Purdue Review and volunteered with College Mentor for Kids. It was actually because of this organization that I got to stand on the stage in Elliot Hall, visit the African American cultural center, attend my first lemonade sale and go into the men’s basketball locker room – yes that’s right, the men’s basketball locker room! 

I have watched a few football and basketball games, spent hours on end drinking the same cup of coffee in Greyhouse, and almost took part in the humans versus zombies game before I thought otherwise! I have attended call outs just for the free pizza, managed to get myself roped into serving at the HTM black tie dinner, and experienced the wonder that is the dining courts.  I turned the legal drinking age out here …. again, drank iced tea for the first time and went camping!  I have been on a Greyhound bus, visited Gary, and even been to a few music concerts, notably: Kings of Leon, Flogging Molly and Lady Gaga! I have been to Chicago, Miami, Toronto, Indianapolis, and Lake Michigan and I will go to San Francisco in May. I could also open up my own Purdue shop with the amount of Purdue T-shirts I have acquired and I have lost count of the number of times I have spoken about the healthcare bill with an American! The only thing I still have left to do is to shoot a gun, but four weeks is a long time!

Before coming to Purdue, I imagined making lots of American friends but that is only one of the reasons to study abroad. The beauty of the exchange program is that you make friends from all over the world. The bulk of my friends are international, not just from England, but Australia, France, Norway, New Zealand, Ireland, South Korea and whole host of other countries. It is because of Purdue that I have met people from all over the world and I have not just learnt about American culture, but other cultures as well.

I feel international students find it difficult to make friends with people from their host country because they don’t automatically have something in common with them. When I first arrived, I was drawn towards English people, because they offered a certain safety net. They knew my culture and they were going through the same experiences I was. 

 People normally say ‘time flies when you are having fun,’ and I have no idea where this year has gone. Every day I am reminded that I am leaving soon, and it is not a nice feeling. I never thought I would get so attached to a place as quickly as I have  with Purdue.

I have met some amazing people here and after the next 4 weeks I won’t see them again for a very long time. The only aspect of the exchange program that you don’t prepare yourself for is the leaving part. It is incredibly hard to leave your home, but you know it is not forever. Leaving Purdue will be forever. 

In a way, it is a good thing that I am finding it hard to leave, because it shows I have made a life for myself here. I have made life long friends, and even though they are from America and other countries, I know I will stay in contact. I will just have to take lots of holidays to visit them all; surely that can’t be such a bad thing!

Study Abroad: The hardest and biggest thing I have done in my life, yet I have had a blast!