As a person who still sees her mum twice a week at uni, I was especially worried aboutbeing 4000 miles away from my family, for four months at a time. I think this underlying stress made my journey out even more, almost hilariously, stressful. Apart from packingmy suitcase, I’d neglected to properly prepare for my journey out to North Carolina. When I arrived at Wilmington international airport I suddenly realised that I didn’t even have an address for my new accommodation, a very daunting problem when you have just landed in a completely unfamiliar place. Luckily, the lovely woman sat next to me on the plane noticed my distress, offered to drive me to the university and helped me find my accommodation. It was the first sign of the famed southern hospitably which, as a typical British person, I couldn’t help but find slightly suspicious and almost unnerving.
The first thing you notice about Wilmington, North Carolina, is the almost unbearable heat, paired with a stifling humidity that almost makes it difficult to breathe. The second thing you’ll notice is that most of the students look the same, dress the same, like the same things and speak the same way. They even sit in the same seats in each lecture (god forbid you sit in their seat – they even warn you about this in the induction). It’s an incredible intimidating and noticeably foreign social structure, which seems upon first sight almost impossible to penetrate. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with the vast majority of American students that I met, I simply had very little in common with most of these people, but many of my friends made loads of American friends and really loved the culture – so my situation was the anomaly! Luckily for me, the international students that I met were friendly, fun and were the best thing that came out of my year abroad. Having a good social life is especially important out there, to balance the large number of lectures and exams you have. The work is easier than in the U.K., with multiple choice questions and purposefully obvious answers, but the extra-curricular opportunities are amazing. I opted in to take Directed Individual Study as a module, and ended up giving around 5 hours of my week to a lab in the marine centre associated with the university. My supervisor gave me more responsibility in the lab than I had ever had before and as a result, I left with so many extra skills and confidence in myself.
The landscapes in America are outstandingly beautiful and are another major reason why I enjoyed my time out there. The beach was a great escape from the repetitive campus life, and the sunsets were breath-taking. Whilst out there, I tried to travel as often as my class schedule and bank account would allow. I ended up going to New Orleans and doing a road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the autumn semester, and in the spring semester I spent spring break road tripping along the west coast (and Las Vegas and Arizona) and went to Washington D.C.
When my year was coming to an end, UNCW started holding loads of workshops on reverse culture shock – which is great solution to a very serious problem (so definitely go if you’re worried about it). Luckily, I didn’t experience anything like this, but I did experience difficulties of a different kind upon my return. Unfortunately, I had let some friendships slip while I was away and retrospectively I wish I had put more time and effort into keeping in touch with my friends back home. The year went so quickly, it seemed like I had hardly been away when I came back, but I had been away for a year and so much can change in that time. Friendship groups had shifted, and I was so out of the loop with friendship group politics, but you slide back into all so quickly so these feelings are only brief.
I think the biggest change in myself is the increase in my work ethic, I can work so much harder and for so much longer than before. I think it’s a result of the heavy class schedule at UNCW, my realisation of the field I want to go into after uni and the positive influence of all the inspiring lecturers I met/studied under out there who were not only extremely intelligent and inspiring, but also believed that I would be successful.