Darcie – University of North Carolina – Wilmington
Semester, 2019
Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Communications
My name’s Darcie, and I’m a third year Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Communications student. I recently completed a semester exchange to the University of North Carolina in Wilmington (UNCW), USA. It’s hard to think of where to begin when explaining the whirlwind of my exchange. Before departing, I could not have been more excited to leave Australia and embark on this new journey!
Campus Life
I lived in the University Suites on campus. With this I could choose to get a single room or live with a roommate. I wanted to get the full experience, so I chose to live with a roommate who ended up becoming one of my best friends! I shared the suite with 10 girls including myself, which was a lot of fun (often chaotic) and definitely worth it! I also purchased a meal plan for the semester which was absolutely worth the money, as it was one less thing I had to worry about when I was there; I also had an endless supply of lucky charms!
Classes were a bit different to QUT, as instead of lectures it was 3 small classes a week for each subject, and instead of multiple large assignments most classes consisted of quizzes every 3-4 weeks. I found this system really helpful in keeping on top of the class content!
The biggest thing in regards to campus life that I took advantage of, was the UNCW Student Recreation Center! This is where you’d find the gym and pool. When I found myself with some free time, I would attend the free gym classes; it was such a great way to meet other students at UNCW and mingle with friends.
Social Life
The social life at UNCW was amazing! I am so grateful I got to go on this semester exchange, as it tested my confidence and I have come out of it so much surer of myself. In the first weeks of my exchange, I got the chance to complete ‘rush week’ for the sororities. It was a wild experience, but completely worth it and I have met girls that I will be friends with for life! I was also lucky enough to attend a lot of fraternity events, such as Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) mountain weekend and the DKE semi-formal.
While I was there, I also got the opportunity to travel around North Carolina, Texas and New York.
There is always something to do at UNCW, so you will never be bored here!
