{"id":4835,"date":"2017-09-20T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/qut-exchange-students\/?p=4835"},"modified":"2017-09-13T14:59:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T04:59:56","slug":"true-american-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2017\/09\/20\/true-american-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"True American Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marshall, R. Bachelor of Business<\/h1>\n

University of South Carolina (Semester 2, 2016)<\/h1>\n

In the beginning, leaving the comforts of home in Brisbane for a new life in America was extremely daunting. When I applied to University of South Carolina, I didn\u2019t know anyone from the school or anyone going on exchange with me. However, that changed very quickly upon arrival. Since the minute I unpacked my belongings, I began to meet lifelong friends.<\/p>\n

I lived in Woodrow College with about 40 other international students as well as domestic freshman students. Woodrow had apartment style rooms which includes a kitchen, so I didn’t\u00a0get a meal plan\u00a0whilst undertaking my exchange.\u00a0This turned out to be a very cost effective way to do my semester abroad as many weekends I was away travelling.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first few days were filled with exploring the campus and all the facilities that it had on offer. This included over 30 restaurants, two gyms with pools, a rock climbing wall and five squash and basketball courts that are all available to students. After getting my bearings on campus, I began to explore the city of Columbia, where USC is located. Although Columbia is the capital city of South Carolina, it is quite a small city by American standards. This made it geographically manageable since it was walking distance to the restaurant district, the Vista.<\/p>\n

In the first two weeks, the school organised many social events to get to know both my domestic and international peers. These events really helped make the transition into college life easier. I wanted to get more involved, so I joined an intramural American football team which was made up of other international students. It was quite a steep learning curve to understand the rules, but we made the grand finals of our pool and it was ultimately a great way to meet people.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Classes were substantially different from those at QUT which forced me to immediately adjust my learning style. The classes met twice a week for 75 minutes in classes of about 40 students and unlike QUT, attendance was mandatory for most classes. Final grades were graded on many smaller assignments along with participation and attendance, so it engaged students a lot more and increased participation.<\/p>\n

College football is one of the most important past times to many Americans. Luckily for me, football season occurs in the fall semester, so I was able to experience a completely different environment than the sports we have back home in Australia. Tailgates are lined up for miles while everyone eats in and drinks before cheering on the Gamecocks at Williams Brice Stadium.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were a lot of opportunities for traveling while I was here which allowed me to explore new cultures of a lot of amazing American cities on weekends and holidays. Throughout the semester I was able to visit Chicago, Athens, Charlotte and Charleston. With Thanksgiving break in November I was invited to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Philadelphia which was on the highlights of my trip.<\/p>\n

Overall, exchange was an unforgettable and life changing experience. While it may seem uncomfortable and scary at first, I urge students to challenge themselves and expand their horizons. The memories, friends, and experiences that exchange gave me are way more valuable than any reservation I had before coming to America. I would highly recommend exchange to every student, especially University of South Carolina. Go cocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall, R. Bachelor of Business University of South Carolina (Semester 2, 2016) In the beginning, leaving the comforts of home in Brisbane for a new life in America was extremely daunting. When I applied to University of South Carolina, I didn\u2019t know anyone from the school or anyone going on exchange with me. However, that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1513,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,207,5948,286,6155,212,213,216,12015,450,411,7865,226,5271],"tags":[1242,207,16086,212,213,216,2040,12042,15900,12015,450,5271,16045],"class_list":{"0":"post-4835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-accommodation","7":"category-adjusting-to-uni","8":"category-clubs-and-societies","9":"category-exams","10":"category-first-impression","11":"category-food","12":"category-friends","13":"category-money","14":"category-south-carolina","15":"category-student-life","16":"category-study-2","17":"category-tips-for-surviving-uni","18":"category-travel","19":"category-united-states","20":"tag-accommodation","21":"tag-adjusting-to-uni","22":"tag-american-football","23":"tag-food","24":"tag-friends","25":"tag-money","26":"tag-qut-business-school","27":"tag-qut-student-exchange","28":"tag-qut-study-abroad","29":"tag-south-carolina","30":"tag-student-life","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-of-america"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrue American Experience - QUT Gone Global<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2017\/09\/20\/true-american-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"True American Experience - QUT Gone Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marshall, R. 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