Business School

Writing this blog on a flight to Switzerland at the moment where, I am not only anxious for the duty free chocolate on the way back, but am excited for another trip down to Milan after the short stopover. A week ago I celebrated my 21st in Manchester and I knew that it would be a different experience without my usual crowd of friends and family at home in Sydney but it was an experience I wouldn’t trade. I took 9 friends of mine to an appropriately chosen restaurant in Manchester ‘Australasia’, and whilst there was unfortunately no kangaroo available, we did experience some excellent sushi and slow roast lamb. Although the ambience left some of my friends a little concerned about the friendliness of Australia (specifically a bowl of water which contained 2 goldfish and a rather large knife), it was a memorable night spent with some of the best friends I’ve ever made (corny sentiment aside, it’s quite true).

I remember being in first year wondering why people would go on exchange. At the time, it seemed like a lot of effort and a lot of uncertainty about everything once you arrived in a foreign country. Arriving in Manchester in January, weary after my first international flight, I was met with a cold 7 degree welcome from the winter air. Thankfully, the weather was the only cold welcome I received from Manchester!

Bonjour Mes Amies
Bienvenue to my blog- where I will be posting updates on my internship with the French company, bioMerieux.
My name is Soph Kent and I’m a fourth year commerce/arts student majoring in finance, marketing and French
I was lucky enough to get finance/marketing position through the French company internship program, which pretty much means that I get sponsorship from the French Embassy while in France.
I am going into my third week at bioMerieux in their Sydney offices before I leave for Lyon, in the south of France, to hang out with the high rollers of French microbiology technology and diagnostics (before you judge, you should know that it us keeping the beef in your late night big mac e.coli and salmonella free- got your back)
Leave a comment or ask me a question if you would like to know more about the program or quantitative microbiology (for all you hipsters that have most likely ended up reading this by default, I promise to include wine and food updates from France, and maybe the latest in lab coat fashions)

There's an old Estonian proverb that teaches, a person who walks around the room only once is wiser than someone who sits still. Over the past five months, I've learned how true this really is.

Just a few days ago, I returned to Sydney, to humid and balmy summer weather and friendly faces. Living and studying overseas for such a long time has surely given me a renewed appreciation for my home, Australia, its natural beauty, and for our culture and identity. As I looked out the window of the plane as we were about to land, I realised that I never again would take our spectacular harbour for granted. Reverse culture shock has also set in, just as real as when I first arrived in the US. I'm still having trouble looking the right way before I cross the street; I forget to keep left instead of right on the escalator; and by force of habit I'm always adding tax and tip in my head when I eat out, before realising I don't need to!

My last couple of weeks at Boston University went by faster than you could say "Mississippi". Amid last-minute exam panic, there was a collective realisation that our time together as a close-knit group of international exchange students was shortly to come to a close. Over the course of a semester, strangers from different parts of the world, with diverse personalities and interests, had become almost like family, bonding over communal meals in the dining hall and shared stories from our day-to-day lives.

Throughout several farewell gatherings (you see, we never could quite let go), tears were shed, hugs were shared, and promises were made that we would see each other again, wherever our journeys would take us. I'm comforted in knowing that far across the foam, on different continents, there are people I can truly call friends. And of course my US friends, who so generously befriended and shared their lives with an Aussie exchange student.

Living and studying independently in a foreign country has challenged me, but I'm so much richer for it. Adjusting to a new academic system was also a profound process of exploration and learning, and I feel that this has made me more adaptable and resourceful. Exchange has also proven a great opportunity to travel and see more of the world, as I have been fortunate enough to do, visiting diverse destinations in North America.

I'm so grateful to the University of Sydney Business School for providing generous financial support and giving me this chance to broaden my horizons, both personally and academically.

To anyone reading this who is even faintly interested in going on exchange, my advice to you is to grab this opportunity with both your hands. We are only in uni for a short time, and an adventure of this type is only possible while you're still here! It's important that you talk to an exchange adviser early, so you can structure your degree in the best possible way. You can also visit the exchange library in the International Office to browse information from exchange partners, and read reports from students like myself.

So for now, it's time for me to say goodbye to this blog. But I'm sure that bloggers to come will continue to entertain, educate and inspire as they embark on their journeys overseas.

Salut!

So it’s getting much colder in Paris and the Christmas lights are up so the city is looking even more beautiful (if that’s possible). It was a bit sad to think that I was going to be logging into Facebook and seeing that everyone in Sydney was living it up on the beach but now that summer at home isn’t that great at the moment I’m pretty happy!

After a five-day sojourn in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the Thanksgiving break, it was time to return to Boston to continue the semester's work. But NOLA (as it's affectionately known by locals) will stay in my thoughts even after my journey in the States comes to an end.

Jazz music is one of the things that make this city world-famous. The most well-known venue is Preservation Hall, located in the historic French Quarter, which possesses the hallmarks of both French and Spanish influence. The performance hall is small and crowded, but the musicians truly delight, with a spirited rendition of songs in tribute to Louis Armstrong - the trumpeter and singer after whom the city's airport is named. Several other jazz clubs call this place home, and we enjoyed whiling away the best part of some evenings there, listening to live jazz and soaking in the atmosphere.

New Orleans is close to beautiful swamps and marshes, and we went on a boat tour to take in the environment and observe its diverse inhabitants. Although the cold weather meant that the alligators were in hibernation, the tour guide showed us the baby he adopted! He may well have had sharp teeth but luckily he didn't bite.

It's easy to imagine, at first blush, that NOLA has fully recovered from the effects of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. But by talking to locals, I managed to get a glimpse of what it really was like, and the artefacts that remain. I had a conversation with a man who's a high school principal during the week, but works as a bartender at the weekend. He told me about the sheer devastation of the hurricane, and how the human impact of the rising flood waters was disproportionately borne by African-Americans. And the very bar we were sitting in, was a quieter and less crowded place than it was six years ago.

And when I went on a guided tour of the rum distillery, I heard of how the place was completely flooded with 8 feet of water, forcing production to come to a standstill. The business lost most of its staff, who had no choice but to move, in search of employment further afield. But the owner knuckled down, cleaned it up, and got back to business. Now, the distillery is employing more people than ever, its production line is struggling to met exploding demand, and new distributor agreements are being finalised all over the country. This story is testament to the sheer strength and resilience of the people of NOLA, and to what the human spirit can do.

I know I've waxed lyrical about Boston already, but there's more to this city than excellent higher education (Harvard and MIT), progressive politics, and a nice harbour. It's also a major centre for the arts. I recently saw Nutcracker, the ballet, at the Boston Opera House. Luckily for us, this celebrated piece is a tradition during the festive season. Together with talented adult ballet dancers, the Boston Ballet's production involves over 200 young students, dressed in the cutest costumes, ranging from the soldier boy, to the baby mouse, to the little black sheep. All this in a grand, intricately decorated concert hall!

There’s only a week left before I depart Boston for my next destination. I’ve two final exams to sit, including the one for Internet Law, which can be done online at my leisure – innovative, isn’t it? Together with the colder weather, holiday spirit has also come to BU. Spectacular decorations can be seen around campus; and tonight, the dining hall featured a special Holiday menu, complete with decorate-it-yourself gingerbread people!

Happy Holidays!

As anticipated, American Football is an extremely popular and competitive sport in the States, particularly amongst college students. The weekend before thanksgiving was the highly anticipated Harvard vs Yale match, this year held at Yale University in New Haven. Booking my bus ticket way in advance to ensure I didn’t miss out, I headed to Connecticut on the Friday ahead of the Saturday game. The event drew over 50,000 to the small town of New Haven which was buzzing with excitement and had been taken over by hoards of crimson (Harvard) and blue (Yale) students and alumni chanting support for their respective universities. In true American college style, I was awoken at 7am and dressed in a blue and white Yale ‘sweater’ and cap, borrowed from one of my best friends from Australia who began her studies at Yale after we left school. We attended a Fraternity party before heading to a Sorority brunch which served eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, bacon and potatoes.

Shortly after jumping on a yellow school bus (reminiscent of those in the Simpsons), we arrived at 11am at the pre-game ‘Tailgate’ where a huge open field outside the stadium was packed with students and U-Haul trucks giving out drinks and all sort of food. A DJ, set up at one end of the field, ensured a large portion of the crowd was jumping up and down at any one point in time. Having only realised on Sunday night that I had batted for the losing team, it was clear to me that the weekend was much more than just a football match.

The rest of my thanksgiving began on Monday 21st November, after a 3am airport shuttle, a 5:30am flight, an 8am stopover at Myrtle Beach, a 9:30am connecting flight at Fort Lauderdale, and a midday arrival in Cancun, Mexico. Several excited hugs later, my friend (who had travelled from home) and I began our week in Cancun, before heading to Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen. As you imagine, we had an amazing week. We overdosed on Mexican food, struggled with the Mexican peso (roughly 13.5 pesos to 1 USD), swam with wild turtles, watched the sun set over electric blue waters, had an hour long massage, got covered in mosquito bites, walked through a Mayan temple, and picked up a few Spanish words along the way. Whilst we mainly remained in tourist concentrated areas, a few short blocks walk from our hostels exposed another side of Mexico; one in which wealth is hard to come by and tourism is relied upon heavily in order to survive. I also had to get used to being called “Lady”, which was constantly used in a polite way by Mexican waiters and staff.

I have now returned to Boston refreshed and slightly more tanned than before, ready to tackle my last two weeks of class and those final group assessments that are due. And, after all this, did I get to eat some turkey? Luckily, the college dining halls ensured I had my fill of cranberry sauce and stuffing.

Elyse