Being abroad has been an incredible and crazy experience for me. I have never been this far from home, for such a long time. I really enjoyed every second in Australia, whether it was going to class, going to work, or traveling across the country. Over the six-week period I was gone I traveled to the Blue Mountains, Cairns/Great Barrier Reef, Bryon Bay, Gold Coast, Manly Beach, and Bondi Beach. It place was extremely unique and my trip wouldn’t have been the same without travelling. I personally think Byron Bay was the best part of my trip. It was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. If you ever go to Australia I highly recommend you go to Bryon. You won’t regret it! While I was here, I was lucky enough to see how academics and professional work play into the lives of Australians. I feel that I was able to see and learn the culture here. Work is more of an integral part of their culture than school. Most people skip college and go straight to working. While doing both, I was able to learn how to properly balance my life.

I have grown in many ways on this trip. Before I got here, I didn’t really understand how it felt to be a foreigner and feel out of place. After being here for so long, I was able to find ways to fit in and not make it extremely obvious I was from America. I also was able to learn the culture here and see the differences in it compared to America. Professionally, I improved many of my skills. I became better with programs I already understood how to use like excel. I also learned many more programs that I’ve never heard of like air tasker, canva, facebook advertising, and budgeting. I also learned how to fit into a work culture environment. I grew my communication skills as well as physical skills. Academically, I was shown how sports marketing fits into the real world. The way the class was taught was extremely unique and interesting.

One of the biggest takeaways I got from this experience is that even though somethings internationally are different, many of the cores beliefs in the office are the same. You only get what you put in and the harder you work the better the payoff. Also, I learned that work isn’t everything. You need to be able to have balance in your life, otherwise you are going to be stressed and miserable. I am going to be able to take what I learned and apply it to my future jobs. I am also going to be able to share with my friends and piers in clubs my experience. If I could go back and do this program all over again I would!