As I find my study abroad journey quickly flying by in the beautiful and vibrant city of Sydney, Australia, I am learning new skills everyday that I know will extend far beyond Sydney and the academic learning that I have yet to experience. I am coming up to about 3 weeks left on my program and I am come to realize that I have developed invaluable growth in soft skills that I know will be beneficial for me when I go home in April. On of the, what I deem as, most important soft skill that I have developed while abroad is the ability to adapt. I wrote a bit about it in my previous blog post, however when living so far from home, in a new city, with a bunch of strangers, this skills almost comes naturally. The challenges began the night before I was supposed to fly to Sydney. I was packing my bags and double checking that I had everything. It was around 9:30pm when I received the message from United that my flight was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. Living in Western New York, I couldn’t be surprised, however I was definitely flustered. After being on hold with customer service for about 2 hours, I finally was able to get through and change my flight. The next morning my dad and I set off the Pittsburgh to catch my flight through an intense snowstorm. While I would usually freak out and completely break down in a situation like this, I knew that it was just the beginning of inconveniences that would possibly come for me while traveling. All I could do in this situation was laugh and embrace it for I eventually made it to Sydney in one half. Another skill that I have developed since living in Sydney is time management and laying out my priorities. While this is a broad skill that can be developed in many different areas, I am particularly thinking about balancing academics with fun and traveling. When it comes to my education here in Australia, I want to make the most of learning about Oceanic culture and history from native Australians. However, there is the obvious desire to travel and go to the beach on my off days. I have figured out a system for myself that allows for me to do school when I need to, but also to balance that with fully taking in Australia and its rich culture. The last skill that I have developed is navigating cross cultural situations with locals and people immersed in a different culture than what I am used to. For spring break, I traveled to Bali, Indonesia along with many of my other classmates. This was my first big trip with so many people so I was a bit stressed and anxious. Upon landing in Bali, we all quickly experienced a bit of culture shock. While it was a bit overwhelming to be screamed at by taxi drivers and cash converters at the airport, we all have to completely embrace that we were in a different country with different customs. This has changed my mindset to being more open minded and has enabled me to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to experiencing new culture and countries. Although my time here is dwindling, I know that these last few weeks will be some of the best so far, with different lessons to be learned.