I was never one to take school seriously — not in high school and not even when I enrolled in a community college after graduation. I considered myself to be one of those people that wouldn’t excel in school because I never had before.
I had never really tried in school before because the plain and simple truth is I was lazy. Even though I wasn’t doing well in school I was still setting my aspirations on the moon. So in the beginning of a fresh semester, I realized to be that person I want to be and to obtain the goals I have in mind, I needed to make my education my priority.
I quit my bad habits and did something I had never done — study. At the end of the semester, I didn’t have the crushing anxiety of bad grades coming my way and instead I actually felt confident. That semester was my first dean’s list honor. I continued on that path and transferred to Framingham State University.
I had grown into the person I wanted to be academically and was ready for a new challenge. With my newfound passion of pushing myself past my comfort zone, I walked my little legs over to FSU’s study abroad office for my next move. I always knew if I was going to do it, I was going to do it big and would go all the way down under. I have always been attracted to Australian culture and knew that just visiting there someday wasn’t enough for me. My advisor recommended I look into ISEP and there I found the right program for me.
Currently I am on a plane from Boston to Los Angeles, where I’ll get on my connecting flight to Sydney. It’s feeling incredibly surreal. The experience of studying abroad is something I always wanted to do but never thought I would have the opportunity. I’m just a few hours shy of fully immersing myself into a new culture, which is something I worked so hard for. I don’t know what awaits me in Sydney but I hope to expose myself to a new way of thinking and problem solving for both my academic and personal life.
In the cinematic masterpiece that is the Lizzie McGuire Movie, protagonist Lizzie made a promise to her best friend, Gordo, that they would find adventure during their time in Rome. I plan to do the same in Sydney once I get past this 25 hours worth of travel. I will be living out a dream and like Lizzie, I promised myself to find adventure and experience everything that makes it unique from anywhere else.
Like this Story? Also like us on Facebook.