Dylan (Sem 2, 2023)

My Exchange at Pennsylvania State University

Penn State offers a completely unique experience, an experience you will not be able to find back home in Aotearoa, it is the quintessential college town. State College, the surrounding town, is all an extension of the school. As I arrived into State College, off my Megabus I was greeted by my Uber driver, a past student of Penn State, with a car full of Penn State merch and memorabilia. We drove through ‘downtown’ with half of the stores being named after the school.

My halls of residence was not quite what I was expecting, I had a large yet barren room overlooking a beautiful courtyard (you wouldn’t believe how many squirrels there are), but unfortunately, my floor was extremely quiet. Fortunately, I was able to find another way to make friends. International orientation, which was scheduled a few days after my arrival, allowed me to meet a number of international students and, more specifically, fellow exchange students. I made a few friends from countries such as Australia and the UK. However, I would have liked to know how much of a struggle the first few weeks would have been, despite making a few friends, I was very lonely and was struggling to fill up my days.

The biggest tip I could give any exchange students is to put yourself out there, I know how difficult it can be I truly thought I may be lonely for the duration of my exchange, but the main reason I was able to have such a fulfilling experience was due to the effort I made to meet new people and make new friends. This meant saying yes to any invites and joining numerous university clubs. I met the majority of my best mates at a random Friday night concert I was invited to by an Australian friend of mine. Through this concert I was able to meet several other exchange students, 2 months later I found myself staying in an Airbnb in pittsburgh with 5 of them. I made a wide variety of friends whether this be through talking to a classmate, joining the rock climbing club, or joining the Penn States Engineering Without Borders community.

As I stated earlier Penn State offers a unique experience. Penn State hosts some of the biggest sporting events in the world (Beaver Stadium has the fourth largest capacity on the planet), and along with this, it has an incredibly passionate student population. The students care deeply about the school, and you truly feel as though you are part of something bigger than yourself. I think one of the greatest parts of an exchange that isn’t discussed enough is your growing appreciation for your home country. Don’t get me wrong, I had an incredible experience, but there was so much I learned to love about Aotearoa, and many things I took for granted, which can only really be noticed upon traveling and specifically traveling solo. I learned to love UOA, I learned to love our nature and I learned to love our people.

Overall I cannot recommend an exchange enough, it is an incredibly big financial decision, and I may have not picked the United States if I knew it would be such an expensive experience, but if you are fortunate enough to be in a position that allows you take up this opportunity it cannot be missed, it’s an incredible investment in your future and personal development. Thank you 360 and thank you Penn State, We Are.

Q&A

What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?

Penn State and this exchange offered me the opportunity to meet a number of lifelong friends, friends from Europe, friends from Australia, and friends from America, who I will remember for the rest of my life. Since State College is a college town, all of these friends were less than 15 minutes away. We always had activities to do; there was a big sporting event every weekend, events at the bars downtown (when I was 21), university-hosted events such as the Thon 5k and numerous ice skating days. We were never bored, and we were always kept engaged.

Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?

If you are on an exchange at Penn State, a football game is an essential. I understand the prices are outrageous, but if you are able to scrape together the funds, it is an experience completely unique to Penn State University. If you are able to get white-out tickets this would be the most ideal, however, in my case tickets were upwards of $400 NZD for some of the cheapest tickets in the stadium.

What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?

1. Join clubs. Clubs are an excellent way to make friends; it’s an easy way to know you have some sort of shared interest or a desire to share the same interest. Dont underestimate how important it is to just get your name and face out there, and clubs are an easy way to do this.

2. Take risks. I know some people may consider this a poor tip, but some of my most memorable experiences were because I sought more difficult experiences. I found myself in a greyhound bus station at 1am in the middle of Ohio, which is not an experience I would recommend but it has absolutely helped me develop and build confidence. Obviously, this may be a bit of an extreme example and may point to some privilege on my part, but my main point is just to make sure that you aren’t holding yourself back; an exchange is a time to put yourself out there, if you embarrass yourself, who cares? most of these people you will never see again.

3. Relax I know this may be a bit contradictory to what I just said, but remember that its ok to relax and take breaks, obviously you wanna maximize you time while on an exchnage but you can always travel in the future. If you wanna lie in your bed and watch some netflix like you would at home, thats perfectly ok, in fact its important. Don’t ruin your experience by making yourself too uncomfortable; make sure to give yourself some downtime if you need it.

How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?

I don’t have my exact budget, but essentially, I budgeted exactly enough to cover my health insurance, flights, travel insurance, food, and rent. Then, through study link living costs, I was able to supplement any travel or further experiences (sporting events, food with friends). Don’t underestimate the number of extra expenses there will be; as stated earlier, I made the mistake of picking the US (as of 2023, 360 International does not offer exchange awards for the USA), which means there were a number of experiences I had to forgo. At Penn State (And I assume other host universities) I was given an estimte of my semester expenses, ensure that you have this amount + more.

What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?

As mentioned in the report the most significant takeaway is my growing love for NZ and as cliche as it sounds, the importance of friends. Without all the friends I made on this experience, it would have been a very difficult experience; the support is essential, and learning to make a whole new group of friends gave me a strong sense of confidence I will take with me into the future. It’s awesome to know that I now have friends in Singapore, Italy, Mexico, the UK, etc, and I am sure I will meet them again.

Do you want to share anything about travels you did outside your host city/country?

There were a number of trips I made throughout the semester, my favourite being my short trip to Canada. During the Thanksgiving break, I made the decision to travel to Toronto by bus, then to Montreal by train, then to London (Ontario, London, not UK, London) by bus, and then from London to State College. Montreal blew my mind it offered an experience I don’t think you could get anywhere else, a completely bilingual European city in the north east of America, travelling was such an important part of my exchange and it must be prioritised.