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Aussie student says farewell to CSUSB

November 24, 2013 by Archived posts 6 Comments

By Kenneth Young |Staff Writer|

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It feels like I just arrived at CSUSB, now I have to leave?

Just a month and a half ago, my first story got published in this quarter’s paper.

Now, after an unforgettable quarter, my incredible experience here at CSUSB is almost to the end.

I tried my best to blend in at the beginning. However, when I arrived at CSUSB on Sept. 16, I was carrying two heavy bags around the campus, looking for my on-campus accommodation.

At that point, I realized blending in wasn’t an option for me.

I know now that this isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it has worked to my favor. This funny accent of mine has been a great ice breaker.

Back at my home university, I had the tendency to keep to myself a lot and only talk to people when they approached me. But being in a different country has changed that dynamic a lot.

Over the course of my stay here, I have met people I would consider to be lifelong friends.

I have also heard some rather British-sounding imitations of my accent.

I have to admit, Southern California is rubbing off on me too.

On several occasions, I’ve caught myself referring to good food as being “bomb.”

I even had to correct myself when I was pronouncing “tomato” the other day. Luckily none of my Australian friends were around to hear that.

Even though California feels like a second home now, there were times where I was missing my life back in Australia.

As it was closer to the holiday season, I found myself getting homesick. It was finally sinking in that I wouldn’t be spending it with my family.

Weekends were difficult as well.

When everyone else was going home, I had to stay on campus. It’s a bit hard to go home when it’s located on the other side of the equator.

It wasn’t all bad though. With everyone gone, I had control of the television, which meant I could watch all the basketball I wanted.

Speaking of basketball, if I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say Lakers when I was wearing my Clippers hat, I could probably afford to pay for my own tuition in the Winter quarter.

Unfortunately, the only thing I could get from it was the smug satisfaction knowing that the Clippers are the better team now.

As I wrote in my first article, the feelings of homesickness I had went away fairly quickly.

Now I’m back to wishing I could stay for the full academic year.

To all the wonderful people I have met during my stay here at CSUSB, I will miss you dearly.

However, this isn’t the last you are going to see of me. I do plan on coming back to America.

Until that time, I wish everyone the best of luck and hope you all have a great time here as a student of CSUSB.

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Australian, csusb, san bernardino, Study Abroad

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