My name is Robby Aronson and I am a junior majoring in Journalism at the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at USC. This past spring, I decided to study abroad in Sydney, Australia at the University of New South Wales. Annenberg offers tons of great programs for students to study abroad, but I’ve always wanted to go to Australia to meet my family both in Sydney and in Melbourne that I have never met before. I thought this would be a great opportunity to experience living in a new culture across the world and meet some of my family members as well.
The first morning I arrived in Australia I woke up at 4:00 am because of the jetlag. I tried to fall back asleep, but I was unable to do so for a few hours. Once the clock hit 7:00 am, I figured I should stop trying and that I could use this opportunity to explore the city by myself. Oftentimes, I tend to do things in groups and maybe I don’t get the exact experience that I want as a result of trying to figure out what’s best for everybody. This became a great opportunity for me to focus on myself and do whatever it was that I wanted to do. So I got out of bed, got dressed in athletic attire, and headed outside and for the beach.
I lived on campus and the distance from my apartment in Randwick to Coogee beach was about a mile and a half. I’m not much of a runner, but I knew before I left for Australia that I wanted to do things I don’t normally do while I was in Sydney, and so I took off and started running to the beach. The weather that morning was perfect, not too hot and not too cold for a jog, and the city was pretty empty that early in the morning. I truly felt during that run that I got to explore part of the city by myself and I got a pretty good sense of my surroundings so early on. Once I reached the beach, the sun was really starting to rise, and it was beautiful. While being all the way across the world is a bit worrisome at the beginning, in that moment I felt so at peace with where I was, and I felt one with the city. It’s not every day that you can just run to the beach and back, and I knew I needed to take advantage of this opportunity while I was abroad.
I think it’s incredibly important to make friends while studying abroad and to do things with others and to share experiences with other people. One of my favorite parts about being abroad was meeting so many new people with similar, but also different interests. However, I loved this morning run so much because for me, the best part about being abroad was to learn more about myself and become more independent as a result. I’m horrible with directions, but I was able to run a mile and a half and figure out where I wanted to go and back in a foreign city without getting lost. I got to see the city for the first time by myself and that allowed me to make decisions and goals about what I wanted to do while I was away.
I think it’s incredibly important to try to be as independent as possible while studying abroad and to do things you wouldn’t normally have the time and opportunity to do so at any other point in life. Sometimes the friends you make will have classes at times that you don’t or won’t necessarily want to do the things you want to do while you are abroad and that is okay! Doing something by yourself shouldn’t prevent you from doing something at all, and it’s important to remember this. I was up at 4:00 am, I couldn’t call or text the new friends I had just met the day before to try to go to the beach so early in the morning, but I wanted to go to the beach and see the sunrise and the city. I didn’t want to be stuck in my room, so I took off and just did it. I didn’t have to think about it, I just did it and I think that was the coolest thing for me to experience so early on.
Overall, my experience in Sydney was awesome! I wish I could have had more time in Australia and have explored and seen even more of the city and the country and that side of the world. I think it’s important to try to make the most out of every moment and every opportunity because before you know it, it will be time to go home. This is a time to get out of your own bubble and your own comfort zone, and it’s important that you do so. This experience will end in the blink of an eye, and it’s just important to have fun and enjoy the ride.