Ye Jin – Aix-en-Provence, France (SUFLE track)
Vitals: Journalism (major) French (certificate)
Goals: I love travelling and I think myself as a global citizen. I want to practice my French writing and speaking skills, and to experience European cultures and see how different it is from American and Chinese cultures.
Motivation: My career goal is to be an international journalist who could speak different languages and report around the world in the future, so I chose to go to France to practice my French. Also I’ve been reading about French literature and the strong humanity and culture atmosphere really attracts me.
Previous overseas travel: Cambodia, China, Japan, Singapore
Tori Kusiak – Brisbane, Australia University of Queensland
Vitals: Nutritional Sciences; Dietetics Major
Goals: My goals for studying abroad are going to be all about ME. Although I have many small aspirations for this trip, overall I want to put myself in a situation (hopefully many while I’m over there) that is totally new and very frightening to me – and hopefully I come out more confident, more travel-savvy, and much more independent because of it! And I am also going to pick up the accent.
Motivation: I’ve always wanted to spend a semester abroad, and as a junior science major and transfer student, I started to believe it was never going to happen. With the push of a few friends studying abroad in Madison at the time, one of which I will reunite with in Australia, I sought out more information on options abroad. After sitting down with my advisor and finding out I had a one-semester window -of-opportunity to travel abroad, I was looking at my options and planning out my trip in no time!
Previous overseas travel: I have never traveled outside of the US. I have never even seen the ocean nor have I ever been on a plane before this trip!