Australia: Caroline Paulson
Program: James Cook University, Spring
Caroline’s Major: Biochemistry
What is your most memorable experience from your program?
The most memorable experience from my program was definitely getting scuba-certified through the JCU Dive Club. About 10 of us got certified through this program, and it was a super fun way to get to know other JCU students while going on a fun adventure! We started our scuba certification process by learning important diving skills at a nearby local pool, and then one week later we went on a weekend dive trip to a nearby group of islands on the Great Barrier Reef to complete the open water component of our certifications! This was my first time seeing coral and reef fish in the wild, so it is definitely an experience I will never forget.
How were your program academics similar or different from taking classes at UW-Madison?
I felt that my program academics were primarily very similar to taking classes at UW-Madison. The combination of lectures and “practical sessions” were very similar to UW Madison’s class structures of lectures, labs, and discussions, with 50-minute lectures being held 2-3 times a week and practical sessions (JCU equivalent to a lab at UW Madison) being held once a week or every other week. I did feel like UW Madison classes provided more academic support through having discussion sections once a week held by a TA; JCU did not really have anything like this, and also it was hard to get extra help with the lack of office hours. Therefore, while being very similar to UW-Madison in terms of class structure and scheduling, I felt like JCU offered less personalized academic support than UW-Madison despite being a smaller school.
I learned many important things about myself from my study abroad experience, most importantly that I am capable of being independent and self-sufficient in a new environment far away from home. This experience was definitely uncomfortable at points because I didn’t have my parents or college friends to fall back on, but I definitely believe that this brief discomfort helped me grow into a much more independent and capable person than I was before embarking on this program.
What challenges or barriers did you face as you prepared to go abroad and/or during your time abroad? How did you work through them?
One of the biggest challenges I faced during my abroad experience was making friends in a small-school environment as a semester exchange student among many students who were completing their entire degree there. I didn’t really realize how much anxiety I had about having to form new friendships until I was abroad at a new school, but this is definitely something I learned about myself that I would like to work on for the future. One of the primary ways I faced this challenge while abroad was by joining new student orgs and clubs that were both inside and outside of my primary interest areas, and making an effort to attend social events held through these clubs. One example of this is when I joined the JCU ultimate frisbee league; this is a club I wouldn’t really think of joining at Madison, but I decided to try it out and I am glad that I did! I also joined the JCU Marine Society, Dive Club, and the Finstitute (a student organization focused around studying/protecting sharks) which were very much aligned with my interest areas. In all, these organizations allowed me to meet many students with similar and different interests to mine, also while providing a way to stay active and learn more about marine science as a career!
How will your experience benefit you in the future? How might it affect your future career or studies?
I think studying at JCU has affected my future career goals a lot, which is a significant reason I am very glad to have studied abroad through this program. Through having the opportunity to take marine science classes taught by world-renowned professors in this subject area, I was able to develop and grow my passion for marine science in so many ways, and now I am already looking ahead at pursuing a master’s degree in this field. Studying abroad at JCU also opened up my eyes to all the opportunities for graduate programs (especially in marine science) outside of the US, and after meeting many graduate students at JCU who also grew up in the US, I am very much inspired to focus my graduate school search to this part of the world so that I am able to study the amazing marine ecosystem that exists here.
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