Tamara Smith: Living Abroad


Working and studying abroad is one of the greatest decisions you can make in your life. The amount of people you meet and experiences you gain are invaluable and most importantly fun. I may not have always loved it and there were definitely many difficult times but those are the things that help you grow and learn.

I originally wasn’t sure if I wanted to do the program at Disney because it wasn’t the most culturally different study abroad and I didn’t know if it would be worth it. I did more research for the program and saw that I would be working and living with people from all around the world and I did end up learning a lot about how other cultures live and work.
 
 

Another great perk to studying abroad and the people you meet is that if you plan to travel in the future you have free accommodation around the world! Since being home, a friend from Spain has already visited Vancouver and I plan on going to Australia later this year to visit friends and travel. I also picked up a couple phrases in different languages and small interesting cultural differences.

 

While I was abroad not everything was perfect and fun, there were a couple things that happened back home that made me incredibly homesick, whether they were bad things or I just felt like I was missing out on a get together with friends. While this was hard, I know that powering through it made me a stronger person.

Studying abroad is a great way to spend part of your college years and learn some valuable tools, not only academically but the greatest and most important thing is the people you meet (both good and bad).

Tamara Smith is a second year Tourism Co-op student who just completed a semester studying and working abroad in Disneyland, Orlando as part of the University of California, Riverside's Disney International Program
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breanna Nathorst: Leaving Paradise with Mi Familia

Image
     We have come a long way over the past 9 days of this trip and it has been beyond anything I could have expected. By emercing ourselves in the lively Guatemalan culture, we have taken a step out of the classroom into reality.  Leaving Livingston      Today is day 9 of our excursion and I am saddened to say that we had to leave Livingston- my Guatemalan paradise. As we packed our bags to leave, memories from the night before filled my head. We had a fiesta- Livingston style- at a reggae bar called ‘Duga’ located right outside of our hotel. We were joined by our new friends who were locals in Livingston and we shared music, laughter, and dancing. There were bongo drums and guitars and an amazing local from Belize named Mario got our whole group up on stage one-by-one to teach us how to dance ‘punta’, a type of Guatemalan dance. As the night went on our fiesta kept growing as locals who were passing by joined in to see what was happening. I am sure they were both surprised and
Read more

London Field School x2 - 2019

LONDON Field School x2 - Mia, Rose & Oscar 2019  On our last full day in London, We took two trains in the London Underground to get to Camden Markets. By this point in the trip we were tubes experts. Arriving in Camden Town, we walked to the "The Basement Tea House" so everyone knew where to come for our tea reservation a little later in the day - and good thing we did! We walked through narrow corridors amoung shop owners setting up their stalls, down a lift to the basement. In the heart of the markets were shops set up in what used to be horse stables that sold hats, jewellery, vintage clothes, fetish apparel, and of course, tea. From there we were set free to roam the markets at our own accord. With over 1000 unique vendors in the market there was a plethora of food and knick knacks to pursue, smell, and purchase. Some of the food that was consumed included: donuts, waffles, hand made pasta, milkshakes, pakoras, cereal, fried chicken crepes, among much, muc
Read more

London Field School 2019!

Image
London Field School 2019: Day 1 – February 15 th Carley, Chloe and Maria Song of the Day: London Bridge, by Fergie Check out our trip video on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD33ii01kXI Our first day in London started at the Westminster Pier, from there we caught the ferry to the Greenwich Village. Thames River is the lifeblood of London, and as a result you will find many of the most popular tourist attractions on the river's banks. We enjoyed the views from the upper deck and when it got too windy, we used the opportunity to go down to the warm hall of the lower deck and get some coffee. The knowledgeable crew was giving a live commentary of all the sights along the way. You get great views of all the landmarks and learn a bit of history on them all. We saw the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Parliament, Military Ships, and so much more . Taken at Westminster Pier before we hopped on the Thames River Cruise!
Read more