Nine months ago, I was standing in an airport, holding back tears as I said goodbye to my family to come and study at Central for the year.
Now, I’m packing up my life for the second time in a year, and trying to figure out where the time has gone. Granted, a lot of it has been spent travelling around the states and seeing as much as I can. The most of it though, has been spent right here on campus: doing homework, making friends, and of course, working in The Recorder office.
For me, the hardest part about coming to America was adjusting to the differences in our cultures. This might sound stupid, coming from a Brit – a lot of people seem to think that our countries are very similar, but I still had to adjust to people turning up to class in their pajamas, ending every question with “…right?” and a lot of other things that might sound trivial but were hard to get used to.
Being offered a job at The Recorder while being at CCSU has been one of the best opportunities I could have been given. Not only have I spent the past two semesters with a group of people that appreciate the use of good wordplay, the vital role Facebook rape plays in life and that five hours is a good night’s sleep on layout night, but I’ve made great friends while doing it. I might not have been here long enough to go on any trips with the staff, or get a lot of experience in the journalism field, but I have learned a lot more about editing and what it is like to work for a newspaper. It has been fantastic to be able to get paid to basically hang out with a group of friends, watch SNL skits and correct other people’s grammar, while continually gaining experience. Sure, I’ve been the butt of a majority of jokes in the office but hey, I’m the token Brit – it’s to be expected, I guess.
The best advice I can give to any exchange student is to get involved on campus. This semester, I have spent a lot of time in the theatre department, was involved in a couple of shows and have made so many friends that I’ll miss more than I can say. By making the most of all the chances that CCSU has offered to me while I was here, I can go home without regretting any part of my year.
To those members of staff that are leaving The Recorder: good luck in whatever you’re going to do in the future. To all the other friends and colleagues I’ve met here: Thank you for making me feel right at home at CCSU. I’m going to miss it here.
Elizabeth Mitchell