This last summer I had the opportunity to travel to Australia for a short-term export-led study abroad. I have always wanted to travel abroad and I finally found my chance in college. While I wasn’t quite ready to take the step and spend and entire semester in another country, I was ready to travel to one for a few weeks. I spent the next two semesters preparing for the trip of a lifetime and impatiently counting down the days. When August finally rolled around, I found myself on a plane embarked to Australia with two great friends. Once there I met up with the rest of the group and spent the next three weeks traveling along the east coast of Australia.
Looking back on the experience it’s still hard for me to believe that I even got to go and see and do all the things that I did. This trip has defiantly been the highlighting point of my college career. We traveled from producer to producer, learning about their cattle market, macadamia nut production, regulations, egg production, wine making, dairy farms, sugar cane, and so much more.
This adventure really opened my eyes to see a new way to look at the world and agriculture in general. I highly encourage anyone to take an opportunity like this when it comes along, whether it’s in Australia or another country.
Katie Shockley