Andrew studied in Australia on the Sydney: University of New South Wales Program in Spring 2016.
What experiences did you have while studying abroad that you feel you could not have had if you had stayed at Penn State?
In Sydney I lived in what is called a residential college, which is similar to a coeducational fraternity but with a focus on academics and community among the 200+ members. Everyone in the college ate together every evening in our own dining hall and social events were held all throughout the semester. The most unique part about this college was the fact that it was comprised of students from all over the 
world, and at all stages of their academic career, from “freshers” to postdoctoral students. Nearly half of the students were Australian, and the other half was an intricate mixture of countries such as the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Germany, Norway, and Brazil. Many of the students living in the college were also exchange students, and it was very easy for me to put together a trip to the Australian rain forest and Great Barrier Reef with other students on exchange. If I had stayed at Penn State, I would not have been able to become close friends with people from so many cultural backgrounds in this very friendly setting.
Additionally, the courses I took while at UNSW focused specifically on issues pertaining to Australia. In my water resources engineering class I had the opportunity to learn about how Australia’s arid climate affected the way that communities obtained and treated very scarce amounts of water. Also, in my water quality chemistry class, I presented a literature review report focusing on a serious environmental issue in Australia called coastal lowland acid sulfate soils, which I would have never been exposed to had I stayed at Penn State. Not only did I learn about this very unique issue in extensive depth, but I also met with and presented my report to the authors of the literature, who were very prominent Australian environmental scientists. Ultimately I learned that the field of civil engineering varies very intensely by location, and that I need to be prepared to face any unique issue that comes my way and not limit myself to the problems I learn about at Penn State.
One evening I played very long table tennis match with an Australian friend from the college that I lived in. While we were playing, I told him how I had just gotten back from the Australian Museum in the central business district of Sydney, and that I had learned a lot about Aboriginal history while I was there. I learned that there are over 600 Aboriginal nations, and that that the Aboriginal population has faced incredible hardship ever since Britain’s colonization of Australia. He then told me that many institutions across Australia are actually now recognizing the colonization of Australia as an invasion, but that this is still a very controversial point of discussion in Australia. We talked for a very long time about Aboriginal relations while we hit a table tennis ball back and forth, and I was genuinely enthralled because this was a topic I had never learned about before. One incredibly eye-opening piece of advice that he gave me was that if I were to see two Aboriginal Australians engaging in a physical confrontation, I should not by any means try to break up the fight, as this is seen as a very rude gesture. He said that Aboriginal nations have had to endure many generations of being forced to separate their families and decimate ancient traditions because the government thought they were “civilizing” Aboriginal culture, and doing what was best for the Aboriginal population. Nowadays, for another westerner to intrude on Aboriginal life by any means is a serious transgression. What I learned that day was that there are aspects of a country and its culture that cannot be expressed in a textbook or an internet article, or even the Australian Museum of Sydney.