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Canberra, the great home away from home

Canberra, and the ACT more broadly, is a constantly expanding city which boasts fantastic sights but is also a destination for major universities. It attracts thousands of students who uproot their lives and choose Canberra as their new home.

Numerous students come far and wide to seek a better education, but not many have traveled quite as far as students Jeremiah Johnson and Katie Venikova.

These two students have chosen Canberra as their home away from home, coming from Colorado of the United States and Toronto of Canada respectively, choosing to participate in an international exchange program.

They chose to go on exchange, rather than simply traveling, because they wanted to experience an independent life – a life in another country, without anyone to fall back on.

“I just wanted to go on an adventure, I wanted to explore and I wanted to do it on my own,” Katie said.

However, the University of Canberra wasn’t either of their first choices. Both having no knowledge of Australia, they initially looked at the Gold Coast, one of Australia’s tourist destinations on the border of the east coast.

After being placed here, in the nation’s capital, neither Jeremiah nor Katie regretted a thing.

“This wasn’t my first choice, but in retrospect, I’m extremely happy that I came to this institution over the others. I think I’ve chosen one of the truly ‘Australian’ universities,” Jeremiah said.

“I had a friend who studied here and they said it was absolutely amazing. They said I’d get a more authentic feel for Australia, so I changed and I’m really glad I did,” Katie said.

The culture here in Australia is something that’s well-known all around the world. However, it is truly something that needs to be experienced first hand. Canberra has come to the party so to speak, showing off all of what makes this the nation’s capital.

“I love it [Canberra]. With the limited time I’ve spent here, I’ve made lifelong friends. I especially love this beautiful city, the amazing hikes, lookouts, and nightlife. This place really does have it all,” Katie said.

For Jeremiah, Mount Ainslie is the place to be: “Even when I’m sitting at home [New Res], sitting out on the porch and talking to my roommates, I’ve had the time of my life.”

With the pair due to leave Canberra and leave the nation, both seem to think they’ll be taking back a part of this amazing country with them.

“I’ll definitely be bring back ‘she’ll be right’, ‘mate’ and ‘cheers’. One of my favourite things is the Australian culture and lingo,” Jeremiah said.

“You learn a lot from being in another country but the ‘Aussie lingo’ will definitely be coming with me and hopefully with that, a hint of an Australian accent,” Katie said.

Both plan to depart at the end of the semester. Until then, they’ll continue to strive within our great community and influence both friends and family to make the trip across the water and into our nation’s capital.

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