Hello, my name is Sarah Hill. I am a junior here at Penn State, majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Next semester, I will be studying abroad in New Zealand. I can’t wait! I already have my passport, plane tickets and student visa.

Getting the visa was an experience! I was expecting it to take as long as a passport – about 6 weeks or so, but only two weeks after I sent it to the Embassy, my visa came back, ready to go.

Buying a plane ticket was fun – turns out from start to finish my plane rid is going to be 31 hours long. That’s hard to imagine. I’ve flown before as far away as Barcelona, Spain, but New Zealand is going to be a lot longer and farther. It’s so exciting to imagine that I will be on the other side of the world! And the time change – right now its almost noon tomorrow in NZ, a whole eighteen hours ahead of here!

I am really excited to explore Wellington – that’s the capitol city of NZ and where I will be studying abroad at Victoria International. Just the other day I picked out my future classes: Maori Studies, Mathematical Logic, and Cell and Developmental Biology. It seems their class system is very different from Penn State. My three classes will be worth 55 points, with 60 points the maximum limit of points a student can enroll in. At Penn State I would be easily taking twice the number of classes so I am curious how these classes will be different. Perhaps they will go in more depth or cover more topics to cover the time.

That’s all for now. In just a few short months these posts will be coming from across the globe. Will I ever cease being amazed with technology?

Location: State College, Pa