4 th
year student, Semester 1 2014 (USA Spring semester)
BAppSci majoring in Forensic Analytical Science and Pharmacology
To start off I was originally not planning on going on exchange at all, but the opportunity arose through my course where I was able to study
Forensics papers for a semester in America and I jumped at the chance. Thinking about it now I am so glad I did. Going on exchange is an awesome experience, even though it is hard to believe when only hearing about other people’s experiences about exchange and just being told that it is great. It is something you have to experience for yourself.
Even though it sounds corny, it does help you find out about yourself. You get to see how you react being in a totally new and exciting environment where everyone is a stranger. It is also a relatively cheap way to travel and see different parts of the world, while making some lifelong friends. I was lucky enough to have a month of trippin’ it around the States after my exchange with some of the friends I had made at my host university, and I had the time of my life, with some friends I will keep forever!
FIU:
The one thing I underestimated about my uni was the size, it was humungous! FIU is a large university with a bustling campus. I first arrived to meet the other exchange students spending a semester at FIU – and what an awesome bunch. It was good meeting these guys first because we were all in the same boat and still trying to find our feet in this totally new place. During the semester we branched out to meet a whole bunch of locals as well, one of which even invited us to stay at his house after semester – which we did!
Studying at FIU was awesome! The papers that I got to do included some at undergraduate level and some at postgraduate level. You want to make sure you have a good balance of work and play though – yes you are there to study but you need to make the most of it while you are there. Thus every weekend we were out exploring Miami, doing road trips and having a blast. The Forensics courses at FIU are great, as the field and courses are much bigger and more developed compared to our relatively new course here at Otago, thus it was a great experience being able to learn from some of the world’s leading researchers in various fields of Forensics.

Miami:
What I didn’t realise about Miami is that it is VERY Spanish-speaking! I felt like at least half the people I met were at least semi-fluent in Spanish. You don’t need to know it so don’t worry if you can’t speak it, but it would come in handy! Many of the American locals also informed me that compared to many other places Miami in comparison is quite expensive – due to the high level of tourism. I didn’t find it too expensive, and it helped that alcohol is really cheap, but club entries are terrible! (One club was charging up to $60 for guys just to get in).
When you are in Miami you are very close to some awesome places to visit! I would definitely recommend a cruise to the Bahamas – it is close and usually reasonably priced and it is so cool!
Also the Florida Keys are really nice and is a reasonably short drive away. Orlando is 4 hours drive north of Miami and is the best destination for theme parks – including Disney World, Epcot, MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, Universal
Studios, Islands of Adventure and heaps of water parks!! And if you are lucky enough to go in the spring semester you will get to be there for the infamous Spring Break and I would recommend Panama City Beach! Known as Spring break central, it may be a decent drive away, but it is totally worth it!
Travel:
The most expensive part of travelling, as far as I know (as it was for me), is getting there!
The flights to and from the US are a little expensive, but once you are there domestic travel is cheap and easy! So I say make the most of it while you are there. Also when it comes to
Visa’s, you have to get a J-1 visa for being an exchange student, but I recommend getting a
B1 travel visa while you get the other one, it makes life a whole lot easier if you want to stay for more than a month after the exchange finishes which is what the J1 visa allows (another way is to get on the visa waiver program, but you will have to leave the US – usually to
Mexico or Canada, and then re-enter on that visa). There is so so much to see and do in the
States but a few places I really enjoyed were Austin, Boston, Washington DC and of course
Las Vegas!