Hello, I’m Evelyn.
I’m a junior exchange student from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. I arrived in Gainesville a few days ago, and I’ll be writing in this recurring column about what the move actually feels like, from culture shock and logistics to the small stuff people don’t warn you about.
Why UF? I wanted to study at a U.S. university with its own culture and actually see what a “big American college” feels like in real life, not just online. I moved out of my family home three years ago to attend university, and I’ve worked summers abroad in Europe, so I’m used to landing somewhere I don’t know anyone. But this is different. It’s not just a new city. It’s a new country, a new campus culture and a daily routine I can’t properly picture yet…