I am not easily intimidated

Last Updated on Thursday, 18 March 2010 23:01 Written by Andrew Lai Friday, 11 December 2009 01:58

By Brittany Rouchou

I tend to be rather outgoing and always ready to put myself out there. Ironically, I feel like this quality is the culmination of many years of calculated reserve, a quiet calmness and a rather shy persona. As soon as I became a freshman in college, all these feelings of insecurity and trepidation fell to the floor and I became the person I thought I wanted to be. I had a lot of friends, I was invited to social gatherings and I was proud of who I was and where I was going. I was content with my social status, my friends and my life at Emory University.

It is noticeable that international students in the USA tend to stick together to create a comfort zone—a safety net—in a new school—let alone a new country. I didn’t quite understand why they never integrated themselves into the American culture, but seemed to prefer staying close to what they knew. In all the study abroad meetings we had at Emory, every single student speaker was upfront in stating that you do not get to know locals; that it is more of an experience to become closer with your fellow American classmates. I knew that if I was going to study abroad, I was not going to ‘experience Americans’. I was going to be that exception, that girl who integrated herself into a completely different world. When I finally got that opportunity three years later, I found myself standing in a dining hall full of strangers and I was being looked at as a foreigner.

I was lucky enough to be accepted into a residential college at the University of Melbourne for my whole stay here in Australia. After a ridiculous application process and being told by many people that there was too much competition for me to be granted a spot as an international student, I received the email notifying me that I was going to be living at University College. I was ecstatic. This was my chance to prove every study abroad student wrong: you can integrate into another country. Well, as I was standing in that dining hall for the first time with a hundred pairs of eyes staring in my direction, my sympathetic nervous system kicked in to gear. My heart pounded, my hands began to sweat, I became self-conscious and my flight-or-flight reflex was about to throw me back to America. People began to whisper, ‘she must be one of the Americans’, and I started to become upset. I didn’t want to be known as ‘The American’, as if a label were to define me for who I wasn’t. I wasn’t loud, I wasn’t obnoxious and I didn’t support George Bush—three stereotypical qualities I was told Australians believe Americans to possess. After I got my food, I returned to my room alone, terrified to approach one of the students who I was going to be living with for the next six months. My first day, and I was already an outsider.

As the days progressed, I made more and more of an effort to talk to the Australians. Of the 200 students that live at UC, only 12 are American. It was nice to know that there were other kids who were experiencing the same culture shock as I was, but I was still thoroughly determined to make myself known and begin relationships with the Australian students.

And in that instant, I had set my mind on changing my ways. I got up the nerve to sit down at a table during a meal with a group of Australians. At first, it was slightly awkward; they didn’t quite know why I was sitting down, as I hadn’t introduced myself. As soon as I spoke, it was like the lights turned on. Instantly, a hundred questions were flying around about where I was from and what I was studying, and interested questions about who I was. Likewise, I was more than ecstatic to learn about all of them. This was the beginning of my acceptance into Australia.
I absolutely cannot believe it has almost been three months since I arrived in this stunning country. I have established so many new and unique relationships. To go from being terrified of sitting in a dining hall to not knowing if I can leave these people, this place...

The differences between Australians and me are slim. Besides the fact we’re half a world away, our similarities unite us. They might abbreviate everything from breakfast (brekkie) and tomorrow (tomoz) to afternoon (arvo) and barbeque (barbie), or use unusual words to describe an American (think septic for a Yank) or a woman (Sheila) , or revolve social events around alcohol instead of food, but all in all, they are college students who study hard and know when to have a good time.

I knew I was being influenced by the Australian culture when I started eating crumpets and vegemite every morning at brekkie; abbreviating simple words and using Aussie slang; cheering for the Collingwood Football Club; and hearing the start of a (very minor) Australian accent. I knew I was part of something that most American study abroad students don’t get to experience when I found myself hanging out, studying and going out with Australians in my college. I now know that I shouldn’t have been so nervous that first day in the dining hall. The intimidation I persisted through was of a sort I had never experienced before. The bonds I have established with every student in my college are the type I knew I could have, but never imagined I would have. My new best friends have taught me so much—not only about Australia, but about myself—I don’t know if I am going to have the strength to leave. I thought I knew the person I was, but I fail to believe I am done growing. I am no longer viewed as a foreigner here, but rather as an equal, a friend, and to some, close enough to be a sister.

I plan on going back to Emory and speaking as a student ambassador for our study abroad program. I have a strong desire to contradict all the other American students who have studied abroad by sharing my story of how I became an Australian.

Brittany Rouchou
Emory College and University of Melbourne 

Article reprinted from The Times Abroad

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