Hi, my name is Gabbi and I am studying abroad at UTS for the Autumn Session. Three months ago, I would have never pictured my life in this way. I'm living in a post card city, traveling through a bucket list of activities and studying at a brand new school; I mean who can say that they will able to do all that and more? Since staying in Sydney, I have experienced many different things from wandering all the street markets to navigating the train system and meeting many different people from the locals to Americans and everyone in between.

Living in the heart of Sydney, has made me compare this experience to a race. I love to run and before a race starts the official says “ready…set…go” and then your off on a course you have seen or ran before, but this race is different. The course isn’t on a map and I have certainly never run it before. Every curb I step off, all the right hand turns and sharp lefts I make, they are all blind turns and curves. However, where that specific road is leading is unknown, but it is up to me to walk down that road and discover what is at the end. Just like any race, there are going to be bumps and you might get some bruises, but the race is never over because running this race will allow me to gain lifelong friends from all over the globe and memories I will cherish forever.

To anyone running this race, just keep running because the farther you run the more you will learn and discover. So take that sharp left because who knows where the road leads!

Name: Gabriella Sluka

Course of study: Nursing

Home University: Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut, United States of America)

These pictures are all roads and paths I have traveled so far. Most are off the beaten bath of the city landscape, but they all attest to the fact that by taking a sharp left or a hard right, you can discover an entire new road.