Page 17 - AT

LOCAL Thursday 14 February 2019
A17

Student Affairs

By Louedska Maduro
My Way Around

ORANJESTAD —It has already been a month that I have been study-
ing at the University of South Carolina. A month filled with adventures,
new experiences, stress (I mean, that is something we will experience
everywhere we go, right?) and lots of homework!

As I mentioned previously, the campus is huge. Now that I have been
here for over a month, I have managed to explore various parts of the
campus. I can officially say that, I do not need to use Google Maps
anymore to find my way around campus every time I leave my dorm.
The method of teaching is a bit different here compared back home
at the University of Aruba. Back home, we get a lot assignments that
consists of doing research and writing long papers. However, the
classes that I am currently following at the University of South Carolina,
focus more on giving students written exams and quizzes. Furthermore,
the classes that I follow back home are more interactive compared
to the ones here. At the UA, students get more time and opportunities
to engage in discussions over the material with their classmates and
the lecturer. I am guessing that it is because, the classes here have
more students than the ones at the University of Aruba. In regard to
the method of teaching, I actually prefer the method where students
get the opportunity of doing a research and then writing a paper
to present their results on the research. This method of teaching has

actually given me the opportunity to do one Everyone in the crowd was cheering and sup- a trip to Greenville with the international stu-
of my favorite research, which focused on the porting the Gamecocks. The game was very dent services. Greenville was beautiful. We
quality and ethical standards of journalism in intense, and the crowd was awesome! spend most of our time in the downtown area
Aruba. One of my favorite things to do in Columbia and also visited the beautiful Falls Park on the
Lately, I have been trying to do as much as is going to the Soda City Market, which takes Reedy. At the Falls Park on the Reedy, you
possible to experience Columbia and en- place on every Saturday morning. The Soda can walk on the bridge and get an amazing
gaging in more activities. I have made a few City Market is centered around vendors from view of a waterfall. Visitors can also spend a
friends here who were generous enough to different cultures. It is a street market where day with their family in the park and enjoy
show me around different places in Colum- you will encounter various vendors that fo- the wonderful view. In the downtown area of
bia. I have recently visited the South Carolina cus on food, art, crafts and jewelry. Everyone Greenville, there are many shops where you
Statehouse with my friends and luckily for me, can find something of their liking at the Soda can grab a bite, especially if you are a big
one of my friends knew a lot of history and City Market. I also love the fact that people fan of desserts! I definitely recommend going
details about the South Carolina Statehouse. bring their dogs to the market. The ambience to Greenville for the day.
Another attraction that I have visited, was the is great, and you can meet a bunch of new There are still many places I would like to visit
Columbia Museum of Arts. The museum has people there. Or at least I did, because I had and things I would like to do in South Carolina.
a diverse collection of art. The galleries in the the tendency to pet almost every dog that I am hoping that in these upcoming weeks
museum focus on different themes such as art I have encountered while being there. The and months I would be able to do as much
and identity, modern impulses, spiritual beings Soda City Market also reminds me a lot about as I would like. Especially outdoors activities,
and many more. the Carubbian Festival in Aruba. Except here, such as hiking. I am definitely looking forward
During the week, I also went to my first bas- they do not have the carnival ambience like to my next trip, which will be the Congaree
ketball game here, which was Gamecocks back home. National Park. I look forward to sharing all my
vs. Auburn. Gamecocks defeated Auburn. This past weekend, I have decided to take adventures and experiences with you. q

Louedska Maduro, 25 years old, is currently a third-year student at the University of Aruba in the program of Orga-
nization, Governance and Management. Louedska takes part in an exchange abroad during the spring semes-
ter. She is now attending the University of South Carolina for the upcoming four months and will take this experi-
ence as her inspiration for her column Student Affairs. The column will be in the newspaper every other Thursday.