Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY

A14 LOCAL
Thursday 11 april 2019

Student Affairs

By Louedska Maduro
The Last Lap

SOUTH CAROLINA — It’s the month of April! Which means that
this is my last month as an exchange student at the Univer-
sity of South Carolina. Since these are the last few weeks of
classes, students are busier than ever studying for exams and
writing papers. Many of us are surely counting down the days
for classes to end. At least, I am.

Springtime is looking nice at South Carolina. The weather is
getting warmer and there is no need for me to wear coats ev-
erywhere I go anymore. There are some days though, where
the weather is warm and sunny in the morning and by the af-
ternoon, it gets cloudy and rainy. But I can settle for that. The
cold weather actually made me appreciate the warm and
sunny weather I have back home in Aruba.
Lately, I have been spending a lot of time in the library, study-
ing for my last exams and writing my last papers. Drinking cof-
fee has started to be a part of my daily routine so I can be
able to get everything done. When I think back about my first
few weeks here, I realize how different things were compared
to now. It is crazy how fast time flew by and that these are my
last few weeks here.
There are many things I have noticed about myself during
these few months here. Ever since I can remember, I always

struggled with the idea of change. I know it is I quickly realized that I do not want to start restaurants when I go back home.
necessary, but sometimes I still fear change. working full time at such a young age and The thought of change did not seem so scary
I know that I can have trouble adapting to decided that it would be best to continue anymore when the time started to pass. I re-
change. Thus, taking this step to go study my studies. After the gap year, I enrolled in alized I managed to get out of my comfort
abroad for a couple of months was something the program of Organization, Governance, zone and make the best out of this opportu-
that I was nervous about and I was not sure and Management at the University of Aruba nity. Even though at the start things were a
how everything would turn out. However, I felt and kept working part-time during my studies. little bit confusing and stressful, I knew I could
that it was something I needed to experience When I started the program, I made a prom- always count on my family and friends to re-
to develop as a person, so I convinced myself ise to myself that I would go on an exchange ally help me through the process of adapting
I had to do it. While settling in here, I noticed semester abroad so I can experience some- to the change.
that I actually started to adapt to change thing new. As the last weeks are approaching, I will prob-
much faster than I thought and eventually This exchange semester abroad was an op- ably dedicate my time to studying for finals.
embraced the concept of change. portunity for me to fully experience the student There are still some things I want to do before
I was never really able to fully experience the life. I managed to take time for myself and be I leave, such as visit Myrtle Beach and take a
“student” life when I was younger. I started able to dedicate more time to my studies. In day trip to Savannah. Which will be happen-
working part-time at a young age. Thus, I was addition, I got the opportunity to travel a lot, ing during one of the weekends or as soon
always busy with work and school. Afterward, which is one of my favorite things to do. I also classes are over.
when I was not sure if I should continue my met a lot of new people and made some In my next article, I will share my last adven-
studies at the University of Aruba, I decided to great friends. Don’t forget about all the great tures with all of you and also, my thoughts
take a gap year and work full time. However, new food I tried. I am sure going to miss some and feelings of returning back home. 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.