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A16 LOCAL
Thursday 14 March 2019

Student Affairs

By Louedska Maduro
Spring Break

ORANJESTAD — It is officially spring break! Which means, no
exams, no quizzes and time to relax. As you all may know,
I have been looking forward to spring break for quite some
time already. Everything at the University of South Caro-
lina campus is basically closed and almost everyone left
the campus to go back home, either to their family or their
friends. Some people may have also decided to take this
opportunity and go traveling somewhere else instead of go-
ing back home.

Up until now, my exchange semester at the University of
South Carolina is going well. At the start, there were some
issues I had encountered in regard to my courses, but I have
managed to solve these issues. Each day, I am getting more
accustomed to being in such a big campus and city com-
pared to back home. I have made some new friends and
managed to do a lot of things in the city of Columbia. How-
ever, I cannot lie that I do miss Aruba. Especially my fam-
ily and my friends. Also, don’t forget the warm and sunny
weather on the island of Aruba. As they say, there is no
place like home.
A difference that I have noticed while being a student at
the University of South Carolina, is that the students in Aruba

are more approachable than the students friendships. Everyone at the University of South cided to drive up to Asheville for a few days.
here. The students that I have encountered Carolina has the opportunity to sign up if they I have never been to North Carolina, thus I
here have the tendency to be more on their would like to become a domestic buddy and thought, why not take this opportunity to go
own. Which means, that they will not easily afterwards, they will get paired up with some- there. Since for me, personally, I find that Co-
approach people and start a random con- one who has “matched” with them. Which is, lumbia is a lot more of a “city life”. Therefore, I
versation with someone they see walking on usually an international buddy. The matching wanted to get away for a while and go more
campus. Meanwhile in Aruba, this is the com- is based upon availability, personal interests, into the nature aspect. Today, I went to the
plete opposite. Also, this example is not lim- age and gender. The Buddies Beyond Bor- Blue Ridge Parkway and decided to go on
ited to only students on Aruba, but the people ders program does have requirements and a hike there. I visited the Graveyard Fields. I
on the island as well. Everywhere you go on expectations that each student needs to loved it. The only downside of the hike was
the island, you can definitely find someone consider before signing up. I have signed up that, because there was some slight rainfall
who you can start a random conversation for the Buddies Beyond Borders upon arrival yesterday, some of the trails were a bit mud-
with and will give you plenty of suggestions on and gained a great friend through the pro- dy. Moreover, I love the downtown area and
where to go and what to do. gram. I definitely recommend anyone who is the breweries in Asheville. Tomorrow I will go
A program I want to mention this time, is the currently at the University of South Carolina to spend the day at the Biltmore, which is a pop-
Buddies Beyond Borders program at the Uni- apply to be a domestic buddy and also in- ular attraction in Asheville.
versity of South Carolina. This program was ternational students who are going to attend For everyone who are also currently on spring
developed by the International Student Ser- the University of South Carolina in the future. break, I hope you all are having a great time
vices and helps both international and Ameri- It is a great opportunity to meet new people and be safe! In my next article, I will continue
can students at the University of South Caro- and get to know other cultures. to update you with all my adventures as an
lina create a connection and long-lasting Regarding my spring break plans, I have de- exchange student abroad. 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.