CAPA WORLD

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney.

In today's post, Marianne reflects on her study abroad and internship experience in Sydney, what she misses about it, and tips on how to handle coming back home and maintaining relationships.

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I never knew it was possible to miss a place this much. Coming back home was filled with mixed feelings. Even though I am happy to be back, I have missed Australia and all the friendships and connections I made throughout my study abroad experience. I have been back home for a couple of weeks now, and the most random things still remind me of Australia. I have also started noticing some of the slight differences between Australia and the US in terms of how we do certain things a bit differently here. For example, the tiny space between bathroom stalls here in the US are huge compared to the ones in Australia, but I had never noticed until I came back. Also, I got so used to walking on the opposite side of the street, which actually makes a lot of sense to me, that I still do it even after having been back for a while.

Having been an exchange student before, I somewhat knew what to expect when coming back. I knew for example that almost no one will be as interested in hearing about your overseas experience as you are in telling them. This is not to mean that they won’t be excited for you, but this experience will impact you so much that you will be able to talk about it forever.

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney.

In this week's post, Marianne opens up about her identity and details her background, both local and international experiences as a student, and how she felt at home in Sydney.

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I am an international student from Mexico studying in the United States. I have lived in Minnesota for around five years now, having finished two years of high school as an exchange student. I have honestly loved Minnesota ever since I got here my junior year of high school. Since I am already an international student, a lot of people were confused as to why I wanted to go abroad, given that I was technically already abroad. The answer, I think, is that international students see the world a little differently. I think we see, literally, a world of opportunities and feel a want and need to explore as many of them as we can.

At school with my friends in Mexico.

Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine. Ever since I was in school in Mexico and had the privilege of having American and Canadian teachers, I have dreamed of going abroad. My teachers instilled in me the desire to learn more about different cultures, and that desire has led me to where I am today. After that first year abroad, I ended up at an international school, still in Minnesota, where I was able to meet people from countries I did not even know existed. I think that was why studying abroad during college was so important to me.

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Marianne shares about her internship experience at Holman Webb Lawyers in Sydney and what she has learned about legal field in Australia.

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When deciding to study abroad, the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to complete an internship while abroad. I wanted to know what the workplace is like in other countries, all while gaining some experience in the legal field. During my time in Sydney, I interned at Holman Webb lawyers, which is a commercial and insurance law firm.

Outside the courts in Sydney.

In all honestly, I was nervous when I first learned about my placement since I knew close to nothing about that sector of the legal field. Despite that, and after having my Skype interview with my supervisor at Holman Webb, I decided that it would be an amazing and challenging opportunity. Unsurprisingly, I found that everyone at the firm was very welcoming and willing to teach me everything I needed to know. I think that nervousness is totally normal among almost everyone who does internships, especially when doing so in a new country. However, I had to remind myself that our placements were not expecting us to be experts, and were expecting to have to teach us everything we needed to know.

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Marianne shows us 10 beautiful places with the best views and photo spots around Sydney.

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One of the reasons why I have loved Australia so much is because of its shockingly beautiful landscapes and views. Because I think Australia is utterly stunning and I wanted to share it with everyone, I had the idea to create this top 10 list of views in Australia. I hope this list gives you an idea of how beautiful Australia is, and makes you fall in love with it as much as I did!

1. On the Ferry to Manly

A sunset by the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

You can either cruise on a regular ferry to one of the prettiest beaches and beach towns in Australia, or choose to take a fast ferry to Manly. Either way, you will be able to enjoy one of the best views of both the Harbour bridge and the Opera House. The ferries take you up close to both of best known views of Sydney, so you will be able to take close up pictures that are Instagram- and postcard-worthy. Make sure to also take the ferry ride at night to get a different, and also equally beautiful view of the city.

Marianne Zarzar is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Marianne talks about her favorite My Global City event at the Sydney Observatory and seeing the Australian night sky, planets, and a new way of our place in the universe.

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One of the things I love about CAPA is the number of group activities they plan for us. Not only do these events allow us to experience the city, they also enable us to learn more about the culture of our new home for the summer. Some activities we have done so far include a food crawl in Newtown, a tour of the Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park, and a film during the Film Festival. But that’s not all; just last week we had the opportunity of going to the Sydney Observatory by Barangaroo to learn about the Universe and our Solar System.

The night sky from one of the domes.

Going to the Observatory has definitely been one of my favorite activities thus far. I love learning about anything and everything, and so listening to all of the facts our tour guide shared with us during our tour was amazing. Not only did we get to learn from Chris, our tour guide, we also had the opportunity to look through two different telescopes and go inside a room to look at what our night sky would look like without light pollution.

Marianne is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Marianne introduces us to her lively bunch of friends she shares an apartment with in Sydney.

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After having lived in a single room for the past couple of years, learning that I was going to not only share my room with someone else, but also my apartment with seven other people, was a little scary. Despite my initial reservations, I have come to love and appreciate each and every one of them. I’ll introduce you to a couple of them now.

Meet my roommate Rachel.

My Roommate Rachel

Rachel is my roommate. She is studying Marketing and Human Resources Management at the University of Pittsburgh. She is really sweet and caring, and loves reading. Her favorite things about Sydney are the tacos (she hasn’t been to Mexico yet, but she’ll hopefully come visit me someday to try *real* tacos!), living so close to the beach, and all the coffee shops. Her favorite beach so far has been Manly, since it is just a ferryboat ride away!

Marianne is an official CAPA blogger for summer 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance major at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, she is studying abroad in Sydney this semester.

In this week's post, Marianne discusses how she made the decision to study abroad and why Sydney is the right city for her.

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I still cannot believe I made it to Sydney! I wake up every day and feel excited about having been given this amazing opportunity to not only visit Sydney, but also be able to complete an internship and experience the Australian workplace.

This is one of the first pictures I took once I arrived in Sydney. T
his is the view with my back toward the Sydney Opera House.

A lot of people I have talked with have told me that they had planned to study abroad in Sydney for a long time, which wasn’t really the case for me. I knew I wanted to study abroad, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go. I went to an international school during my senior year of high school, which gave me the opportunity to interact with people from countries I didn’t even know existed. That experience has made me want to travel more and learn about other cultures. Despite knowing I wanted to study abroad, I waited until the last minute to apply to this program, and it wasn’t until that moment that I decided to specifically apply to come to Sydney. I say this not to encourage people to make last-minute decisions, like I did, but rather to reassure you that if you are still undecided about where to go, or if you should study abroad at all, you can still do it and have time to decide. Use all the resources available to you! I talked with my parents, academic advisor, and friends before deciding, which definitely helped.