Semester-long exchange programs provide students with opportunities to live in a new culture and develop skills that help them stand out to employers. Students studying abroad learn self-reliance, problem-solving and intercultural communication. This semester, five UVM nursing students are immersed in the academic and social cultures of Perth, Austrialia, where they attend the University of Western Australia. Between classes, they enjoy exploring the countryside and sightseeing.

One student, Eleni Cawley '19, wrote to CNHS about the group’s adventures touring Elephant Cove, Shelly Beach, Fitzgerald National Park and Esperance:

We recently took a road trip down south, where we hit many different national parks. We started at Denmark, WA and visited Lights Beach, Greens Pool and Elephant Cove. Here we slept on the beach under the stars and explored some of the bluest water any of us had ever seen. .

We all learned how to drive on the left side of the road and made many kangaroo friends. Every place we visited looked as if it could belong in a calendar, even though none of the pictures we took did the locations any justice.

The students will return to Vermont in June.