Daisy - Summer in Minnesota

“My experience was eye-opening, fun and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Memorable Moments

There were so many highlights from the experience, such as going canoeing, doing fun activities such as mini golf and bowling, and just generally hanging out with my new friends. However, I would say my top highlight would be visiting the Mall of America. The mall is located in Minneapolis and is massive, with over 500 shops. Nothing in Northern Ireland could compare to the sheer size and buzz of the mall. After visiting the mall, we also went to downtown Minneapolis and visited First Avenue, which had tributes to many famous artists such as Prince, Black Eyed Peas and Eminem, etc. It was such a fun and eye-opening day, especially for big shoppers like me!

The Culture

The first similarity is that the domestic students from UMD were very similar to us, meaning we all bonded over the same music, the same interests and the fact that we all enjoyed having fun. There were lots of differences. The first difference was the weather: at some points, it was very hot, whereas here it is usually much colder. The food was different from what we're used to here but mostly tasted good, and we had no complaints.

Navigating New Challenges

One challenge was overcoming the smoke from wildfires. We experienced extreme heat while we were there, which caused wildfires to spread close to Duluth. This meant we could not go outside. This lasted several days, and we used face masks once the air quality improved. A lot of people struggled with this as we were confined to our dorms. We mainly overcame this challenge by supporting each other, playing games and watching movies in areas of campus. We also knew it was only going to last for a few days, which made it easier to overcome.

Making friends

I found it very easy to make new friends. Everyone from Ulster was in the same boat and wanted to make friends very quickly. I also grew extremely close to the South Korean students and several domestic students while at UMD.

Scenic Highlights

We travelled to Trego, Wisconsin, for our canoeing trip, which was very scenic. We also went on a day trip up the North Shore, close to the Canadian border, to Grand Marais, which was a small but picturesque seaside town. On the way to Grand Marais, we stopped at several viewpoints; one cliff in particular, Palisade Head, was breathtaking. Finally, we visited Minneapolis for the Mall of America, which was amazing, as we got to experience a larger city.

Favourite Moments

Some of my top moments were going canoeing, going bowling, spending time with my friends, visiting the mall and eating at lots of fast-food restaurants.

Tips for You

Some advice would be to make sure you're 100% ready to leave home for four weeks. I did not suffer from homesickness; however, some people did, which made it hard for them to get the most out of the experience. Also, what you put in is what you get out of it. Finally, I would say it is an amazing experience, and if you get the opportunity to go, I would take it.