During my first full-time year at South Eastern Regional College, Bangor Campus, I applied for a place on the Business Education Initiative which offers one year study placements in the USA for undergraduate students in Northern Ireland. After a successful application I was given the opportunity to study at Martin Methodist College Tennessee.

On the 25th of August I had arrived in Pulaski Tennessee, It took me a few days to settle in and class’s started around a week or so after I had arrived. It has now been over three months and the first semester is coming to an end with final exams beginning over next couple of weeks. Class’s themselves are fairly straight forward and are reasonably interesting. The town that I am living in is quite small and the college only has around 700 full time students which is a relatively small number in comparison to the colleges back home.

During the mid-term break I had the opportunity to go to Golfport Mississippi and New Orleans Louisiana to participate in volunteer work with the United Methodist Church to offer support to the victims of Hurricane Katrina which had caused a lot of devastation last summer. This was definitely something I hadn’t encountered before and it was very rewarding to help those people in the community whose homes had suffered severe damage.

 There is definitely a vast difference in culture that I have had to adapt to, but after a while I have just gotten used to the way of living here.  So far I have found it a valuable experience and I am looking forward to the holidays which are coming up so I can do some travelling with the other students who are also on the Business Education Initiative.in America.

Click here for more information on the Business Education Initiative to study in the USA