If you go to SMU, you might know who I am, Cas Stillwell, a junior marketing and advertising major who lived off lower Greenville. I’m here to tell you about my experience so far with studying abroad, even though I haven’t technically started classes yet. I am currently doing the Study Abroad Program in Perth, Western Australia.

This program is preceded in the second semester by a three-week study tour of Southeast Asia. Fifteen other SMU students and four students from Trinity College traveled together throughout Southeast Asia, completing one week each in Taiwan, Cambodia and Malaysia, before heading down to beautiful Australia. In this time, I have made lasting friends with English majors from Hsinchu City, Taiwan, been in the world’s fastest elevator in Taipei, fed monkeys in Pnomh Penh, Cambodia; rode elephants and visited the Tomb Raider Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia; fished in a river at a Longhouse in Miri, Malaysia; and visited the Twin Towers in Koala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has been the greatest experience of my life to date. Not only did I get to travel around the world while getting credit hours for it, I also got to make 19 great new friends, while experiencing how my major works in a global sense.

I paid attention to the different forms of advertising in the various countries, and I also questioned the locals about how they’re marketing communications might differ from those we utilize in the States.

Now that I am in Australia, I can do it all over again, but everyone speaks English, thank goodness. Being in Australia after three weeks of speaking Mandarin, Khmer, and Malay is quite the relief, mostly because I’m not living out of a suitcase anymore.

Perth is one of the coolest cities in the world, and if you don’t want to learn a foreign language and still travel abroad, look no further.

I have been to Sunday Sesh at Cottesloe beach, hung out with kangaroos and koala bears while learning to surf amidst ridiculous bush fires in Yanchep National Park, and am in the process of making friends with other international students here at Curtin University of Technology (30,000 students) from countries like Mauritius, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, and of course Australia!

I also managed to pick up a marketing internship with fellow SMU student Kate Dewan, in which we will help promote community service projects. This not only covers the SMU Community Service requirement, but also gives me invaluable work experience and will look great on my resume. Everyone who can should study abroad. It gives you an opportunity to grow as a person, and it forces you to learn to be responsible and to respect other people’s cultures.

Classes in Perth begin Monday, and while I’m going to miss the vacation I have been on for the past month, it won’t be too difficult forcing myself out of bed when it’s 35 degrees Celsius and I remember, “Hey, I’m in Australia! Cheers mates.”