Mikaela Gilbert, Indiana University (USA)
About USA
I’m from the U.S., Indiana more specifically. My university is located in a much smaller city called Bloomington. This means life is lived much differently. The weather is much colder ranging from 0-13 Degrees Celsius this time of year (June). We usually use the units of Fahrenheit, cups, inches, feet, and miles. There are open areas – undeveloped land – everywhere and almost everyone has a car and drives everywhere from the grocery store to the gym.
Additionally, the food I eat back home is really different. My meals include a lot of grilled chicken, sauteed veggies, pasta, and sandwiches. It varies from state to state, but in Indiana, a must try meal includes the corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken. My favourite food, however, is homemade macaroni and cheese.
The holidays we celebrate vary from religion to religion, but the biggest holidays are Fourth of July, Christmas, and Easter. If you ever find yourself in the Midwest, the must-see attractions would be Chicago, the Indiana Dunes. You can go hiking a couple of state parks in the summer, spring, or fall as well. Activities like hiking and camping are popular around my area.
About Indiana University
My school is called Indiana University, and more specifically my business school within I.U. is called the Kelley School of business. Our curriculum is very well rounded as we are required to take courses not only in our concentration, but courses in Arts & Humanities, Sciences, and History. Due to these requirements I’ve taken courses including Folklore 101, History of Rock and Roll, and Rock Climbing.
Within my university almost everyone gets involved in some type of extracurricular activity or club because it’s a way to make our 40,000 person student body feel united. My personal experience has led me to a business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi, to start a club called Social Impact 360, intramural volleyball, and Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization. Each of these organizations, even the ones that are professional in nature brought me my closest friends. During the school year after you have completed your first year, many people move off campus and live with friends in apartments or in greek life houses (sororities and fraternities). This allows for an easy place to bring people together and hang out on weeknights or weekends.
One big thing that I think is very different at my university is our devotion to sports teams. For our football team we get up at 6 in the morning on game day and tailgate all day in preparation for the game. For basketball season it is competitive to get tickets to the games and those who do dress up in our school colours and even paint their faces sometimes. (Look up the song “This Is Indiana” to better understand our school spirit.)