First Entry
Why NSE? How does it fit in your Academic plan?
I choose NSE because I wanted to travel and explore new places while in college. Thanks to the pandemic I wasn't able to travel abroad, so the best next thing was traveling within the country and visiting my extended family. The overall process of being a part of NSE was relatively easy, specially since I already had a place I wanted to go to, the hardest part was choosing which University I wanted to be part of. After getting accepted by Montclair State University the process of applying to classes and getting to know the system was semi-easy, the only struggle was matching the classes I need at UofSC with the classes available at Montclair and then making sure they would transfer correctly.
Second Entry
Goals? Excited about? or nervous about?
My Goals during this exchange is to become more independent and just explore another area. I don't know what I want as a long term career or where I would like to "settle" down, so I'm taking this opportunity to find what I am looking for in my future. This is also an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort box and just meet new people as well as get closer to my family which I have been losing contact with. I'm really excited to just be outside of my home state and having the opportunity to be in a new environment thats more "latino friendly". I feel I've been losing my hispanic roots, being that I don't live in a state that has many hispanic that I can interact with outside of my family. Being that I am close to NY, which is like a 2nd Dominican Republic, I am excited to taste familiar flavors that I've been missing over the years. Lastly, I don't necessarily have a bucket list for this exchange but I hope I can get closer with my family and culture during this time, as well as just exploring my major in a different place.
Third Entry
Arrival
I finally arrived at New Jersey on August 20th by car. I drove with my dad from SC to NJ to one of my family member house where I will be staying for the remainder of the semester. I got to see Montclair for the first time on Monday and I must say that I like the layout of the school a little better than UofSC. Montclair basically has a mountain/hill(?) all for themselves compare to the UofSC campus which is essential all over downtown Columbia. I also love the fact that I won't have to parallel park! Overall I really like it and was happy to hear one of my aunt graduated from MSU.