Spring Break
Independent Kiwi works toward master's degree
Cece Wildeman
Issue date: 10/28/08 Section: News
|
Three years later, at 20 years old, she found herself at CSU, working toward a masters Degree in agricultural economics.
"I just thought Colorado sounded cool from the stories from people I met," she said.
After completing her undergraduate degree at Lincoln University in New Zealand, Lloyd decided to come to CSU because the two universities have an exchange program, which has introduced her to many Americans, including CSU students and professors.
Getting here
Lloyd had never been to the United States before, although her parents had lived in Detroit in 1982.
"It was definitely a big risk I guess," she said. "But I didn't let it phase me."
Lloyd said she did not experience much cultural difference when she arrived, though her American friends had told her that she was in for a big shock due to media portrayals of American life.
She said there is a similar culture in Colorado to that in New Zealand, but things here are much more fast-paced and things in New Zealand are much more casual.
She also said that people here are not as straightforward as people in New Zealand, noting that she thinks she has surprised some people with her blunt personality.
"Yeah, some people, if they don't know you might be like 'Whoa'," said Jennie's friend Emily Cowing, a sophomore business major, to Lloyd. "Yeah, I put myself out there," Lloyd said.
Subtle differences
Biting her lip, Lloyd thought hard about cultural differences she has encountered since arriving here in January 2007.
She concluded that people are more easy-going than she had thought they would be and that people had more knowledge about New Zealand than she thought they would, something her parents said has changed since they lived in the U.S. in 1982.
"Few people had heard of or knew where New Zealand was. And we even got asked, in a small town in Texas, how long it had taken us to drive there," said Gael Lloyd, Jennie's mother, in an e-mail interview.
"Last year when we were over, we noticed a change in that people showed recognition when we said we were from New Zealand."
Be the first to comment on this story