My name is Leonardo Velasco, I am a Chicano from West-side Phoenix. I had never been outside of the United States, so traveling to Australia all on my own was an outrageous idea for my immigrant family. I wanted to break a barrier for people like me and to experience a new culture. I could not wait to experience a completely new culture. It was a pleasant surprise to learn about cultures from all over the world. I made great friends with people from all over including, France, Colombia, Mexico, and Spain. To this day, I keep in contact with these friends and many have even offered their homes if I ever were to visit their countries. I was able to learn about multiple cultures, but I was only able to truly experience the Aussie, from saying G’day mate to screaming Hooroo. One weird example I always tell my friends about Aussie culture is that they eat Kangaroo down there like we eat burgers. This is completely absurd here because if anyone is ever caught eating a Bald Eagle, our national symbol, they would be thrown in jail.
Additionally, I studied at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), ranked 45th in the entire world, I like to compare it to the Harvard of Australia. The learning style at UNSW is completely different when compared to ASU. There are NO curves regardless of the class average, while at UNSW I took Physics and I remember the class average for an exam was 30%, the professor did not grant a curve or re-do. I quickly learned to adapt to a new system of education and this, without a doubt has helped me become more versatile in a competitive global job market.
