Jessica Reagan

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I come from a land down under

When I landed in Los Angeles, people asked me why I came to the United States. I would tell them I came here to study, after which they would grow excited and proceed to ask me where I was studying. When I replied with UW-Madison, every person’s reaction was the same: They all looked at me, sometimes in fear, sometimes jokingly, and asked, “You know it is cold there, don’t you?” Of course I did. I had put some serious research into my study abroad program, and though my arrival in the great U.S. of A. in the middle of winter could be construed as crazy, I had chosen to test my limits in the freezing cold  Wisconsin.