Around the World with Dartmouth Field Hockey: Jenn Weissbach

I am currently studying abroad at the University of Sydney in Australia. I am taking classes in the Anthropology and Philosophy department at the University in order to fulfill some of my distributive requirements at Dartmouth. My time in Australia is winding down and I can honestly say that this has been the best experience of my life! I am living in an apartment in the heart of Sydney with four other female athletes from Dartmouth.

I have been on so many adventures here in Australia!! Of course, I have toured the Sydney Opera House and visited Sydney Harbour and the Royal Botanic Gardens many times. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is even better in person! Additionally, we flew to Melbourne to go see the Australian Open of tennis. Seeing a professional major tennis tournament in person was simply amazing; the atmosphere, the people, the athletes, everything was incredible. A few weekends later we visited the Blue Mountains, home to the second largest national park in the world.

My last adventure consisted of a few of us flying to Cairns to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We took a three-day, two-night cruise on the Reef and snorkeled at over five different sites on the Reef!! Not only did we see sea turtles, stingrays, and thousands of different kinds of fish, we also got the opportunity to swim with sharks!!! Having sharks swimming all around you is one of the scariest, exhilarating experiences I have had in my life!

And finally, I will be spending my last week on this side of the world by flying to Auckland, New Zealand and hopefully going skydiving and bungee jumping!!

Going abroad has undoubtedly been one of the best experiences of my life and I am so thankful that Dartmouth has given me the opportunity to study in another country. I will be very sad to leave Australia, but I will treasure these memories for the rest of my life.

- Jenn Weissbach '14