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International Exchange

Nick by the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco

Nick leaping at Machu Picchu in Peru

Getting friendly with a desert cactus in USA

Nick Baker: University of California, Berkeley

And so it is that I am back in the land of Oz after six and a half months of travelling the world. I return with an open mind and itchy feet, with newfound knowledge that the world is my oyster and the day must always be seized. However, apart from a plethora of clichés I return with amazing memories, unbridled ambitions and a wardrobe full of tacky souvenir t-shirts.

I packed up and left the country one warm January day early this year. Fifteen hours later I was in San Francisco, the city by the bay which was to be my home for the next four and a half months. I was bound for the University of California, Berkeley, a uni which boasts much more than a list of distinguished alumni. It is the state's oldest, the birthplace of the free speech movement and was the epicentre of the summer of 69. In true US style I opted for college living. International House College was made up of 500+ students from 80+ countries. Never before have I been so bombarded with cultural obscurities, spontaneous road trips, eccentric personalities and bad food. Dinnertime conversations ranged from Italian politics to Russian films to French philosophy.

To say that college life is 'just like the films' is an understatement of epic proportions. Not only did I bust a move at frat parties, cheer on Berkeley at basketball games and angrily shake my fist at anti-Bush rallies, but I had a phenomenal time on 'spring break. Me and seven International House buddies headed to South America. A more hardy and adventurous Peru Crew has never before been seen nor will ever be seen again. Machu Picchu was amazing, white water rafting though the Andes Mountains was stunning, and wandering cobblestone streets in Spanish colonial towns was enchanting.

"The road is life," said San Francisco beat poet Jack Kerouac. When my time at Berkeley was up, I packed my bag and found just what Kerouac was on about. I travelled 9000km+ across US highways from sea to shining sea. I climbed the Grand Canyon, had my birthday in Vegas, found out just how big Texas is (it's big), swam to Mexico, partied in New Orleans, hiked 27km through the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee, sang sea shanties on the beaches of North Carolina and eventually found myself in Boston. Phew.

I was then able to take a deliciously large bite out of the Big Apple. Yum. I did all that one is meant to do in NY- ascended the Empire State, saluted the Statue of Liberty, and had a casual run-in with Scarlett Johansson in Central Park. But ten days meant I could also whittle away hours in museums and galleries, have a coffee at the Seinfeld cafe and just wander the metropolitan jungle that is New York City.

Washington DC is a city that oozes with power. The air is thick with status as politicians and fat cats wander its wide boulevards. For my ten days here I got to sit in on congress and wave down to Hilary Clinton, checked out mountains of "American treasures" at the Smithsonians (from the Fonzs jacket to Lincoln's top hat), struck a Nixon pose at Watergate and rolled my eyes at the White House.

America is a land of contrasts and clichés, fast food and dam fast living, super-sized cokes and even bigger ambitions, limited only by the seemingly endless stretches of highway. Amazing indeed.

-Nicholas Baker

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