What is the American college experience like? Is it really like what we see in the movies? These questions planted the seed for me to apply for an exchange in the U.S. I’m from New Zealand (NZ), where most people grow up engaging heavily with American media and entertainment from politics to Hollywood.

My phone buzzed. “This email is regarding the Allen House New York Trip. Your current status is: Waitlisted.” My shoulders slumped. The house committee was organising a weekend trip to New York for forty students — a trip everyone wanted in on — and I’d been wishing so hard I might bend luck in my favour.