Hello, I'm Evelyn.
I’m a junior exchange student from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. I arrived in Gainesville a few days ago, and I’ll be writing in this recurring column about what the move actually feels like, from culture shock and logistics to the small stuff people don’t warn you about.
Why UF? I wanted to study at a U.S. university with its own culture and actually see what a “big American college” feels like in real life, not just online. I moved out of my family home three years ago to attend university, and I’ve worked summers abroad in Europe, so I’m used to landing somewhere I don’t know anyone. But this is different. It’s not just a new city. It’s a new country, a new campus culture and a daily routine I can’t properly picture yet.
Right now, I’m writing this with my suitcase open on the floor, half-unpacked as I pull things out for class and then shove them back in again. I have a checklist that I keep “finishing” and then adding three more things to. I’ve read the same emails too many times, double-checked the same documents and convinced myself I’ve forgotten something essential, even though I can’t name what it is.
All of this nervous energy has to go somewhere, and it's made me hyper-aware of what’s different around me, specifically culturally. My initial surprise was the scale. UF isn’t a campus you casually pass through. It feels like its own city, with buses, campus police, gyms the size of sports centres and buildings that look like they could have their own weather system. Back home, the university sits inside the city. Here, the university basically is the city.
The next thing I noticed is how quickly people talk to you like they already know you. Someone will ask, “How are you?” and actually wait for the answer. I got called “ma’am” on my first day, which made me feel oddly respected and about 40 years older at the same time. I’m still getting used to how constant the friendliness is. Not in a bad way, just in a “my brain needs a second to catch up” way.
The temperature situation is its own adjustment. Outside is warm and inside is freezing. I did not expect to need a jumper in Florida, but apparently this is normal for winters here.
I also didn’t realize how much life is built around driving until I tried to do something basic like walk somewhere. Distances that look fine on a map suddenly aren’t, and some roads feel like they weren’t designed with pedestrians in mind. At home, walking is just part of the day. Here, it can feel like something you need to plan.
Even the classroom culture feels different. People speak up easily, even when they’re still forming the thought as they say it. In Ireland, you’d rather stay silent than risk sounding wrong. In Gainesville, getting it half-right out loud seems to be part of the process.
And I’ve become “the Irish one” faster than I expected. My accent does most of my introduction for me. It’s strange going from being completely normal at home to being a conversation starter everywhere I go.
So I’m starting this column here, after just arriving and before I have confident opinions. I want to write about the practical reality of moving: how you actually settle in, what feels unexpectedly easy, what’s harder than you thought and what you miss in ways you didn’t anticipate. If you’re already at UF, you’ll probably recognise a lot of it. If you’ve ever been new somewhere, you definitely will.
Contact Evelyn at eocarroll@alligator.org. Follow her on X @evelynocarroll.
