Jillian Pellicano, the Lions Abroad marketing intern, writes:

Bula! My name is Jillian Pellicano, and I am eager to represent Penn State as the Lions Abroad Marketing Intern. I am a junior marketing student with a passion for exploration and the outdoors.

For as long as I can remember, Fiji and Australia have been the two places in the world that I have always dreamt of visiting. This past summer, I was fortunate enough to spend five weeks with some unforgettable people through the AUIP North Queensland and Fiji programs. Both destinations fully lived up to all my excitement to explore these two amazing locations.

Jillian showing Fijian kids how to operate her camera

This program meant more to me than I originally anticipated. As expected, some of my favorite highlights include snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, learning how to surf in Fiji, bungee jumping in Australia on a free day and touring the Sydney Opera House. However, the real highlight of my study abroad was meeting some of the greatest people and learning some things about myself that would have been hard to notice without this experience.

Exploring Sydney, Australia

My entire life, up until this program, I have been an extremely home-oriented person. I am very close with my family so, needless to say, the prospect of spending over a month halfway around the world with a bunch of people I barely knew terrified me.

Luckily, this program was able to extract from me a newfound independence, which I have taken with me ever since. I am a more self-sufficient, daring and go-getting person after this experience. Eager to try new things, I no longer fear the difficult or foreign opportunities in my future, but rather I look to them with excitement and ambition. All of these reasons lend to my excitement for sharing my story with prospective students as the Lions Abroad Marketing Intern.