Joe Bagazinski, 2014-15 New Zealand and Sydney Sustainable Business student blogger, writes:

Hi everyone! My name is Joe Bagazinski; I am a senior marketing student from the University of North Texas.

Nine months ago I was casually sitting in my Marketing Foundations course when an opportunity to do a Wintermester abroad in New Zealand and Australia was presented to us.

“Well, I don’t have anything better to do…”

Those words have become a motto for me. Many students pass up the opportunity to study abroad because of time, money or an assortment of other reasons. Despite having to navigate some challenges, I decided that I was not going to be one of those students. I want to see the world, and this will be my first step.

Often, the question is “Why should I do this?” but I consider that to be the wrong way to look at experiences. If you don’t have anything better to do, go do it, or ask yourself “Is there a good reason NOT to do it?”

Next week students from UNT and the University of Montana will be heading to New Zealand and Sydney on AUIP’s Sustainable Business Program – and I am one of them!

Hopefully following my posts on this blog will make you feel like you’re sitting across the table in New Zealand and Sydney as I write my posts. I plan on having plenty of pictures to share as well as a video or two documenting the days I spend abroad. From the extreme sports hub of Queenstown to recovering Christchurch and from windy Wellington to the cultural mecca that is Sydney, I’m excited to see what the world down under has in store for me.