Terp You Should Know, but he's Australian

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Michael Parker’s home institution is the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, where he studies business. He is currently in the second semester of a year-long exchange for business students from RMIT.

Parker has been to more states than the average American, as he spent time over the summer in California and took a bus from the West Coast to the east to return to Maryland. Parker has seen Boston, New Orleans and other major cities, but for now calls College Park his home.

Parker is one of almost 5,000 foreign students currently studying at the University of Maryland, and each student has a unique experience at the school.

For Parker, this has meant adjusting to American culture and the differences between America and Australia, but these factors have not stopped him from having a great time.

He said being “in a different country with no network of friends and family” a huge shock, but says the student body at Maryland made him feel welcome.

“The people in general are more guarded, but once you get to know them they are very open,” said Parker, who added that he has made many great connections over his two semesters at Maryland.

One of those connections is with sophomore Kyle Aceto, who describes Parker as “the most interesting man in America currently.”

Aceto enjoys that he gets a “different perspective” from an Australian.

This perspective has helped Aceto see his home country differently, such as when Parker asked what states cowboys were from.

“It made me realize that America was not the center of the world,” said Aceto.

While he says classwork is “very time-consuming and constant,” Parker’s course load has not been much harder than he was used to, and he has time to go out and enjoy himself.

This semester he got involved with Maryland’s Greek life and recently joined the school’s chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, where Aceto is also a member.

“Greek life must have been a tough adjustment, but he made it through,” said fellow ATO member Jake Bronstein, who specifically noted that Parker’s dialect soon was in tune with the American slang he was surrounded with.

Like Aceto, Bronstein and Parker’s relationship has been an exchange of sorts; Parker was able to teach Bronstein how to play cricket, an Australian staple.

Parker will be graduating after this semester, but hopes to get a job in the States in order to extend his visa and learn more of American culture.