My semester abroad at the University of Alabama is quickly coming to a close. I've been saying farewell to my classmates and professors, finalizing my grades and frantically spending my remaining dining dollars (how I've managed to not use them all so far genuinely baffles me). On Saturday I will be leaving the Southern town of Tuscaloosa, my American college experience and the friends and fun that came along with it.

I know for a fact that I've changed since I left Australia. I'm a totally different person to the girl who almost had to be pried from her parents' arms at the airport. C'mon, living in another country is bound to teach you a thing or two about yourself! I've done a lot more than just move to another country though.

I've been living in a house with around twenty other international students, all who have very different cultural backgrounds and therefore different styles of living. I've also been to six other US states since arriving in Bama, however, these haven't been the smoothest of trips. Whether it was a flat tire on the way to Memphis, a dodgy Airbnb in New Orleans, or catching tonsillitis in Miami, something always managed to go wrong. However, my international friends and I were able to see the funny side in each of these situations, and it was our most recent trip to Tennessee (the trip of the flat tire) that showed us just how much we've all grown.

After being stranded on the side of the Interstate during a tornado, and finding shelter in a nearby Inn, we thought it would be a good time to reflect. What else were we going to do in the outskirts of Alabama in a hotel room at midnight? We have had a once in a lifetime experience coming to Alabama. There is no other time we'd be able to meet these many people, live our most spontaneous, reckless lives and travel to different states every other weekend. Feeling inspired after somehow not having simultaneous breakdowns through the flat tire ordeal, we went around the group and said what we've learned most about ourselves.

So here are my biggest moments of growth in a semester abroad, as told by an English, an Italian, two Scottish, and an Aussie in an Alabama Inn...

To accept people exactly as they come

If you want to learn about other cultures, I suggest you move into an old, fairly run-down, permanently-smelly house that's filled to the brim with international students. Until now, I didn't understand that people from other countries have different sleeping, eating, cleaning, and living styles. It's hard enough to coexist in harmony with someone similar to you, let alone with someone who barely speaks the same language as you. After months of being woken up early in the morning by my Italian roommate, watching my Vietnamese-American friend blend bread and drink it, and being asked if I want to party every night by an always-hungover French boy, I think it's fair to say I've learned that every single person has their differences. There's no point dwelling on them, just learn to love these differences — it's all part of personal growth.

To find the positives in every situation

When traveling and living out of home for a long period of time, you're bound to come across a million and one situations that sit a bit funny with you. At home, I used to get extremely upset if I felt uncomfortable in any way at all. This might have included being in a place I didn't like or hanging out with people I didn't like. Too many times have I missed out on fantastic activities because I was afraid they wouldn't go exactly as I wanted them to. After being through every strange, crazy, unbelievable experience possible during my time at college, I have learned that I can absolutely make it through any of them if I focus on the parts I'm enjoying.

To be myself whether others like it or not

I was so certain that I'd come to Alabama and make a good impression on every single person I met. I wanted EVERYONE to like me. I wanted to seem perfect like I had my life together and could be the fun friend everyone wants. Little did I know that it's impossible to keep up an unreal persona 24/7. I didn't process that I'd be living with these people and spending 90% of my day surrounded by them. I've had absolutely no choice but to be myself, and same with them. I now love how we all have our own unique personalities, and I've understood that I click with some people and don't click with others. No one can ever get along with absolutely everyone in a room unless they're faking it - and I most certainly don't want to be faking it. There's no better feeling than just being yourself and finding the perfect place where you fit in as that self.

So thank you, Alabama. Not only have you given me the most memorable experience and friends that I could ever want in life, but you've also allowed me to grow and gain a new perspective on the world that I could never have understood elsewhere. My home in Brisbane will never feel quite like home again because a part of me will always belong in that silly international house in Tuscaloosa.