By Adam Lamin, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States) Before arriving at UNC, I had already had a slightly unusual start to my year abroad. One of my friends from home came out to the US with me beforehand, and we spent a couple of weeks in Miami before eventually driving up to Chapel Hill. After that, arriving at UNC the day before orientation felt like the real beginning of the exchange. I arrived at UNC knowing absolutely no one, but strangely, I did not feel nervous at all. I expected to maybe feel overwhelmed or slightly anxious, but instead I just felt excited. I had this…