Meet One of Our New Peer Advisors: Mark Cox! #HogsAbroad

Hello!  My name is Mark Cox. I’m from Little Rock, Arkansas and I’m a Senior Marketing major here at the University.  Since high school, I always knew that I wanted to study abroad, but I was never quite sure where I wanted to go.  I thought about traveling to Spain, Ireland, or Italy.  Those places are cool, right?  

 Well, after weighing out options, study abroad didn’t look very promising anymore.  It seemed like none of the programs would work for my major.  I decided to keep on looking, and I stumbled upon a program in Dunedin, New Zealand that worked perfectly for me. 

New Zealand? Isn’t that where hobbits and elves live?  It sounded like it was too far from home for me, but after reading more about the country and its beauty, I realized that I wasn’t going to find anything quite as cool as New Zealand. 

In no time, it was February 16th, and I was hopping on a 14 hour flight to a life-changing semester in the “land of the long white cloud.”

Through my experience abroad, I saw some beautiful things!  There was nothing quite like kayaking through Milford Sound or Hiking in Mount Cook National Park, but by the end of the semester, I came to realize that the countryside only held a fraction of New Zealand’s beauty.  The true beauty of New Zealand lied in its people and its culture.  

Avalanche Peak | Arthur’s Pass

Lake Rotoiti | Nelson Lakes National Park

From the moment I stepped off the plane, I felt nothing but love from the people of New Zealand.  There was this sense of hospitality that people had there that I had never felt before.  I can’t even remember a day that someone didn’t put a cup of tea in my hands!  They truly cared about the wellbeing of others, and this mentality pushed me to become a better person.

My time abroad was absolutely incredible, and I look forward to giving others that opportunity.

Cheers!

Mark Cox
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Come meet Mark and the other peer advisors, along with office of study abroad staff, faculty leaders, program providers and other study abroad alumni at the Study Abroad Fair tomorrow, Tuesday, September 20, from 10am-2pm in the Intl Connections Lounge of the Arkansas Union!