This week’s Campus Cutie is a recent world traveler.
George Bradford Collins Jr. is a junior here at Mason, but has been spending the last month exploring Europe on one of George Mason’s study abroad programs. Though the program was based out of Florence, he had the opportunity to see the Eiffel Tower in France, walk the streets of Barcelona, and explore Prague.
Age: 22. And yes, I do feel 22 every day.
Hometown: South Riding, Virginia.
Year: Junior
Major: Communications, minor in Writing and Rhetoric with a concentration in Media Production and Criticism.
What made you choose this major? I like writing and it’s very writing-intensive. I should be an English major, but that is more literary analyzing and not as much creative writing. I can do that a lot in communications.
Why did you want to study abroad? Dr. Wright has been my advisor ever since I became a comm major, and she led this program abroad. She’d been trying to get me to go for like, two years, and I kept blowing it off, and one day she was like, “The deadline is in a week, just apply.” So I applied for the program, wasn’t sure about it. I got in, and still wasn’t sure about it. I sat there and realized that if I didn’t go, in 20 years, I would have wished I had. So I went, and it was 5 amazing months.
Your favorite memory of the program? All of the traveling, but specifically the beach clubs in Barcelona, because they were unreal. At the end of the night we all just kind of sat out on the beach and hung out, and it was so cool to just be there by the beach and water again, because Florence is landlocked.
Your favorite city and why? Prague. The bar scene is awesome, the clubs are amazing, and the city and girls were beautiful.
Your favorite place you visited? I got to climb Mt. Vesuvius, and I took five years of latin in high school, and I have done nothing but read about it. To go there and experience it, it was very cool to go full circle and everything.
Favorite food on the abroad program? Bistecca Florentina, or the Florentine Steak. They only give it to you rare, and it was massive. You can’t finish by yourself, and it had tons of salt in it. It was delicious.
What are your plans for the summer? Beach week… But really, I am looking at going back home and working for some of the bars as a server. I pretty much lived at the bars in Europe. I am also taking 6 credits in the summer.
What fraternity are you involved in, and what have you learned from Greek life? I am a brother of Kappa Sigma. I like how it gives a sense of campus life, because I was a commuter my freshman year, and was not very involved and I did not know that many people. When I moved on campus and became Greek, I made a lot of friends and not just in Kappa Sigma, but it opened the door for other fraternities and sororities. Without Kappa Sigma, I don’t think I would have had the same enjoyable experience at Mason.
What would you suggest to people who are thinking of studying abroad, but aren’t sure? Do it. That’s it. Do it. You need to. I would do it again. I would leave right now and go back. Everyone who can go, should. It shouldn’t even be a maybe, just go. It was the best advice I can give. Just pull the trigger on it and do it. You won’t regret it.