Katherine, “Kate,” Huth is a first-year student studying in the Global Studies department after 15 years of teaching in schools and Universities around the world. When she is not working, she describes herself as “a total geek” and spends her hours reading sci-fi and fantasy, watching Doctor Who and chasing Pokemon.
What made you choose UNC/NC when deciding on a program/place to study?
I came to UNC as a part of the Rotary Peace Fellowship. There are only 6 centers in the world where you can study with this program and of all of them UNC gave me the best opportunities to mesh my different areas of interest.
What is the most different thing you’ve seen or experienced since being here in comparison to your home country?
This isn’t the first time I have moved overseas to work or for study, but it is the first time I have moved to a country that speaks English, so a lot of the things that I find different here are just people using words that I know but in ways I can’t understand!! Honestly, I keep finding joy in the everyday things that are both the same and different – like the look on the face of a barista when I order a flat white.
What is something you wish you had known before moving here?
I wish I had known more about the area here before I moved. When you live overseas you hear about the big cities and the giant states, North Carolina doesn’t make it onto the radar very often. Over the last few months I have discovered so many weird and wonderful places and activities just locally that I would have loved to have known about earlier.
It might sound strange, but the museums here seem to go a little weird at night. Every week there is a different event like turning the whole place into a 1920’s speakeasy or the science of wine. It lets me know more about what has happened here in the past as well as getting to run around and play in a museum without all the kids getting in the way. Even out and about, there are all sorts of different activities once you look past the movie screenings and fun runs. I actually get most of them from my feed in Facebook – other people get meetings for human rights, but I get taste testing for beer and girl scout cookie pairings
Where is a place in your home country that every tourist should visit and why?
Australia is full of so many different places for different people that it is hard to pick just one thing. One experience I think everyone should take, if they have the chance, is to take the train from Sydney to Perth. It is 4 days long, but it takes you through every type of scenery in the country as you go from east to west.
How will your Carolina degree help you make a difference in the world?
My aim in coming here is to get the skills to work with teachers in developing nations to change the path and pattern of education. The types of things I am learning and the people I have been lucky enough to meet are going to be a big part of this future.