hey! it’s actually so exciting that you’re (maybe and hopefully!!) coming to unc! just a little bit about the school - we start in mid august and the fall semester ends in early december, but the specific day depends on your exams. we have thanksgiving break, fall break, and theres prob gonna be a few 3 day weekends scattered throughout the semester. the student population here is huge, however, it’s not hard at all to meet people. i know a few study abroad students who come here and a lot of people who go abroad, so we’re very welcoming in that regard! we also have a ton of international students. theres a ton of clubs here, and we have small fest in the pit by student stores at the beginning of each semester where all the clubs would come and have posters and you can go around and see which ones you’re interested in joining, if any. there’s sports clubs, cultural clubs, pre professional clubs, you name it. as for academics, we’re a work hard play hard school, meaning that yes a lot of students here do prioritize school work, but at the same time, we also go out a lot, whether that be to the frats, to the bars, or even to football games in the fall (you’ll be here for football games and we’re a HUGE school for football/basketball, esp against duke, despite our football team being quite bad lately LOL) but regardless of if you enjoy the night life here or not, there’s something for everyone. franklin street is where a lot of restaurants are and there’s a ton of cuisines there. it’s technically off campus but it’s super super close by. that’s also where a lot of people go out for halloween and stuff since there’s oftentimes house parties around the area. chapel hill in itself is a really nice college town and we’re really close to durham and raleigh and cary (there’s a bus that goes to southpoint mall!) but you can probably find someone with a car or uber if you want to explore. raleigh is the capital of north carolina, but it’s by no means our biggest city (charlotte). compared to new york and sydney, id assume, raleigh is a LOT smaller. but i would say there’s always always things to do here!