Nicole Ocampo Montoya (Preferred Name: Nico)
Nicole Ocampo Montoya (Preferred Name: Nico) (she/her) - Stanford at The University of Queensland, Australia
Major: Mechanical Engineer (BS)
College year while abroad: Autumn 2025-26
About the photo: A Heron Island sunset at Shark Bay wearing my most essential item: my purple raincoat. A bunch of stingrays and sharks like to hang out here -- just one of the many surreal places you'll stumble upon in Aus. While on Heron, it became a bit of tradition to walk around the island every night with our cohort.
Contact
Email: nicoleom@stanford.edu or click here to schedule an appointment.
Q&As
Why did you choose to study in Australia?
Australia is one of the farthest places in the world, wherever you are. Who knows when else I'd get to go and give it the time it deserved? Most of all I wanted to be constantly moved around, uncomfortable in a good way, and forced to actually absorb a place instead of visiting it. I spent my childhood weekends in the Colombian countryside, so nature has always been where I feel most grounded. And with the program being so exploratory and mobile, traveling up and down the eastern coast through Australia's ecosystems and living in them just really excited me.
How did studying away support your academic growth?
Australia moves course by course every two weeks so you don't have time to get comfortable. You’re meant to fully absorb where you are instead of coasting. There was something fun and adventurous about learning this way, understanding a reef by swimming through it, or hearing the country's history from the people who've cared for it for 60,000 years. I've always liked moving fast, through tasks, days, and life, but Aus made me slow down to notice the little things. I think that focus has made me a more patient person and a more patient student.
What did you learn about yourself during your study away experience, especially through any challenges or major cultural adjustments?
That I need a whole lot less to feel at home somewhere than I ever thought. I can fit my life into two backpacks, sleep on a wooden bunk with no mattress, go a week or two with little to no cell service, wake up to a flooded tent, get knocked around by waves, and still feel at ease. I learned that, for me, comfort and happiness don't necessarily mean the same thing; which I guess is pretty great news for me, considering how often I keep finding myself in these situations.
Briefly describe a typical day and your favorite part of daily life in your program location.
At 5:45am your alarm goes off and you don't even think twice because in 15 minutes you're swimming with a turtle, a stingray, a reef shark, and everything else fades. Every day looks different, but the same wonder is there, that’s the promise of the Aus program: a 4am bird call watch, a cold plunge in Bondi, surfing at Burleigh, sock wrestling on a sand dune in K'gari. Each day you will see something so striking that it makes you question if the place before you is real or make-believe. But it's real, so you enjoy it.
If applicable, how did participating in an internship, volunteership or experiential-based project help you grow professionally? What specific skills did you gain?
N/A.
What was the most essential item you took with you on the program?
My dear friend’s Cybershot digi cam and my purple raincoat; one to capture the moments and the other to survive them (although that jacket really became more of my comfort item than a lifeline against the mainly non-existent rain).
What advice would you give students who are considering studying away?
Go far, and do it scared. Don't pick the place that feels safest or the one all your friends are doing; pick the one that scares you a little, the one you know nothing about, the one that if you skip, you'll forever ask yourself what-if. Instead go somewhere you can ask yourself why not, and trust you'll figure it out, because you always do.