For most people, moving from Alberta, Canada to Durham would be a pretty big culture shock.
For Marian Dickinson, it seemed quite ordinary.
The sophomore has been on the go nearly all her life. Born in Waratah, Australia, Dickinson's family criss-crossed the continent in her early childhood, living in Newcastle, Canberra and Perth. It was in the Land Down Under where Dickinson discovered her passion for field hockey.
When Dickinson, who still carries a strong trace of an Australian accent, was 10, her family moved to Hong Kong. During her freshman year of high school, Dickinson's family moved again, this time to Alberta.
"We don't do small moves," said Dickinson with a laugh.
Throughout her nomadic adolescence, Dickinson always found an outlet in field hockey, playing for her middle and high schools, as well as junior national teams in Hong Kong and Canada.
And when the sport finally brought her to Duke, Dickinson's traveling experiences helped smooth an often difficult transition.
"It definitely made it easier," Dickinson said. "I've lived in a number of places that have had completely different social ways of life and cultures, so coming down here wasn't a huge deal."
Dickinson exploded onto the scene, notching a hat trick in her first collegiate game. She finished her freshman season fourth on the team in points, and head coach Beth Bozman said she fit in with a senior-laden squad that featured Katie Grant and Nicole Dudek, two of Duke's top four all-time leading scorers.
"She's a very smart player, she really knows the game, and that makes her easy to play with," Bozman said. "She really knows where to move and how to score, and I think the seniors appreciated that."
Despite her initial success on the field, Dickinson said she did have difficulty balancing her athletics with her pursuit of an engineering degree. As one of just two players in Pratt, she often has to rush from labs to practice. But she said she has become more comfortable with the situation this year.
"In terms of academics, social, field hockey-the whole deal-sophomore year is eight times better than freshman year," she said.
The change has been most obvious on the field, where Dickinson has excelled in leading the Blue Devils' now-young front line. The sophomore has 11 goals through just nine games and leads the ACC in both points and goals per game.
"What really helped her was training with the Canadian national team this summer," Bozman said. "That gave her a lot of confidence, and just getting a full year under her belt at the college level helped take her game to another level."
Dickinson truly reached a new level when she recorded back-to-back hat tricks against Appalachian State and Old Dominion Sept. 16 and 17. It was her first such accomplishment at any level.
New experiences, however, are nothing new for Dickinson.
Dickinson said she appreciated moving around as a child and the opportunities it afforded her. Still, she had trouble adjusting to the move from Hong Kong and said would like to eventually return to Australia.
"I need to find out where home is, so I want to go there and see if that's it," she said.
For now, Dickinson is just enjoying her time creating a home at Duke.
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