And now she is preparing for the bittersweet homesickness she knows will set in when she finally lands at LAX in Los Angeles next week.
“I'm a homebody and I love being home, so I'm expecting it to be hard in that sense but I definitely feel like I need to go,” Ms Giuliani said.
“I'm at that point where the opportunities are all there.”
After a challenging year spent watching coronavirus ravage the United States, and a long struggle to organise a visa, the determined guitarist holds a ticket to Los Angeles and is set to depart Sydney on Monday morning.
Four days before her departure date Ms Giuliani was anxiously rearranging her travel plans yet again.
“I just got a notification this morning that my connecting flight from Melbourne to Sydney has been cancelled,” Ms Giuliani said on Thursday. “It's like one slap in the face after the other.”
Instead of travelling to Los Angeles with her mother as per last year's plan, Ms Giuliani will wave goodbye to her parents and beloved dog Lucy at Albury Airport to begin her journey.
“I had planned for Mum to come with me, she was going to come set me up, you know, do a big cook-up so I had some stuff in the freezer, show me the ropes of living alone,” Ms Giuliani said.
Thankfully, the passion that compelled Ms Giuliani to push through the stress of leaving home was the same pastime that soothed her anxiety.
“I just play the guitar,” she said.
Ms Giuliani was thrilled to be offered a place at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2019, which boasted alumni such as John Mayer, Quincy Jones and Aimee Mann.
But she said she wanted to be sure she wound up at a school that was well-suited to her style.
After a gap year working in Shepparton, teaching music and building her Instagram account - which Giuliani said was akin to a musician's online portfolio - in January 2020 the devoted guitarist travelled to Los Angeles to visit the Musicians Institute (MI) College of Contemporary Music.
“It surpassed all expectations I had for my dream school,” she said.
“MI absolutely blew me away.”
Where Berklee offered a "traditional program", Ms Giuliani said MI was more modern and would allow her the flexibility of moving between genres, instead of focussing on just one.
Feeling sure she had found the right fit, Ms Giuliani accepted an offer to study in LA at an institution with alumni that included Grammy Award-winning rapper Anderson.Paak and guitarist Jennifer Batten, who played all three of Michael Jackson's world tours.
Buzzing with excitement, Ms Giuliani came home to Shepparton to pack her bags, planning to return to LA to commence her studies in guitar and music production in March 2020.
Until, the COVID-19 pandemic slammed international borders shut.
“I've been studying remotely online ever since, waiting to get to LA when campus reopens,” Ms Giuliani said.
“For the last year, I feel like I've been living in two time zones, because I've been having to make classes and meet deadlines in LA time.”
Ms Giuliani said she was able to bond with her teachers despite the distance, and juggling an immense workload, she was awarded a place on a list of the school's top performers for each quarter she completed.
Meanwhile, she has developed a dedicated fanbase on Instagram, having doubled the number of people following her over the past two years to 100,000.
Ms Giuliani also found paid work and promotional opportunities online, and has international contacts eagerly awaiting her arrival in America.
“Who knew the possibilities?" she said.
“The amount that I've done just from being in my bedroom in Shepparton!”
To keep up with Sophie's journey, follow her on Instagram @sophiegiuliani.
