F3. My Thoughts

Even though I am a member of the 357 French group, I have chosen to write my post in English. This is because I believe that I can best convey my thoughts for students studying abroad next year in English. It's a little difficult for this post to be thorough, because there is so much information to discuss. I have chosen one topic in particular, and that is the adjustment to the big city lifestyle.

As a whole, I enjoyed the problem very much. Unfortunately, there was one week where I hurt my back, and was unable to proceed with visiting monuments as I would have liked. However, my first piece of advice is to always put yourself out there. Just walking around the streets of Paris is a cultural experience in itself. For some reason I waited until the last two weeks to start exploring my arrondissement. Bad decision. I should have started the moment I walked in the door.

For me, adjusting to Paris and the language was not that difficult. Adjusting to the big city lifestyle was. I have taken plenty of journeys where I have used the metro, but never for five weeks straight. I was unaccustomed to taking the metro, walking in the rain, buying groceries blocks away, and other things that make city life in general a little bit harder. (This of course, is my opinion.) I had never (in recent years) lived in an apartment where I could hear my neighbors. Living in a dorm is one thing, living in a big city apartment is another. No matter where I went, it seemed like I met thousands of new people. On Clemson's campus, you seem to run into the sam circles of people constantly. that was a change in Paris, but in my opinion it was a welcome change.

If I could change one thing about this Paris trip, I would change how I prepared for the trip. I wish I could have forseen that my biggest adjustment would be to city life, and not to the language. I was so caught up on making my French understandable, that I completely forgot about the aspect of living in a city that is about 100 times bigger than my hometown. I completely forgot that I wouldn't be taking cars, that I would be walking everywhere. (although I must say, the weight loss is a wonderful benefit.) As I mentioned earlier, I loved the program as a whole. But getting used to the city was a struggle.

The classes at the Sorbonne are greater. The class with Mme Clay is interesting, promenades with Christina are wonderful, and if you can handle all of that, then you should be fine. Remember, this is a STUDY abroad. There is plenty of time for fun, just remember, you do have assignments, and they do have due dates. Not everyone on the trip was like me, there were some people who had a more difficult time adjusting to the language. With that said, I simply encourage you to remember that no two people had the same experience here. We all came and left with different life backgrounds. My advice to you, the student, is to make sure that you really think about the areas you might struggle with. Give them some thought, and come up with some solutions to help the transition become a little bit easier.

Mme Clay did tell me that culture shock was a part of this program, and unfortunately, I didn't believe it would affect me. I wrote on my first blog post that I can't prepare for the unexpected, but had I put a little more thought into it, I most likely could have known to expect this culture shock coming.

Thanks Mme Clay for a WONDERFUL program. I had the time of my life over here, and I know students next year will as well. Au revoir!