Hello, Guten Tag, Bonjour
Hello — This semester, I am studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France with the Vanderbilt-in-France (ViF) program in order to fulfill some final requirements for my French major and to have an amazing experience in Europe!
Guten Tag — I started off my journeys by traveling to Dusseldorf, Germany with my father to visit my aunt’s family and my grandmother. We left way back on Dec. 30th and spent 2 wonderful weeks with family. Today is my last full day in Germany during which I have slept in wonderfully, will visit my grandmother one last time, and will cook a goodbye dinner for my aunt’s family.
Bonjour — Tomorrow I will arrive in France at around 2:30pm and then take a bus and a taxi to finally arrive at my new home in a hostel where I will live with two other Vanderbilt students and one French one. It’s weird to think, as I pack my bags once more — this time just to take a quick two hour plane flight over to France — that most of my friends are still in the US and have already started school again. I’ve been gchatting and skyping with some friends and even started a travel blog to stay in touch with them and my family…but I can already tell that I’m starting to miss them a lot.
Living and taking courses with people in college speeds up the friend-making process like none other because you literally live and breathe the same air as these kids 24/7. This only makes it more difficult to say goodbye for a semester to these people that I have spent the past two and half years with. I know a few people in my program in France, but none of them are close friends…yet!
Vanderbilt has all of these great opportunities to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and get to know new, different people whether it’s on campus by joining a random club team, a cultural group, or a new philanthropy to studying abroad for a semester (or a year)!
I’m super excited to set off on what will certainly be an unforgettable semester, so check out my blogs this semester to see what studying abroad with Vanderbilt is like! =)
