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From my first year of high school French on, I was determined to see France for myself. I did not foresee this hope coming to fruition in part due to my status as an engineering student and in part, because I had no college language experience and therefore did not qualify for most programs in that country.

In researching and speaking with mentors, I repeatedly heard that a semester was impossible with my degree, but to look forward to spending a summer. The 2014-15 spring semester however, I finally saw my dream come true. Through a third-party program, I found the opportunity to spend a full semester in France at a university offering engineering courses taught in English. I lived in the small coastal town of Antibes, France—a bus ride from the international airport in Nice and a train ride from the Italian border. My apartment balcony overlooked the Mediterranean, and the Alps were visible in the distance to the left. I lived with four other female American students, two of whom were my travelling companions and became some of my best friends. The location and situation were more than ideal and contributed to one of the best experiences of my life.

At my university, SKEMA, I took two engineering courses: Applied Dynamics and Thermodynamics, along with two general requirement humanities courses: Intro to Psychology and Intro to Theater. The engineering courses were not as difficult as I expected and my professors were gregarious and enthusiastic. I felt comfortable studying in that setting, and rolled my eyes at their great dislike for the US Customary system. The Gen-Ed courses enabled me to knock off two more required classes, and were a fun experience as the teachings had a twist of European, and particularly French, point of view.

The school body was very accepting of exchange students as well, and I even had the opportunity to learn to snow ski in the French Alps on a school-sponsored trip during my first month abroad. As for travelling, SKEMA’s schedule allowed me to have Fridays off, so I was lucky enough to view every weekend as a long weekend, and an opportunity to travel. My excursions took me to: Rome, Venice, Barcelona, Paris, Normandy, Lyon, Geneva, London, and Athens, among other, smaller towns and trips.

My program also planned several outings for us to nearby locations such as St. Tropez, the Provence region of France, and San Remo, Italy. The semester was a whirlwind of fitting anything and everything I could into the quickly diminishing available weekends. Of all my trips, my favorites had to be the Normandy region of France and Athens, Greece.

Normandy was stunning in its historic significance. It was humbling, chilling, and awe-inspiring to see the beaches stormed on D-Day, the cemeteries of those fallen, and the memories left behind. I felt a deeper connection to this region and these sites than any other place in all of France.

 

Athens was spectacular in its own way. Heavy with Greek history, legends, and artifacts, it was amazing to see for myself so many temples and world-renown monuments about which you grow up learning so much. Not only were the landmarks amazing for their fame, but the country was gorgeous as well. I took a day trip down to the Cape of Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon and was blown away the entire trip by the beauty of the natural countryside. But I would be misrepresenting my visit if I failed to praise the wonderful people that I met while there. In no other country did I feel more cared about and looked after than in Greece. So many times, I was careless with protecting my purse only to find myself quickly reminded and lightly reprimanded by a local to be careful and keep it close. There were certainly some shadier characters, as the country is and was in financial ruin during my visit, but I somehow still felt safe in all my wanderings.

I could go on for hours writing about all the things I learned, experienced, and loved about my semester abroad, but never could I truly convey what it meant to me. I learned so much about myself from finding my confidence as an individual to make an excursion alone (well planned!), to learning how to live with people of very different personalities and beliefs, to appreciating the world and stories available to my curious mind.

I learned a cultural awareness that came from sitting in a class of Chinese, French, American, Swedish, Russian, German, and other international students, and a huge appreciation for being born into an English-speaking family. All in all, my semester was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I’m already prepared to do it again. I will have to let the money dictate that plan though.