I know I don’t update this blog like I should, or like I thought I would even. I feel a little embarrassed that I couldn’t force myself to keep up with this as much. I think I’ve found that most of what I’ve learned while over here has been very personal and difficult to filter out. I write a lot, but not for this. Here I feel like a different person. Back at home I am much more academically curious, astute, and organized. Here, I will purposefully forget to do [...]

I’ve started counting down until I have to leave for France. I’m really excited to be gone for 6 (rather 7) weeks, and a part of me feels like it’s not long enough to really get the language exposure I want. My main hope out of all of this is that I’m going to feel more confident speaking French, and understand native speaking patterns. I’m reaching that point where it’s a bit senseless to try and learn any more grammatical rules. I just need to jump in the water and [...]

I have decided to redefine the phrase “culture shock”. It’s the terror and excitement of contemplating who you are within a world that recognizes you as a foreigner. It’s getting the airport and not being able to rely on your typical methods of etiquette in order to get what you want. Subtleties suddenly become the only thing that makes you the other and you begin to understand that you don’t belong. This sounds rather gloomy, but I really do enjoy it. I arrived at Charles de Gaulle with a 12 [...]

- Get over my fear of speaking French to native speakers. I’m my own worst critic. – Get to know my host family well and go out of my way to get to know them. – Update this blog regularly. – Take pictures of myself with friends! That is the one thing I regret about the last time I went to France, I didn’t want to seem like a tourist so I didn’t take them as much. – Go for some bike rides around Montpellier, since it costs about 2 [...]