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Hello!
It's me again.
I'm back.
in America!
Yeah.
The most common question I get is
"Are you still in France?"
and, actually, perhaps you recognize this right here.
this array of photos.
um, but it's just a recreation.
I am no longer in France.
Actually, I've been back for about a year now.
So.
How was my experience? I suppose that's the next question that follows.
And
The reviews are mixed.
Specifically, my review is mixed
'cause I'm one person.
It was hard.
It was great, but it was hard.
Whenever people ask me, "How was France?",
like just in conversation someone will ask me
my response is, "It was a dream."
It was a dream fulfilled to go to France.
I wanted to go to France ever since I started learning French my freshman year of high school.
and so to be actually able to go and to experience French culture
and go to a French university was what I had dreamed of for years.
and so, overall, I loved -- love, love, love, love, loved -- going to France
and I would go back
but it was hard.
and I didn't hear much of this perspective before going
I don't think I'm alone.
I think there are probably other people who feel this way
how many people, I don't know
probably a lot, if I'm guessing.
It was difficult to be taken out of everything you ever knew.
and I suppose that's sort of what you sign up for and sort of -- it's what I wanted!
I wanted to experience something that was completely different from what I had known.
and that's an exciting thing to do
but it's also trying
because I no longer had
a good grasp on the culture
I...
I struggled in my classes to a point because
most of them were taught in French
and even if they were taught in English
they were taught differently because the school system works a lot differently there.
a lot...? yeah.
and then, of course, I went in basically having no friends.
I knew the girls vaguely; I had met them once before I went.
specifically the American girls from my same program
and there were five of us total, including myself.
so you're going in alone
to this new culture that you don't completely understand
like, you think you understand, but you don't.
and even after you've lived in it for
what was that, four months?
I mean, yeah, just over four months I was in France.
Even after four months, I...
I still don't completely understand it.
so I went through some periods that were very difficult
where I felt very alone
and sad
Honestly, I had some pretty low points during the semester.
It was just very difficult
and I think part of it was I went in with the expectation that it wouldn't be.
I just thought I would handle it fine.
I don't know! I didn't really think about how difficult it would be.
and so I went in thinking that even though I didn't have friends going in,
that it would be easy enough to make friends
and that even though my French wasn't perfect
I was pretty confident I could get around
but, in terms of friends,
I was hardly there to be able to make friends
I ended up hanging out a lot with the American girls there and a couple Canadian girls
and then, yeah, met a few other English-speaking friends
but it was really hard to make close friendships
which is what I kind of expected... I don't know why.
Four months isn't very long at all!
I wish I could have done a whole year.
I'm sure that would have been hard in its own respect
perhaps even moreso to be there longer
but it would give you
a better chance of making closer friends
and
I also went in thinking that I would be able to make French friends
and really wanting to be friends with French people
but, again, I wasn't there long enough
and also it's just not
the kind of culture where you can do that, I don't think.
From my experience, I don't think people make super quick friends there.
In America, we are very welcoming
not that they aren't, but just that we can make friends very quickly
and be, like, at a certain level of friendship quicker than French people.
I think that's true.
and so I didn't make any French friends
which is disappointing.
Another thing that I was kind of nervous about was speaking French
even though I had a basic level of French
a proficient level of French? I don't -- it was pretty good.
It has since declined, since I have not used it in a year.
but
I had a pretty good level of French, but I was still a little bit afraid
of using my French, talking to people...
you just-- you feel kind of dumb
at least, I felt kind of dumb trying to explain myself in French
because my vocabulary was so limited and I would mess up and
couldn't formulate sentences super quickly
so, I think, that's another thing is I would just
I'd want to push myself more, to just go for it
and not worry about messing up
because even if you do mess up
if you get, like, a basic meaning in there, people can usually understand, and
most of the French people I talked to
had a working level of English, and so
between your mediocre level of French and their mediocre level of English
there can be some level of communication there.
I suppose the next question would be
"Well, Rachel, if your experience wasn't ideal, what would you change if you were to go about it again?"
or "what advice would you give to people who are thinking about studying abroad for four months?"
in any country, not France necessarily, but
what advice would I give to those people?
and I think the biggest thing for me that I would change
is just my expectations of it
I think I would want to go in knowing that it might be a little difficult, but
being prepared for the challenges that I knew would come
I think often study abroad is portrayed as some big adventure
where you're exploring a new ci-- town-- country
and
and you are gonna have so much fun
and you're gonna take really cool classes
If you want it to be some big adventure, you can have a lot of adventures on study abroad
and I did! I went on a number of trips and had fun
Just be ready for challenges.
Be ready for a lot of challenges
and be open to putting yourself out there
but I will say this:
no matter what happens
no matter if it goes perfectly according to plan
or it goes completely wrong
it'll still be a transformative experience.
So! Recap.
First of all, back in America.
Study abroad was great but also challenging
quite challenging at points
and I'd say the biggest thing to go in, like, with study abroad
is just to be-- be ready for those challenges.
Anticipate them, know that they are going to happen,
and once you are there and facing those challenges,
don't be afraid to! Don't be afraid to face them,
to do those things that make you nervous because you're only there for a few months
maybe a year if you're lucky
I wish I had been there a year.
So yeah, I guess final thing is
since I'm no longer in France, I don't really plan on making any more videos about France
maybe if I, like, feel like it
but I can't really make any more original content about being in France
because I'm no longer there.
but! I-- I like making vlogs.
I'll probably -- maybe, who knows -- be uploading other videos
they just won't be about France... sorry!
'kay.
Bye!
okay...
you can
stop recording now...
Bruce...
please?
I'm-- yeah, I'm done.
can you press the...
press the bu-- no? press the button?
I should press...
I can--
okay.
This is awkward.