T-Minus 26 Days, 4 Hours and 19 Minutes to Lift Off
Salut!
Studying abroad is the most abstract, unreal concept I've ever had to wrap my head around except for maybe Pre-Calculus. For so long, it was just an idea, a dream. Then it was a plan and some paperwork. A page in my passport. But now... How do I even begin to rationalize the fact that in less than a month--three weeks!--I'll have picked up my life and moved across an ocean for a few months? So far, I've come up empty. I've got 26 days and yet I have so much to do: classes to finalize, bags to pack, vaccines to get... The list seems endless. If I think about it for longer than a few moments, it feels like my head might explode.
Studying abroad is the most abstract, unreal concept I've ever had to wrap my head around except for maybe Pre-Calculus. For so long, it was just an idea, a dream. Then it was a plan and some paperwork. A page in my passport. But now... How do I even begin to rationalize the fact that in less than a month--three weeks!--I'll have picked up my life and moved across an ocean for a few months? So far, I've come up empty. I've got 26 days and yet I have so much to do: classes to finalize, bags to pack, vaccines to get... The list seems endless. If I think about it for longer than a few moments, it feels like my head might explode.
But amidst all the anxiety is an undeniable excitement (funny how those two things seem so often to go hand in hand), this assignment has given me a way to redirect my energy for a little bit and tell you all about this trip and my goals for my time abroad.
About IES and Paris
I chose to study in Paris because of my long-standing connection to France. I went to a K-8 French Immersion school where we not only learned the language but about the culture too. Influenced by my friends from France and the stories of Paris from my grandma, I always wanted to visit. During the college search as I began to hash out more clearly what I wanted to do and the kinds of experiences I wanted out of college, I knew that studying abroad was an investment I would have to make. It's the one time in your life where there is money to be had and doors to be opened if you're willing to pick up and experience something completely new for a few months--and all the while get credit for doing it. Last year, I started looking into programs and found the IES Paris program that offers not only immersion language courses but courses in International Leadership and other areas of study that would fit into my studies. It was the perfect alignment of program offerings that fit my interests in a city that would allow me to revisit a part of my life that I have always wanted to experience first hand.
My Goals
- Embrace everything: I tend to get caught up in details and even drive myself crazy with worry. Christy Burke at the Office of Education Abroad told me that some of your best experiences can happen when you get lost or take a risk. She's encouraged me to breathe into the experience and everything that comes my way. It's something that I'll have to be intentional about, but I'm excited to let myself embrace it all--regardless of the unknowns.
- Become fluent: There was a time where I would say I was mostly fluent in French but I haven't taken a foreign language since my junior year of high school so I've definitely lost some of that capability. I would love nothing more than to have come away from this experience with full, bilingual capabilities. A family friend who teaches Portuguese at OSU told me that one night while studying abroad, he dreamt in Portuguese and when he woke up the next morning it's as if it had all clicked. I eagerly await that moment for myself.
- See it all (more or less): I will have a ridiculous amount of free time. Not only are we given a standard Spring Break, but we also have a Winter Break, as well as classes off on Friday. In Europe, travel is far more accessible than it is here and I plan on taking advantage of these factors to the best of my ability. I've made lists of places I want to visit, things I want to see, and I hope to cross off as many as possible. We'll see!
Thank you all so much for reading! I look forward to hearing from you guys and keeping you updated on all of my adventures!
À bientôt!
Hi Rowan,
ReplyDeleteI am very curious about how the goal of becoming fluent in French is going? Obviously you have taken classes all through high school so I would like to know more about if it has helped you or not. To me, going through Spanish classes and going to Peru, I felt very lost and that none of it matched up. Have you felt like it has been easy to understand other people? Does the education we receive in the US on languages really prepare us for the languages of other countries? Since you went to a French immersion school, do you believe that has helped you more than a standard 2 years in high school for someone else? I am very intrigued with the languages of other countries and I have always hoped I could be fluent in another language, but I've also always struggled to be able to learn it in a classroom. With already having a different language, does the structure of sentences and everything you are trying to communicate become harder? I hope that you are able to communicate better and better every day, and are able to answer my questions about the language and communication differences!
Megan Gummere
Hey Megan!
DeleteSo because of my wacky history with French, I was pretty confident in terms of my comprehension and accent because that's what you get good at learning in an immersion setting. But. In learning French in such an informal way, I missed out on a lot of the grammar stuff that you do in your traditional language classes. I did some of that in high school but that was at least three years ago as I maxed out my junior year. Also the French language is a hot mess and has like a million, very complex rules and tenses and all sorts of stuff so it's hard to ever really get it down pat. I knew I was going to struggle there. And I was so right.
I have been completely and utterly humbled past two months in terms of language. I have never felt so out of my depths, so overwhelmed and so ignorant in my entire life. I was taken down about ten pegs in a matter of hours. French people speak Fast. Like Really Fast. And aggressively. And with a lot of slang that you can't even begin to keep track of. I think my accent has come in handy and after the initial shock wore off, my comprehension has gotten really good, as long as they don't assume that I am a native speaker. When I'm talking with people I know, like my host mom or my professors, it's really easy to understand, but random people at the grocery store or on the metro are still a little hard to keep up with because the familiarity isn't there.
The other day my host mom and her boyfriend told me that I spoke French very well and I almost cried right there at the dinner table because it has been really hard. Especially the grammar. A lot of my classmates learned French in a very classic, classroom setting so they can conjugate like nobody's business, but they lack the accent and the vocabulary to get by in lengthy conversations. I am the opposite, I can hold a conversation, I'll just sound ignorant while I do it. I have felt like I've been in a constant state of catch up since class began. But, my French prof is amazing and has really supported and helped me through this whole process. And I'm actually starting to get it, thank god!
If you have struggled to learn Spanish in the classroom, I would say don't stress about it too much in terms of practicality. I still struggle with learning language formally. The best and really only way to learn a language fluently is immersion. I won't be fluent when I come home, it won't have been enough time, but I'll be closer than I've been in ages just by sheer exposure. One thing, I would say that is key to really owning a language is to stop thinking in English and translating it into the other language. It won't work. There are a lot of things that we say in English that just do not work in French because of how the language is structured. For example, you can't say that you "fall in love", you say that you "fall loving of" because it is a state of being rather than something physical ("Je suis tombé amoureux de..." translates directly to "I fell loving of..."). You have to undo the idea that you're plugging another language into slots where English words go, it's its own separate thing and you have to treat it as such. It's a hard thing to wrap your head around and I still struggle with it.
Learning languages is frustrating and one of the most mind-blogging things I've ever had to do. But don't give up. It's an amazing feeling to be able to communicate with people in their native language and to have that skill. The more you do it, the easier it gets; it just takes time, patience, and practice (like most things, unfortunately).
Thanks for your question!
Rowan
Hi, Rowan!
ReplyDeleteI am also interested in studying abroad, but in Australia. I found a program that offers leadership courses and hope that I can take them if I get the opportunity to study abroad. How are the leadership courses going in France? What major differences or similarities do you see between the leadership courses there and the leadership courses here? Do you see any similarities between the teaching styles of the professors of the leadership program here and the professors of the leadership courses there?
I hope you are able to speak fluently soon!
Abbie Leslie
Hey Abbie!
DeleteThat's so exciting! I love that for you! Leadership is consistently becoming a more common subject to find in study abroad programs and it's very exciting! That being said, I don't really like my leadership class here, if I am being honest. I'm taking Leadership Across Cultures and so far a lot of what we've done has been review for me (the basic trait, behavioral, situational approaches etc.) and the professor is not my favorite. It's also taught with a very corporate spin on it and in a very 2-Dimensional way. I think I've been spoiled with McDonough's program and how holistic and well developed it is. This class is a very surface level one, much more than LEAD 101 ever was.
As far as the teaching styles, I would say that our McDonough professors excel (oof, EXCEL pun not intended) at guiding our own discovery and understanding of leadership in a dynamic and personalized way. The class here is far more prescriptive and my prof makes it very clear that there are right and wrong answers as well as leadership styles that they like and don't like. It's fairly biased and filtered course work. Which, again, is not my favorite.
I don't want to discourage you from seeking out leadership programs through study abroad because I think it can be really eye-opening and who knows, maybe that class will rock your world! But I will say that McDonough is a tough act to follow.
Thanks so much!
Rowan
Hello Rowan,
ReplyDeleteI love to travel and I can not wait to hear about all your experiences abroad. I think it is so awesome that you want to enhance your language skills. I myself would love to be fluent and Spanish and I think language is so important. I think it is so interesting how little the United States values language. You are lucky to have gone to a school where you could learn a second language, few have that experience. I wonder what the difference is between culture in the United States and other cultures that makes them so much more likely to learn a second language growing up? Have you met a lot of people in Paris who speak multiple languages? I can not wait to see where else you visit while you are abroad!
Haley Morgan
Hey Haley!
DeleteFrench is a really common language in Europe (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland all speak it, not to mention to proximity to Morocco and Alegria who also speak it). It's also one of the six official languages of the UN. So it's comparable to say, how a lot of Americans learn Spanish because Mexico is so close and Hispanic communities are so prevalent in the US. I think it's definitely a question of proximity but it's also a cultural dynamic, like you alluded to. Europe is bound together by the EU and the Schengen Areas in a way that we can't really begin to understand in the US. They have a shared history that dates back literally hundreds and hundreds of years. They see themselves, in some sense, as one body, so of course you would learn multiple languages. And with the EU in place, there are a lot of people that work transnationally and thus have to speak multiple languages. I have a friend here who's dad is Irish so he speaks Gaelic, English and French because it was taught in school. One of our program directors speaks French, English, and Dutch. There's a lot more cross-cultural communication and contact here that really facilitates a global outlook on language and education, in the US, we're pretty isolated in our only little American bubble. (That being said, the French are very protective of their language and the older generations are a lot less likely to know multiple languages out of a sort of protectionist mindset).
As far as travel, I haven't done a whole lot outside of France just due to time and class work. But I am headed to Prague and Budapest next week for Spring Break and I have a trip to Nice, France and London planned as well. We were planning on going to Italy for Easter Break but it looks like we'll have to reschedule that. We're thinking southern Spain!
Thanks so much!
Rowan