Well, it's here. I'm sitting in the Paris airport waiting for my flight to Cincinnati, and I am still not one-hundred percent sure that I have come to terms with this. One reason could be that I had to wake up at 3am to catch my first flight, I could be denying my departure from a lovely city, or I could be excited to go home. Again, I'm not quite sure what I feel at this moment, but I suppose that can be a good thing.
My final two weeks turned out to be more eventful than I thought, in a bad way :(. The week before finals was basically just studying and shopping for Christmas gifts. It was fun to explore Grenoble and visit some of our favorite coffee shops/restaurants for the last time. I did take breaks from studying to enjoy time with my host mom and my friends. Saturday I got to see the place where my host mom works (finally), Le Cafe Des Enfants. It's a non-profit organization, and it's basically a cafe and daycare combined. It was really cool, and there was a nice Christmas concert. Then, Sunday we walked around the ruins of the Bastille one last time. We took a different way up the mountain to see a different view of Grenoble, and it was absolutely marvelous. I will definitely miss seeing the Swiss Alpes every where I look.
Finals week was like any other finals week, stressful and busy, but I finished my finals Wednesday so I still had two full days left to enjoy Grenoble. Thursday we visited the Museum of Grenoble for the last time to see their temporary Picasso exhibit. It was very interesting, especially to someone like me who does not know much about art. Then, Thursday evening we had a group Christmas party (secret Santa and all,) and we talked late into the night. It was bittersweet because it was a great party with great company, but we had to say goodbye at the end of the night. However, it is a little more comforting to know that we are all going back to the same country, so it won't be too hard to see each other again. Friday we had lunch at our favorite restaurant in Grenoble, and I finished all my packing! I was able to squeeze everything into my suitcase and it was still under the weight limit :). Then, my host mom took me to a nice dinner and we said our farewells. That was a little harder for me because we will be an ocean away, but technology makes it easy to keep in touch these days, and I hope someday I will return to Grenoble. I really enjoyed my stay, and my host mom was absolutely amazing.
Now for the bad news: we had a very fun end-of-the-year Christmas party at school to celebrate finishing an entire semester in France (go us!), and, unfortunately, several thefts occurred during that party. One of them happened to be my phone :(. I could not believe that I made it through Barcelona, Paris, and Rome without getting anything pick-pocketed, but it happened right in my own school. The professors were furious, but there were no video cameras in the room so there was not much that they could do. I of course was angry and disappointed in myself for being careless, but I also had to come to terms with the fact that this person was a thief, and it was not all my fault. They were purposely at this party just to steal things, and I happened to be an unlucky victim. So, I had to deal with this mess during finals week, but the police office was really nice and we were able to file a report.
So to sum up some crucial things I learned in my study abroad experience/advice for people who are thinking of studying abroad:
1) DO IT! I am a VERY shy and introverted person; therefore, I had many reserves about going abroad, but I am so thankful I challenged myself to do it. I got to experience so much in 4 months through traveling, learning a different language, living with a complete stranger, and adapting to a new culture. I've learned many transferable skills that I can take back with me in my endeavors in the US. I also highly recommend a host family. Again, it seems weird and it's a big gamble, but my host mom and I built such a good relationship and she really helped develop my knowledge of the French language and culture.
2) The experience really is what you make it, as are most experiences in life. I am so glad that I took advantage of the opportunity to travel in Europe for cheap while I had it. I am so glad that I forced myself to speak French, even when nowadays it is pretty easy to find people who speak English. Finally, I am happy that I took a semester to just re-boot and have fun.
3) I am eternally grateful for having this opportunity and for meeting the people that I did. I'm also proud of myself for actually doing it! I really needed this semester for personal reasons as well, and it was just the perfect boost to get me through my last year and a half of college. I am so excited to be back at Xavier with all my family and friends, but Grenoble will always have a piece of my heart.
I will be continuing my French studies and obtaining my degree next May. I don't know what I want to do at all yet, but as I learned from the French: c'est la vie!
Thanks so much for reading all semester, I hope you enjoyed it!
Rachel
