As I enter the two week countdown for my return to the United States, I am struck by how much I changed and also by how much I’ve stayed the same during these last four months. Study abroad was the reason I decided to come to Wake Forest. I was amazed at everything involving the Study Abroad process: from the ease of finding a program to the the tangible encouragement of the University for Wake’s students to go out and explore the world. I never knew as a junior in High School that four years later I would spend part of my junior year in Dijon, France studying the French language and culture.
It hasn’t been easy, though. Being away for so long in a foreign country can be slightly difficult at best and almost destabilizing at its worst. The culture shock is real whether you acknowledge it consciously or not, and I assume reverse culture shock will behave the same way. This semester, I’ve learned that taking an foreign language outside of the classroom is difficult; occasionally, what you learn in class is not at all applicable to real life and you find that out in the most embarrassing ways: using outdated words in the grocery store or using “fake friends” common words in both languages that mean completely different, and sometimes sexual things. (You can’t say “I’m excited for____,” for example ) Writing for an English language blog has also not been easy whilst being immersed in a foreign language experience. The amount of times I’ve found myself at a loss for words, forgetting words in both languages, and/or confusing the different grammar structures are too many to count. On a more serious note, I found myself in a peculiar home-stay situation where a member of my host family fell ill during the semester and succumbed to cancer just last week. Dealing with events like that are hard no matter where you live or how similar or different respective cultures can be. But despite the less than ideal situations, I’ve had an amazing experience here, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.
Being in Dijon has taught me that I can make it on my own in a foreign culture with an advanced but not completely fluent grasp of the language. I know now that I can budget week-to-week as well as month-to-month, plan trips and travel by myself, and integrate myself into a foreign culture and into a host family. I know it’s cliché but I really feel as though being abroad for four months has pushed me further along the path of self-awareness and also further along the path of adulthood.
In hindsight, I wouldn’t have been pushed to stretch, break my personally set limits, and grow if I had decided to stay on campus. In that regard, I’m so thankful to have had the willingness to explore. Being abroad helps you appreciate your own culture, language, and customs. Even being somewhere as cultured and worldly as France, I miss Southern gentility, North Carolina Fall weather and Fall in the Forest, Football Season, Iced Tea… the list could go on and on. If anything being away from “home” this long has given me a newfound appreciation for the United States and my family and friends. I’ve made a new home here in Dijon, but I’m definitely looking forward to re-exploring what it means to live in North Carolina and re-immerse myself in Wake culture.
If I had to wrap it all up into one piece of advice, it would be to go explore the world while we’re still young. Wake makes it easy to study abroad and stay on track with your hours and courses. Being in Europe has been a life-changing and invaluable growing experience for me that staying on campus doesn’t provide.
If you decide to study abroad or even go abroad for vacation, I wish you all the best and happy travels.
HCXO, Mia :)
Photos courtesy of:
http://studyabroad.law.wfu.edu/files/2011/09/Climate_Change-e13160301281…
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/625699632681779200/xS-jwWMz.png
http://www.pictorem.com/collection/900_WorldFlag_1960340_1424797066.1679…