PART 4 : BEYOND / WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?
This fall, I will be spending the semester abroad in Paris, France. No one in my family has ever traveled to Europe before, and I am excited for this opportunity to immerse myself in the culture there. I would like to remind myself before I depart that there will be challenges in living in a country where I have a limited grasp of the language there, and to not any frustration dampen my experience. I hope that I will remain open to trying new things, even if it means embarassing myself or feeling uncomfortable in a situation. For these 4 months that I am abroad, I would like to travel around Europe, alone or with a group, and learn how to adapt quickly to new and unfamiliar situations. This past year has definitely taught me that I do not need to be around people all the time; that I can be social without surrounding myself with people that I am comfortable with. My experiences these past year, especially from my time co-oping in Milwaukee, have shown me that I can be alone and still enjoy what I am doing. I would like to move forward with this knowledge of myself. A challenge that I would like to set for myself during my time abroad would be to really engage with local people. Because I was constantly surrounded by Americans when I studied abroad in China, I did not have as much interaction or practice my Chinese as much as I would have liked to. I would like to learn from my experience to influence what I do this time abroad. Although I am not aiming to be proficient in French by the end of this semester, I would like to have consciously tried to practice what limited French I may learn with people in the city and at the school. I believe that a genuine effort in practicing someone's native language is an appreciated way to engage in a different culture.