Submitted by Kayla Dickens on the 2014 fall semester study abroad program in Paris, France…
Well, it’s been seventeen days since we got here (not that I’m counting). Actually, I honestly haven’t been counting, my parents just asked me on the phone last night so it’s fresh in my mind, but no reason to count the days going by when you’re having such an extraordinary time. I wasn’t feeling terribly ready to write a reflective blog entry until a few days ago, now that I’ve been through the first group excursion, my first independent trip, and a full two weeks of classes; before now most of the things I would have written about would have been group dynamics since we mostly did touristy things and had lunch between classes as a group. I haven’t felt a lot of culture shock yet, at least not consciously and I’m not sure that culture shock is really a subconscious process. I’ve been wondering when it is going to sink in, but I just haven’t noticed too many things that are very different. A few here and there, to be discussed later, but nothing that I really have to mold my lifestyle to, so I don’t feel it so much as I expected.
Being completely honest though, I still feel like I’m having the time of my life. Aside from a few stressors that are mostly political and definitely one hundred percent out of my hands, I don’t see how anyone could not be enjoying themselves here. The first week we were able to adjust to the jet lag and the culture (although like I said I’m not sure that the culture shock has really set in much yet), and we did all the touristy things: picnic under the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre and Sacré-Coeur, Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees, Canal Saint Martin. You name it, we did it. Aside from that, we did tutoring lessons with Mme. Le Guerne and took our test at Institut Catholique. But we really just lived a whole week in the City of Lights with no obligations—who can argue with that?
Getting down to business, though, classes are going well. Now that it’s been a full two weeks since they started, I have had the chance to experience each class at least twice in order to give an initial evaluation. I’m very pleased by the fact that all of the professors have a real passion for teaching French to foreign students, either directly (as in our French language classes) or by means of a specific medium (as in our culture/civilization courses, mine being televised journalism, cinema, and literature). I’m not necessarily surprised when I really think about it, but I was surprised by how easily I could detect that passion. The professors here are extremely animated and I really like the way that classes are run as an intermixed lecture and discussion with different activities. It also seems as though the professors recognize that there is a lot of learning to be done outside of the classroom, and they don’t assign any absurd amount of homework.