As I have enjoyed my stay in Strasbourg studying business law and international business, I have mostly enjoyed diving into the culture fully. Strasbourg doesn’t feel as much of a tourist city as Paris might feel, and I feel like I am fully taking in the real culture of the Alsatian people of Strasbourg. The most rewarding part of my stay so far has actually been catching up on my French learning. I took French in high school for 5 years, and although I didn’t ever think I would use it in Texas, I have found it to make things much easier to understand here as I got acclimated in the first two weeks. I have supplemented my daily learning with an app called Babble to keep me learning new vocabulary so I can learn even faster. So far I can read most things and get around easily, and when I don’t understand a word, I quickly look it up and add it to my repertoire. Strasbourg has little to no English translations readily available other cities like Paris might have, so I have no option but to read all things in French. In the past two weeks, I have built my confidence and actually had multiple encounters with natives fully in French; this is little things like ordering ice cream to harder tasks like giving directions. I can say that I am very proud of myself in this sense and has been the most rewarding experience so far. I hope to continue learning French in the remainder of my stay here in Strasbourg and maybe help me become fluent some day!
Center for International Business Studies Blog