- What has been the most rewarding experience, so far, of your France Study Abroad?
I am loving my time in Strasbourg so far, but the most rewarding experiences on this trip have been our weekend trips. Travelling to different cities and countries has been an extraordinary experience for me. I have never been to Europe before so I had no idea what to expect, but exploring all of these places, talking to so many people, and travelling with my friends has been so rewarding. This weekend, we traveled to Austria where we have done so many things. I went to a classical music concert inspired by Mozart in Mirabelle Palace that was so beautiful, and then the next morning went on a hike to the top of the mountain with the most unreal scenic views. I have never had so many experiences like this in my whole life. I am finally getting to see the world and it has exceeded all of my expectations. I love that this trip is a month long so we have time to keep on exploring and finding new things, I only wish I could stay for longer. Exploring with my friends has been so rewarding and has provided me with experiences I will never forget, and more than that showed me how amazing it is to travel. These trips are teaching me how much I love to be abroad, and hopefully will get a lot more opportunities like that in the future.
2. What are 3 things you have noticed about the way business is done in France?
From what I have seen so far, business in France is done differently mainly because of the people. Firstly, I would say people have very different attitudes so I have learned to be adaptable with that. I don’t always know what to expect when walking into a store and talking to someone, they can either be the warmest person or very cold and rude. This definitely happens in America too, and probably everywhere else, but in my little time here I have encountered a lot of different attitudes of people when going places. Secondly, I have noticed that, understandable, people have a lot of respect for you in even just saying bonjour, because it is a symbol of respect and welcome. For example, I was with someone who walked up to a food place and immediately started asking them a question, and the man cut this person off and said “first you say bonjour”, this demonstrated to me how important it is to some people to greet people that way and get started off on the right foot. Lastly, while business is going to be done differently all over the world, I have seen that overall people are just people. Things may be different, but also humans have their similarities and we are not all that different from people living in France.
3.What has been the biggest surprise you have had so far in France. Was there something that you thought you knew, that is completely different than what you expected?
Before this trip, going off alone without my parents and just with girlfriends in a different country would’ve sounded scary, but after so many experiences and things not always going to plan it has come to my surprise that it isn’t that hard to figure things out. For example, I went with some girls to zipline in the mountains and the form of transportation we thought were gonna have ended up not being a thing. After calling countless Ubers and taxis we had no way to get down, walking wasn’t even an option. We ended up asking the workers for some help, and the sweetest lady drove us to the train station and helped us out. Even though we basically had no way off the mountain things still ended up working out. I was expecting travel to be really hard and scary but it’s really not, especially when there are a lot of good people out there willing to help.