February in Strasbourg only made me appreciate my time abroad more. I was able to continue traveling, meet even more people and continue exploring the city.
By now I have gotten used to the culture differences. I don’t plan on going out to eat on Sundays or buying groceries then, because nothing is open. No service in restaurants is now just a part of life. And I have learned to not even bother emailing any professor or school administrator, it will take weeks to get a response (if I even get one). The French do not seem to understand a sense of urgency unless you are speaking to them in person.
Classes are still pretty much the same, meaning I only go 3-4 times a week for a couple hours a day. However my assignment deadlines are rapidly approaching. I have two 15 page group papers due soon and one big presentation coming up. I have to make a conscious effort to stay on top of my work, because I am constantly traveling on the weekends (not a bad thing of course!). It is hard to remember that I am in school when I don’t have weekly quizzes or tests every month. Although I do like the group projects here, as it gives me a chance to get to know my classmates from other countries better, I feel like the way A&M does the grading system proves to work better in terms of learning. I feel like most of the learning I do here is out of the classroom, which is also not a bad thing just different!
During our winter holiday, I took a trip to Portugal and Spain with 6 of my friends. The weather was beautiful, the wine was amazing and I met some really interesting people on the trip. We went to Porto and Lisbon in Portugal and Seville and Barcelona in Spain. Seville was hands down my favorite! I stayed at a hostel that had family dinners with authentic Spanish food every night and I got to see a flamenco show. Flamenco is a type of dance that began in Spain, and Seville has the only flamenco museum in the world. In March I plan to travel in France more, I want to take advantage and explore the country I am living in.
Time is flying by, and I am going to make the most of the time I have left in Europe.