The school has been amazing at Strasbourg as well as the trips traveling. However, I would love to dedicate a post to the people I have met on our trip, and what I have learned about the,. From other fellow exchange students, to local french students, to random people we met in other countries, I have learned something about myself, them, or business through the many conversations.
When it comes to the other exchange students, it is really cool to realize how similar people are. The students struggle with the same things we Aggies do such as being unsure about our career paths, or disliking certain classes, or having too much fun when we need to study. It is really cool to realize how we are all still people even if we are from different countries. In my opinion, though, it is even cooler to see how we are different and yet get along so well. I had the chance to learn things about addressing the Asian culture versus the Hispanic culture or how to understand the French’s leniency versus the German’s ?strictness. The conversations I had with my friends from other countries were priceless.
The interactions didn’t stop there. I was also able to hang out and talk with a lot of local French students which was awesome. Even though some of them were just using me to practice their English, we became good friends and I was able to understand their interests and goals in life. I had the chance to talk about their perspective on the business world and how the French would approach consumers versus how the Americans would. This was especially cool because I began to see how important it is to learn someone else’s culture before you start partnering up with them. I still get to talk to them through social media today.
The last thing I would like to talk about as far as people interactions go would be with the people wet met while traveling. We met different exchange students, some of them Americans, from different places around the world. It was interesting to compare programs and experiences about what it is like to be educated in different places. One of the coolest conversations we had, however, took place in a bar. We met a man from American who recognized us because of our southern accents. After talking through the things we had in common, we got the chance to talk about his business and his choices which brought him to work internationally. This was great for me to experience because I was able to see the things that could be done to not only advance my career, but experience the world at the same time. Not only that, but this proved to be beneficial networking.
The people we had experiences made this trip as great as it was. And whether in Strasbourg or anywhere else, it is great to build those relationships and learn from each other.
