Bonjour de Nice!
I arrived here on January 5, 2017 and have spent already a month here. ?This is my first time in Europe and it has been quite the culture shock. ?I flew in from Dallas and had a couple of layovers in Washington DC and Zurich, Switzerland before I finally landed in Nice. ?When I lay foot in France I was overwhelmed with a lot of different emotions. ?I was filled with excitement for this once in a lifetime experience; however, I also had feelings of anxiety and doubt. ?It helped to have a friend from Texas A&M to spend the semester because I was not alone in a completely foreign place. ?When I had touched down my school, EDHEC Business School, had a personal driver waiting to take us to our apartment. ?When we got dropped off we had to stall for a couple hours while we would wait for our landlord to arrive to give us our keys. ?We wondered across the street to this little French bistro with all our luggage to get some wifi to contact our parents and to grab a?bite to eat. ?The waiter came up to us and immediately began speaking very quickly in French. ?Garret and I looked at each other bewilderedly. ?I panicked and responded to the waiter in Spanish asking for water and bread while?he laughed at my incompetence. ?This was my first true experience of feeling helpless in not understanding the language, the culture, and this new way of life. ?After waiting several hours our landlord arrived and brought us our key. ?We entered our flat and met one out of our two roommates immediately. ?She was a 31 year old Chinese?woman who was working to accomplish her masters. ?It was really tough to communicate with her originally because she spoke broken english causing a huge language barrier. ?However, over the next month we would get much better at communicating with her and she began to understand us more. ? My other roommate is a 23 year old German girl who speaks slightly better than the Chinese girl. ?At first when I met both these girls I thought I had made a mistake in choosing this flat because it was extremely difficult and time consuming to have a simple conversation. ?However, over time we began to understand each other more easily, and I began to really enjoy learning about their cultures and backgrounds.
On January 6 we had orientation with all the other exchange students. ?I quickly became acquainted with the other 30-40 students over lunch and a tour of Nice. ?We had exchanged numbers and created a group message with all the students so we could keep in touch. ?After talking with all the students I quickly realized that there was only one other?American in my program. ?There were students from Norway to Germany to China to Brazil. ?It forced me to get outside of my comfort zone and engage with people from all over the world. ?I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to have a casual conversation with all the other students which helped to put me to ease. ?It was fascinating to learn about all the different dialects and backgrounds of each international student. ?I really enjoyed hearing about others experiences in many ways which were?similar to mine and yet so different. ?While they came from different countries and cultures most of us all shared the same interests which was a comforting. ?Garret and I have made a strong core group of friends that we have began to do quick day trips with and spend a lot of days and evenings with exploring the city.
School has been awesome thus far. ?The schedule layout is odd because there is no set schedule of when your class will be held. ?My schedule each week fluctuates. ?One week I may have 5 days of classes and the next week I may have just 1. ?I really enjoy this layout because I can look at my schedule and pick weeks to travel around Europe when I have little class. ?The school itself is very nice and modern. ?It is right next to the ocean and the airport. ?In class I have found myself distracted by the private jets landing and the remarkably clear waters of the?Mediterranean sea. ?The content has been pretty simple so far. ?Teachers don’t assign much homework; rather, they assign a lot of projects to work in with groups and then a final at the end of the semester. ?I am currently enrolled in 7 classes but some of the classes are condensed into a couple weeks. ?Therefore, I have already finished one of my classes because we met frequently for 3 hours a day 3 days a week. ?All the classes are 3 hours long with a 30 minute break. ?While this may seem long it is convenient to knock out one class a day rather than attending it 3 times a week. ?However, it can be tough to keep up with classes since they are not on a routine basis.
The transportation in Nice is quite accessible and simple to use. ?The school informed us on how to get set up for a year?long bike pass for 25 euros, and a tram and bus pass that we could renew monthly for 20 euros. ?I usually bike along the Promenade to class because it is usually the quickest and prettiest way to get to class. ?The food is incredible. ?I have been enjoying the French cuisine, but I have to remain conscious of my savings account dwindling ever so quickly.
So far, I have only done quick day trips in January as I get acclimated to France and solidify friendships. ?I have taken a quick 20 minute train to Monaco to visit the luxuries that Monte Carlo has to offer while also taking an hour and a half day trip to ski the French Alps. ?I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the mountains and the ocean are so close to one another making it the perfect place to study abroad. ?I am excited to adventure further into Europe and Nice and experience all the different cultures.
Au revoir!