I decided to spend my spring semester in Beauvais, France during the fall semester. I never really stopped to think about what it would be like to be gone for three months while everyone at home carried on with their lives. The people you talk to before always say “Studying abroad will change your life,’ but they also say “The homesickness is the worst during the first two weeks.” All I had to do was make it through the first two weeks, and my life was going to be changed forever.
The first two weeks were the hardest. The complete immersion into French was very shocking and my language skills were rusty. I was very homesick, and I was questioning my decision to ever leave Athens. The french were stereotypically difficult to talk to without a sound background in French. I started making friends though, and my french quickly came back. Although my program was taught in English, the rest of the university spoke almost solely french, which came as quite a surprise to most of us.
Then I started to spend my weekends in Paris, which was only an hour a fifteen minute train ride. I got comfortable with trains and metro systems. I made friends from all over France and the world. The more confident I got with my french, the better my life in France became.
