I can remember, like it was yesterday, my first college tour of UGA. They gave me several really interesting brochures of all the available options offered to CAES students for study abroad trips. Little did I know that three years later I would be given the opportunity to take advantage of this and immerse myself in a host country while learning about agricultural. My journey to this point almost never happened. While taking 18 credit hours this past spring, I kept blowing off emails of upcoming deadlines for study abroad applications. Until the one day in class when my best friend sitting next to me said “Hey Greyson have you filled out the study abroad application yet? Remember our first meeting is today.” I was so focused on the day-to-day tasks of my schoolwork that I had forgotten to fill out the application. Luckily for me, the class that I had been devoting so much attention to was taught by the professor coordinating the trip. After I got out of class I rushed over to Four Towers and locked myself in the classroom until I had finished the application. Once a few days had gone by, I was ecstatic to learn that I was given the opportunity to go to France on a study abroad with my best friend. But as the semester had picked up in difficulty, I soon forgot about the upcoming trip saying to myself “I still have another week to prepare for it.” Well here we are less than 12 hours until departure and I still don’t have a single bag packed. At this point you may be thinking to yourself that I am the worst procrastinator of all time, but actually I am really organized and stay on top of deadlines.
From time to time though, I over extend myself not allowing enough time to get tasks done. As someone who is very blessed and fortunate to have traveled extensively, I am not scared or nervous about this trip. I really enjoy traveling whether domestically or abroad. I am more worried about getting some much need rest before the official start date of the course. This will be my first time traveling to Europe which makes me really excited to push myself out of my comfort zone. I am slightly worried about the language barrier when I arrive in France, but I’ve been told that many people in Toulouse speak Spanish due to the close proximity to Spain. I am excited to experience something that very few students ever get the opportunity to. While our professors have explained to us that the daily itinerary is jam-packed with lectures and class field trips taking up almost 12 hours every day. They have assured us that a majority of the learning will occur outside the classroom. This really excites me that we will be able to learn course material and experience the rural countryside of France while out on farm visits.
