After my nine month stint abroad in France, I’ve returned home to Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s been about two weeks and I’ve had time to reacquaint myself with the ins-and-outs of everyday life in the United States. Who would have thought that after just nine months, I would need time to readjust to a country that I have called my home for my entire … Continue reading Signs of Reverse Culture Shock – France Back to the US
I’m currently in the process of packing up my life in France, saying goodbyes, and getting nostalgic. It’s a bittersweet time. On the one hand, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen my family and friends in the US. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’m ready to say goodbye to everyone I’ve met in France. Who would have thought just after a … Continue reading How to Make Friends in France (Or Elsewhere)
Introduction: I’m not sure if you’ll believe me when I say that living as an English teaching assistant in France isn’t as glamorous as it seems. The salary is humble, but it’s definitely been enough for me to take advantage of my time in Europe. You just have to be willing to be flexible and resourceful when it comes to travel (scan the internet for … Continue reading By Plane, Train, and Bus: Tracking My Trip Around Central Europe
Can you believe that I’ve officially been in France for 200 days?! I can’t. It feels like it was just yesterday when I was struggling to order a sandwich at my first boulangerie. In honor of my 200th day in France, I thought I would take you on a double-whammy blog/vlog tour of some of my favorite cafés in Nancy. What better way to … Continue reading Visiting Nancy, France Through Cafés
Four cities in seven days. There’s nothing quite like being young and restless. In February, I took a trip around southern France with another assistant friend of mine. We decided to buy an Interflix bus pass, which gave us five one-way bus tickets to any cities for 99 euros. We ended up going from Metz to Paris, Paris to Toulouse, Toulouse to Marseille, Marseille to … Continue reading Blurbs from Southern France
I have no intentions of becoming a vlogger, but I’ve had some videos stored on my camera and phone. I figured the best thing to do was to just compile them into a vlog. Here are some random highlights from Fall 2016. Featuring: Strasbourg, Nancy, Metz, and Berlin. And a short clip of the World’s Largest Tray of Cheese in Nancy from September 2016. I … Continue reading World’s Largest Tray of Cheese: France Vlog 1
It’s 11:00PM and the ticket counter at the Luxembourg train station is closed. Doors shut, no attendant, ticket dispensing machines locked behind the sliding glass. I try not to let the panic set in as I start to wonder if I’m going to be able to get back to Nancy, France. I didn’t buy my return ticket ahead of time because I wasn’t sure when … Continue reading Places and the Moments in Between: Perspectives from Traveling
As of this past week, I have officially been in France for 100 days. With the end of the year quickly approaching, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what I’ve done in France thus far. Luckily for me, I’ve been keeping a daily journal so I won’t have to attempt to do this off the top of my head. It’s nice to … Continue reading 100 x 100 (100 Things in 100 Days)
So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Part of that is because the wifi at my place has been down for the last two weeks. The other part of that is that I have been traveling for the last week. French schools have roughly a two week break for the holiday of Toussaint during the last part of October, so I’ve been taking … Continue reading How I Paris-ed on a Teaching Assistant’s Budget
orientation | noun | /ˌɔriɛnˈteɪʃən / 1: the action of orienting someone or something relative to the points of a compass or other specified positions. 2: a person’s basic attitude, beliefs, or feelings in relation to a particular subject or issue. 3: familiarization with something. Last week I sat in a lecture hall with about 46 other English language assistants from all around the world (Canada, India, Ireland, … Continue reading Orientation & Reorientation: My Identity Abroad
