The holiday
season is coming to a close. This means for me that the endless preparation for
studying abroad in Paris and questions from relatives on how excited I am to
leave are coming an end. I have mixed emotions about leaving the US for France.
Just thinking about leaving is making my hands on the keyboard jitter (I’ve literally
had to auto-correct this paragraph three times already because my hands are so
jittery from both being nervous and excited for my study-abroad trip to Paris).
Here’s my
not-so-simple- typical-white-girl- explanation as to why I am studying abroad
in Paris for spring 2015. If you’ve noticed from my name, you might have
guessed why I’m studying abroad in Paris. My name is Sabrina, and naturally I
am vainly obsessed with both of the “Sabrina” movies (the Audrey Hepburn
version is my favorite for the record). I’ve visited France before. The first
time I went with my family when I was in junior high, and the second time I
visited with my high school (my best friends went with me). Each time I go to
Paris I make a promise to myself. The first time I went to Paris I promised
myself that when I came back, I would visit with my best friends. Three years
later, I was back in Paris with several of my class mates roaming about the
streets of Paris. During my last visit
in Paris, I promised myself that I would go back one day and live in the city
of lights. Obviously, by the fact that I’m writing this blog post on IES’s site
means that I’m big on promises, because I’m doing just that: living AND
studying abroad in Paris for 4 months.
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| My friends and I in Paris, 2011 |
My mentality for
traveling is a bit odd compared to others. I’m not in denial that I’m going to
study abroad, it’s more so that I’m in shock that it’s actually happening. I’ve
prepared myself for living in Paris. I have my clothes picked out, I’ve created
a packing list, a to-do list before studying abroad, printed out maps, and have
even started to plan adventures around the city. I’m in a state of utter
disbelief that I’m getting the chance to go to Paris again. From past experiences,
I know that the excitement won’t roll in until I land in France. My fear of
flying probably plays a factor in my level of excitement. This will be the
first time that I have flown by myself. Fortunately, I won’t have to face my
fear totally alone. IES emailed me the roster several days ago of who else will
be partaking in the program. Of course I had to scroll the list and see if I
recognized any names and if someone else was from Minnesota. A total of five
other IES students will be departing on the same plane as me from Minneapolis
to Paris. I was thrilled when I connected with the other students from my
program to hear that we would be facing this adventure and obstacle together.
What makes matters even better is that some of these students that are going to
study abroad with myself are some of my colleagues and mutual friends. My
stress about traveling alone has now diminished to some degree knowing that on
my plane I will be traveling with some of my classmates from IES Paris French
Studies.
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| Some of my books and journals I received over the holidays |
In the meantime
before departure, I am catching up on saying my final goodbyes and doing some
reading. It seems as if my friends and family have come in unison together and
have decided that I should read some books on Paris before my departure and
write about my experiences while traveling abroad. Apparently journals with the
Eiffel tower aren’t hard to find because I’ve now started to create a
collection of them. Regardless of the number of journals I have, I think it’s
an indication that this experience will be life changing (as cheesy as it
sounds). For me, writing is both
something that is therapeutic as well as something that I do as a profession. I
am excited to see how my journey abroad in Paris will be, and I cannot wait to
write them all down in my journals.
I’ll leave you
with a picture from my first page I put in my journal. I went out to eat last
night to a Vietnamese restaurant and received a fortune cookie. My fortune is
the following “Be yourself and you’ll feel at home anywhere”. Maybe this is the
sign that I’ll be the next version of the movie “Sabrina” and discover myself
while studying abroad in Paris. Only time and the pages of my journals will be
able to tell.
Until next time,
