Hi everyone!
Sorry I have been MIA the last couple of weeks. My life has been crazy with classes, extracurriculars, and getting ready to go abroad.
That’s right! Next semester I will be in Nantes, France!!!
Nantes is about two and a half hours away from Paris by train, and is the 6th largest city in France with almost 900,000 residents. As much as I would have loved to go to Paris, I chose to go to Nantes because the population of native English speakers is very small. This means that I will be forced to use French all of the time; if not in the city, then at home with my host family!
While there, I will be taking classes (en français, bien sur!) at the IES program center in the middle of the city. I applied for an internship to teach English au lycee to high school-aged students, so I might be doing that as well!
The main reason I am going abroad is because it is required for my studies. As a French education major, it is important that I have a solid background in French and authentic experiences to bring into my future classroom. Luckily, Hope and my program IES have been wonderful in helping me prepare for my trip. I went to a study abroad orientation with the 100 other students from Hope who will be abroad next semester, and have been in constant communication with my IES program representative for the past several months. The process has been long and somewhat stressful but well worth it. My forms are in, and I have my visa and plane ticket!
I will leave for France on January 7 and will return on May 11. During that time, I will be blogging and tweeting about my adventures, so check back for updates often! I can’t wait to fill you in on what I will be doing!
A bientot!
Rachael