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Here it is: officially only 17 more days of comfort. 17 more days until I take my first ever trip to Europe and make the city of Paris my home for 15 weeks.
The summer has completely flown by; I can't believe it's already August! I have been dreaming about studying abroad for a very, very long time. As long as I can remember, actually. Elon's study abroad program was one of the big deciding factors of where I wanted to go to school, and now I'm finally doing it! In 17 days!!!!!! I mean, it's crazy. Kate Spade makes purses about people like me. (refer to picture)
For those of you reading this whom I haven't talked to in awhile, I'll give you my usual description of my program: I will be living with a Parisian family in the suburbs and commuting into the city to take French language classes and a French Cinema class at the Sorbonne. I am going through a program called NC Consortium. It is through UNC Wilmington and includes students from all different North Carolina schools (ECU, UNC, UNCW, etc.) I have no idea who will be in my classes- just North Carolina students? Students from all different countries?? It's actually kind of pathetic how little I know about my classes. All I know is that I have class on Fridays (which is really cramping my travel plans).
I will be flying from JFK to Paris on August 23rd. I have a 9:10 pm flight and will be arriving in Paris around 10:30 am, and that's when the really scary part begins: getting from the airport to the dorms where we will be staying for the first week. Fortunately, I already know that two people from my program will be on my flight, so that makes the whole thing a little less stressful, but I am anticipating the whole thing being very overwhelming.
My first week in Paris will be spent doing orientation activities. Despite the usual negative connotation associated with "orientation", I am more than excited for this first week. Some of our plans include a boat trip on the Seine river and a potential tour through the Louvre, and that's just the first week! Another exciting part of the first week will be the home stay interviews. One of the leaders of my program will interview us about what we are looking for in a home stay, then he will place us with a family he thinks we will fit well into. Then, after the first week, we will move into the family's home. All of the host families live in different Parisian suburbs all around the city. It would be great to have a friend in my program in the same area as me so we can take the metro into the city together. Here's hoping!
Well, I'm back to clearing out my DVR and making my ever-growing packing list. It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it. Ta ta for now!
Bisous!
Claire
P.S. My visa came in the mail today!!!! What a relief.
The summer has completely flown by; I can't believe it's already August! I have been dreaming about studying abroad for a very, very long time. As long as I can remember, actually. Elon's study abroad program was one of the big deciding factors of where I wanted to go to school, and now I'm finally doing it! In 17 days!!!!!! I mean, it's crazy. Kate Spade makes purses about people like me. (refer to picture)
For those of you reading this whom I haven't talked to in awhile, I'll give you my usual description of my program: I will be living with a Parisian family in the suburbs and commuting into the city to take French language classes and a French Cinema class at the Sorbonne. I am going through a program called NC Consortium. It is through UNC Wilmington and includes students from all different North Carolina schools (ECU, UNC, UNCW, etc.) I have no idea who will be in my classes- just North Carolina students? Students from all different countries?? It's actually kind of pathetic how little I know about my classes. All I know is that I have class on Fridays (which is really cramping my travel plans).
I will be flying from JFK to Paris on August 23rd. I have a 9:10 pm flight and will be arriving in Paris around 10:30 am, and that's when the really scary part begins: getting from the airport to the dorms where we will be staying for the first week. Fortunately, I already know that two people from my program will be on my flight, so that makes the whole thing a little less stressful, but I am anticipating the whole thing being very overwhelming.
My first week in Paris will be spent doing orientation activities. Despite the usual negative connotation associated with "orientation", I am more than excited for this first week. Some of our plans include a boat trip on the Seine river and a potential tour through the Louvre, and that's just the first week! Another exciting part of the first week will be the home stay interviews. One of the leaders of my program will interview us about what we are looking for in a home stay, then he will place us with a family he thinks we will fit well into. Then, after the first week, we will move into the family's home. All of the host families live in different Parisian suburbs all around the city. It would be great to have a friend in my program in the same area as me so we can take the metro into the city together. Here's hoping!
Well, I'm back to clearing out my DVR and making my ever-growing packing list. It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it. Ta ta for now!
Bisous!
Claire
P.S. My visa came in the mail today!!!! What a relief.