Study Abroad at EM Strasbourg Business School : So much to do, so little time

Sorry I haven’t written as frequently this semester. It seems that every week has just been flying by. I am trying to figure out how to fit all the things I still want to do in my dwindling time here.

Since it’s taken me so long to write I actually have quite a lot to tell you about my travels.

So far this semester I have been to: Milan, Italy, Disneyland Paris, and Zurich, Switzerland. I've pretty much traveled every weekend since school has started back up. I cannot even begin to count up the amount of hours I've spent on buses…

First, I had the chance to take my first trip to Italy by visiting Milan. These are trips organized through the school, so we usually take a bus on Friday night and arrive on Saturday morning. This gives us all of Saturday and part of Sunday to explore the city. We spent most of the time in the main square of the Duomo cathedral. It was abuzz with activity. So many people, performers and of course shopping, filled the areas around the church. We climbed to the top where we were able to take some beautiful pictures of the building. Then we went and got gelato along with some food. It was a great trip. We spent a majority of it in that square, since every time we were there we found something new to do or see. On Sunday, some of us also went to a castle. We did not have time to go up inside, but we were able to walk through the courtyard area and walk around it. It is still so cool to see things like castles and other older buildings. They are a part of each countries rich history that the US is just not old enough to have yet.

Then after a week of working hard in class ;) I went on another trip to Disneyland Paris. I have never gone to Disney in the States before so I was very excited to see what was in store for me. I love all things Disney related, so I knew that I would have a great time. We arrived around 10AM and stayed the whole day. Our first ride was the Mad Hatter spinning teacups. Our second was It’s A Small World. I was very excited for that ride because that’s all I hear about when people are talking about Disney. The ride was an extra special experience for me, considering that’s about how I feel being here, with all the cultures I am getting to know and experience. We rode a lot more rides through the day and ended with the firework show at Sleeping Beauty’s castle. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the day. It was interesting because they played the songs from the movies that were set in France in French such as; Beauty and the Beast, Ratatouille, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. All the others they played in English. I thought it was a unique way to incorporate both major languages that visited there.

Finally, last week I was in Zurich, Switzerland. When we arrived on Saturday morning, some of us decided to take a walking tour where we learned the history of some of the major churches and other buildings. It was a good way to figure out what to see later and where to explore further. Once the tour was over Joe and I, along with some new French friends we met on the tour, went to the top of the church (You do that a lot in Europe, the tops of churches are very popular locations to visit). I loved the views and it was neat to see the combination of houses, mountains, and rivers. The next day, our group went hiking. I’ll start off by saying, I will never be a professional hiker (if that is even a profession). I am glad I did it, but for me, getting to the top was not the pretties of sights. It was slippery and I probably didn't have the best footwear on (you were right mom and dad). I ended up falling… a lot. I was one of the last ones to the top, but I made it! So the takeaway is that I will never be a pro hiker (or even a proficient amateur one), but I can say that I climbed a mountain in Switzerland. It was cloudy at the top, but that’s what made it cool. It looked like you were much higher than you actually were. It almost felt like you were on top of the world. We took the tram down, thank goodness. Then we all explored the city some more and did some souvenir shopping before it was time to get back on the bus and head home.

This past week has been loaded with schoolwork due to our upcoming winter break. I have had two presentations, one report and one French midterm this week, so I am ready for this break. School, although sometimes crazy, has also been very interesting. I am liking my professors and classes and I am curious to see how the rest of the semester turns out. Once again, it is full of group work and presentations, so I should be a master at them when I return to BGSU.

The countdown is getting low for my time here. I am starting to get conflicting emotions about wanting to return home and wanting to remain here in Strasbourg. It will be crazy to see what is in store for me during my last few months here.

Until next time!

Your French Falcon,

Carly