Bonjour!
For those of you who don’t know me yet, or stumbled upon
this by accident, my name is Carly Roden. I am currently a junior at BGSU, but
I am studying abroad at EM Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France for two semesters. I am originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and I
have never traveled outside the United States. Being here for almost two weeks
has really given me insight into the French culture and has already taught me
valuable lessons that I will no doubt bring home with me.
This being my first
time writing a blog, I am a bit overwhelmed with all the information I want to
tell you about my first two weeks in Europe. I arrived at the Charles de Gaulle
airport in Paris, France on Saturday August 30th and then my friends
and I took a train to the city of Strasbourg. Once I arrived in Strasbourg I
was taken to my residence hall by local students of the university. I really
enjoy my residence and how easy it is to meet fellow exchange students by
hanging out in the cafeteria (The only building with Wi-Fi at the moment!).
I
had my first week of orientation for school last week, where they discussed
practical information about the city, along with course registration. During
the week I was fortunate enough to see some of the sights by a boat tour and
just general exploring. There was a light show at the Notre Dame Cathedral
which was incredible to watch. I took so many pictures it was difficult to only
select one to show you. We had a huge group of students from EM come to
watch the event. The show was a great way to start my time in France.
This past weekend I took part in the WEI (Integration
Weekend) hosted by the BDE, another student group at the university. It was a
great experience and I had the opportunity to talk to many of the local French
students about Strasbourg and they gave me some insight on places to go and
things to do. It tested my adaptability since I know very little French and
some of them knew very little English.
So a good portion of the bus ride home was them helping me improve my
French! I start all of my classes very soon, so I will have a lot more to
report about that in the coming weeks.
I may be in France
for a year, but I’m a Falcon Forever!
Carly
Me in front of EM during Orientation Week
The Cathedral during the light show
