Written by: Leah Injaty
As I’m writing this, there are exactly 55 days till I arrive at the Frankfurt airport and begin my 4-month stay at the GTE campus in Metz, France. It feels like forever, but also I know I’ll be cramming my travel preparations as soon as finals season is over in December. From buying the perfect winter boots to preparing my 15-page Visa application packet, there are so many moving parts and deadlines to the whole study abroad process that I never would have expected. However, as an emerging “real” adult, I try to give myself grace in learning a new experience, and I take solace knowing that there are 180 other students in my shoes.
France has held a special place in my heart ever since I stepped foot into my first French class in my freshman year of high school. I had never learned a foreign language before, and it felt like I had unlocked some sort of secret code to speak to my classmates in the halls, like a kind of language you’d make up with your friends in elementary school. We had fun coming up with English equivalents to French phrases (bonne idée = bunny day) and bonding over how we couldn’t roll our French r’s. Gradually, we went from learning basic phrases like “On va au cinéma” to reading more complex passages about Francophone (French-speaking) countries like Morocco, to watching French music videos and movies that discussed a variety of topics about French culture and political movements. Somewhere along the way, I found myself being roped into not just the language but the music, food, and traditions of Francophones across the globe, and the way speaking a new language empowered me to engage with said culture in an entirely different way.
Eventually in my senior year, I had the opportunity to obtain my Seal of Biliteracy, which involved researching a French-related topic throughout my last semester, writing a paper, and giving a 10-minute spoken presentation all in French. Let me tell you, memorizing a 12-page speech on the French Revolution was not easy, especially remembering how to say all the dates. It felt like I was back in elementary math class when I had to remember that 1789 was pronounced “mille sept cent quatre-vingt-neuf,” which translates literally to “thousand seven hundred four-twenty-nine.”
My (second from right) French Seal of Biliteracy ceremony
After all that hard work and thanks to my enthusiasm, I had the honor of receiving the Outstanding French Student of the Year Award for my graduating class, in which the prize was a copy of Les Misérables in French that I swear is at least 3 inches thick. As life got busy, it’s been sitting on my shelf since then, getting rusty along with my French language skills. One priority I have for my study abroad semester is to rediscover my passion and skill for the French language, so I hope that we can learn together through this blog! I’ll make sure that by next summer, I’ll be able to read this wonderful classic without having to look up every other word.
(Image 1) An endearing note from my French teacher
(Image 2) My giant copy of Les Misérables compared to the size of my laptop.
Back when I was a prospective transfer student and heard on a tour that Georgia Tech has a literal campus in France, my heart jumped out of my chest. Studying abroad in France had been a lifelong (well, more like teenage-lifelong) dream of mine. Despite Geor+gia Tech’s strong reputation as a STEM school, I secretly carried more excitement for GTE than for any other opportunity upon receiving my acceptance letter.
Now, when I hear people talking about Francophone places I’ve visited, I don’t just get that exciting feeling of talking about something I’ve studied, but also about someplace I’ll get to see and experience outside of just literature and film. However, France isn’t the only reason I’m excited about this trip. I’ve had a strong sense of wanderlust throughout my adult life; maybe I blame it on the fact that I moved around a lot as a kid. I’ve been the new kid countless times throughout my childhood, but it was never a scary thing for me; in fact, I love the idea of reinventing myself over and over, to define myself however I want without the baggage of the past. That’s something amazing that travel brings out in me: the opportunity to enter a place that has never seen a trace of me and to feel like I’ve belonged there my whole life.
Despite knowing how stressful travel can be, I can’t help but romanticize walking through the streets of Paris, gliding through the canals of Venice in a gondola, skiing for the first time in the Alps, as well as those random interactions and funny moments that no one ever predicts. There’s probably a million travel blog posts on the internet about every single country and tourist experience I’m going to have next spring, but what will be undeniably unique is the people I meet, the moments we share, and the challenges we face together. And so I hope that on top of sharing the cool places I’m going to, I can give you a taste of what it’s like to experience all the little moments of joy that I know are coming my way.
À la prochaine,
Leah