Category: 2022-Fall

What to Expect During Your First Week at GTL

September 12, 2022

Written by Lillian

1. GTL shuttle

When you first arrive in Paris, at the Charles De Gaulle Airport, your first task is to locate the GTL shuttle. I highly recommend getting into contact with other GTL students prior to entering Paris in order to make this experience better, since finding the shuttle is very chaotic and hard to locate in the midst of being in a foreign country and finding your luggage. Thankfully, I was able to text other students in a GTL group chat to ask for more specific directions to the shuttle.

That afternoon and night offers students time to unpack their things and unwind from the day of traveling. Free pizza will be offered during a dorm building party for dinner. Some students will also take this time to shop for food and personal belongings. I would hold off on making large purchases during this time because students will get the opportunity to pick large items like trash cans and fans for free on Monday, when old GTL students dorm supplies are available to new GTL students. 

2. CORA tour

The next morning, students have the option of signing up for a tour of CORA: the local supermarket, which is more like a superstore in Metz. During this tour, you will learn where everything is located, and some helpful hints to make your shopping experience better. For example, in order to use a shopping cart, you need to insert a coin into the cart to unlock it. You will get that coin back when you return the cart. You also need to plastic wrap all large backpacks (purses and handbags excluded) when you enter the store to prevent theft. CORA, like many other French grocery stores, has a large bakery and cheese section.

3. Downtown Metz Tour

That afternoon, we headed into downtown Metz on a GTL supplied bus. We got an audio tour of the city while riding a small train-like shuttle. Once that was over, the student assistants freed us to explore the town ourselves. During this time, I went with a group of students to get cellular data plans at Free Mobile. One student spoke French so we were able to rely on him to make sure we got the plans we needed.

View of Downtown Metz. Imagine living in one of those apartments that look out onto the waterfront!

4. Orientation

Monday morning brings orientation! While there are no classes on Monday, students are required to attend orientation early that morning where we learn about building safety precautions, research abroad, and general GTL programs. Since there are no classes on Monday, this first week will have classes on Friday, so your first week’s travel plans will be impacted.

5. Campus Tour

On the Monday of your first week of classes, you will be given a tour of the GTL building as well as safety information about the building. Your class will be split into different tour groups to walk through the building at different times. While waiting for your group to start, you can rent a bike with Velomet for €15 who will visit GTL during that time. In order to rent a bike, you must bring a €200 deposit that you will receive when you turn your bike back in. Velomet only accepts cash deposits, so if you are in need of a bike, make sure to bring it to your orientation on Monday. GTL will also invite a local food truck that you can purchase lunch from.

6. Garage Sale

In the middle of your tour, you will have access to the Garage Sale, a room full of free items to grab from previous GTL students. Items include fans, brooms and mops, clothes bins and drying racks, trash cans, hangers, etc. Students have limited time and limited number of items that they can select during the garage sale in order to make it fair to all students; however, students in earlier tour groups will receive an advantage since they will choose their items first. Even though I was in the last group to choose items, I still was able to pick up a fan, cutting board, trash can, and clothes bin, so do not worry if you are in the same situation.

I was one of the last students that was able to go to the garage sale, and this is how much was still remaining

7. Grad Orientation

If you are a Masters or PHD student, you are required to attend a major specific orientation detailing your program at GTL. During this time, you learn about research and courses for your degree, and you can ask more grad school specific questions.

8. Dorm Tours

Students will also receive a tour of their dorm building after the tour of campus and learn about laundry facilities and trash separation. The washing machines in my building, Lafayette, include their own detergent. Fabric softeners and other scented products are not included. 

9. Leonardo Program

During orientation, you will learn about the Leonardo Program: a program headed by French teacher Sonia Seravan to explore the arts. This program has events that are free for students such as drawing classes with a local artist and speed dating events to meet your fellow Georgia Tech travelers. 

Finally!

Monday, September 5th, 2022

Written by Lillian

My initial trip to France was a whirlwind, and I was not sure that I was going to arrive on time and with all my things. I spent the summer interning in Seattle, Washington, but the day after my internship ended, I was on a plane headed to Newfoundland, Canada. I spent two weeks biking across the island with Georgia Tech’s Outdoor Recreation program. From there, I flew to Washington, D.C. where I met my dad who was waiting patiently with my luggage which I had prepacked and shipped from Seattle. I flew to Paris immediately, without even saying goodbye to my family. Afterwards, I dealt with TSA, customs, jetlag, and locating the GTL Shuttle. As I sat down in the Shuttle with all my belongings, I was relieved that all my travel plans were executed successfully, although it tiring to go through. Then, it started to dawn on me: I was finally in France!  

The past three years have been building to this one moment. During my first year at Georgia Tech, I applied and was accepted to GTL for the summer. Unfortunately, it was canceled due to COVID-19. The next year, I planned to study abroad once more during the Fall semester, but I received a last-minute internship which I decided to take instead. Well, you know what they say: third time’s the charm! And for me, it was! After all the planning and purchasing of the Eurail passes and plane tickets, I started to get exhausted from stressing over all the disjunct pieces in my travel plans, wondering if it would all work out perfectly. I completely forgot to look around and just be thankful that I was here. Once I took that step back, I was full of pure happiness. While I know that busy travel days and exhausting weekdays await me, I am so excited to get out of my comfort zone and experience all that Europe has to offer me!

View outside my plane arriving into France. Even the farmlands are laid out differently. In the US, it’s a grid system, but here is more anarchy. 

After a four-hour bus ride, the shuttle dropped us off at my Lafayette dorm room: a small room without air-conditioning located on the first floor. A pizza party was thrown for all the GTL students, and a couple of my newfound friends went out for €0.50 coffee from a vending machine and ice cream. My lack of French hit me as I stepped up to the dessert bar cashier. “Je voudrais une… chocolate ice cream… s’il vous plaît?” I attempted – butchering the words. Thankfully, the cashier understood my attempt and helped me with my pronunciation. Even though I was initially unsuccessful, I was over my fear of speaking French, and I look forward to the opportunity to redeem myself in the future. 

A well-earned ice cream 

In just this first week, I have been able to explore the cities of Metz and Luxembourg. On first impression, what struck out to me was the many cultural differences that I did not expect. I figured that Europe was more fashionable than the United States (hello– Paris fashion week), but I did not expect it in the airport and grocery stores. For Europeans, pants and red-tinted sunglasses are more favorable when compared to jeans, shorts, and black tinted sunglasses, in the U.S.. Other oddities which struck me as well: groceries and restaurants are much cheaper here than in the states; however, items such as batteries and gas are more expensive. The public bathroom (or WC) is not free, usually costing around 0,50 €- 1€. I was astounded when I was charged 4,50€ for a bottle of water at a restaurant in Luxembourg. It was more expensive than soft drinks and alcohol. When entering a grocery store, you must bag your backpacks in plastic to prevent theft of items. You also must scan self-checkout receipts to exit!  While the differences are small, they add up.  

Me in Paris at the Pont Neuf Bridge and my stylish gummy bear earrings. If this didn’t fit in with French couture, I don’t know what would.

Overall, France and Luxembourg have been amazing to explore these first few weeks. However, I am so excited to continue traveling and see as many sights as I can. I think the activity that I am most excited for is hiking along the ridge lines of the Alps in Switzerland. I cannot wait to continue to travel in weeks to come, so I can learn more about European culture outside of France! 

A Sugar Rush in Belgium

August 28, 2022

Written by Lillian

We woke up at 4:30 A.M. on Saturday to catch a 6:00 A.M. train to Ghent, Belgium: a quaint, culture-filled town recommended to us by a graduate student. Traveling is so meticulous, especially when each train relies on one another to get you on each of your connections, and unfortunately, we ended up missing one of our connections because we hopped on the wrong train, so when we finally got to Ghent, we were all starving because of the mishaps and delays to the trip. But before we could stop to get something to eat, I spotted a thrift store near downtown Ghent. The thrift store organized its clothes into four categories: intellectuals (for professional and dark academia styles), strangers (for off-the-beaten path and one-of-a-kind statement pieces), flower child (for florals and cute styles), and rockers (for edgier and punk rock looks). We spent the next hour thrifting in Ghent’s neighborhoods in the various stores we stumbled upon; I was surprised at how many good items I could find! 

Thrift store in Ghent – such a wide range of clothes 

Finally, we stopped by a Portuguese Bakery to cure our hunger. We got Pastel de Natas, an egg custard tart pastry, which was super delicious. We also stopped to get Belgian fries loaded with beef, onions, mayonnaise, and gravy. We strolled a little further and stopped at a waffle shop. I dined on a Belgian waffle with Nutella and whipped cream. There was so much good food around every corner we turned, we couldn’t help but try it all.

When we finally got into downtown Ghent after our many diversions, we stumbled upon a couple of different local events: a Pokémon Go Festival, an Alice in Wonderland App & Cosplay Festival, an annual regatta, and a music festival. The city was teeming with life, and everyone that we saw was either dressed as the Mad Hatter, glued to their phone in search of Pokémon, or disembarking from their canoes. We decided to join the canoer’s on the water and take a boat tour of the city, and our captain spoke three different languages on the tour: English, French, and Dutch. He would repeat everything three times in the different languages for all of the patrons to understand. It was very impressive. We also learned that Ghent has the most number of universities in the county of Belgium; it makes sense why the thrifting scene was so good!

The river Lys that runs through the whole city. Anyone can use the river, so it is filled with boaters, kayakers, and paddle boarders.

We dined on more authentic Belgian cuisine: cuberdon or Gentse neus  (“Ghent noses”). These noses are made of Arabic gum candy in the shape of a nose, and within its hard crust lies a soft and gelatinous filling. These candies originated from Ghent, and the two cart merchants from which you can buy the noses have a history of fierce rivalry which spans fist fights, merchant bans, and hefty fines.

Colorful Ghent Noses with an equally colorful history

Early the next day, we hopped on a train to Bruges, a town in Northwest Belgium. We spent the first couple of hours sightseeing and taking photos before the town woke up. This ended up being a good plan for us because midday brought so many tourists. It’s so interesting to see a city light up with people after having it to ourselves all morning. We decided to rent bikes and explore the river which encircles the city instead of getting caught up in the downtown crowds.

Bruges was inducted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. These gorgeous views definitely helped.

Then, we ate lunch in downtown Bruges. One thing that I found interesting was that it was really hard to find authentic Belgian cuisine. I found the same issue in Luxembourg too. Most of the food was French or interestingly enough–American! We did find many Belgian chocolatiers though— pralines were invented in Belgium and include a chocolate shell filled with softer fillings such as caramel, coffee, cream, and marzipan. These pralines can last about three months uneaten while plain, unfilled chocolates can last six; however, I fully know that these will barely last a week in my dorm!

Chocolatier in Bruges: there were tons of them in Belgium, at least two on every street!

Overall, it was very obvious to see and taste why Belgium is known for so many different foods. Over the course of these two days, I had a sugar overload from feasting on waffles, chocolates, and noses. I absolutely loved walking through the city of Ghent; it has all the charm of Bruges, but with a younger demographic, more lively social scene, and less tourists. In Bruges, I loved biking through the cobblestone roads, dodging the horse drawn carriages, and darting over the many picturesque bridges. My first weekend abroad was a success, and while I may still need more time getting used to the train system, I am looking forward to a more smooth sailing next weekend as I gain more skills on how to live and travel in Europe!