It’s Monday evening and after a day of work, a wave of sadness hits me. I realise that in 10 days, I will be heading back to London, without a return ticket to Paris in my pocket.
I feel sad about the idea that soon I won’t be able to stroll along the Champs Elysees (sorry) or visit Monet’s famous waterlily paintings at the Orangerie museum. I’m not going to lie and claim that my Year Abroad’s been a dream at all times- there have been bumps along the way, including terror attacks, occasionally feeling homesick and problems with housemates.
I feel proud of what I’ve achieved this year- I’ve managed to live in a foreign country for 10 months, immerse myself into a completely new and very different university, and done an internship for a month at La Vallee Village. It annoys me when people consider the Year Abroad as “a bit of a waste of time”, as I feel like this year has benefitted me more than any previous year in education. Before my internship for example, the idea of graduating frightened me. I think the idea of not knowing what would happen next played on my mind, but now I feel ready to enter the working world, as I’ve enjoyed my brief glimpse into it.
Paris has taught me to enjoy life and to make the best out of any situation. If I’ve ever felt a bit down this year, I’ve told myself that I’m in one of the best cities in the world, and I should explore it as much as I can. So that’s what I did. I’ve had so many amazing and unforgettable experiences this year, from going to Disneyland for the first time at the age of 20, to a rather challenging task of having to do a presentation for an hour and a half in French on History of Art. The terror attacks in November could have affected my year, but I refused to let them. Life is about living after all.
An important questions is whether after these 10 months, I can truly consider myself bilingual. I have definitely improved a lot, and I do feel fluent. An important thing for those about to go on their year abroad is to remember you won’t magically become fluent in the language even if you live there for 10 months- you still need to put a lot of work in! I would recommend finding a Tandem partner to practice your speaking, and watching French TV shows on Netflix. Speaking of being bilingual, I had a bizarre moment at work the other day. I was in Longchamp and I still had my staff pass around my neck. A woman asked me something in English, but I was in such a French mode of thinking that I replied in French to her confusion. I realised what I’d done, blushed, and then replied to her again but in English that time!