Tag: travel

Freshman Year Social Life, Senior Year Workload

Posted on Posted in France, Grenoble - Fall 2018Tagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

First, I just want to thank everyone for the overwhelming amount of love and support I got from my last post (if you missed it, you can find it here). Unfortunately this post isn’t going to be as personal, but if you’re interested in what school is like, go ahead and read on!

Starting school here was like going through Freshman year again. I didn’t know where any of my classes were, didn’t know anything about the school, and I didn’t know anyone. Being in France, most of the communication regarding orientation and information was either ambiguous, in French or nonexistent. Once again, I probably should have been close to a breakdown. Let me breakdown what it was actually like. Hopefully someone reading this is needs to know more about GEM so they aren’t as lost as I was.

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My Classes

Thankfully, the setup of my class schedule made this all much more manageable.  Grenoble École de Management (GEM) organizes their undergrad, or BIB (Bachelor in International Business) students into cohorts of about 35. Then you have all of your classes, excluding foreign language, with this group of students. Every semester you have a different cohort. Within these cohorts there are a couple different groups of students.

There are students who go to GEM for their entire BIB, which are called progressive. These students take their first two years completely in French or completely in English. The semester I went on exchange, I was mixed in with third year students. Thus, the French and English students had just been mixed together for the first time. As a result, some of the students were taking classes completely in English for the first time, which I cannot even imagine (some of our teachers were really hard to understand, and this is my first language).

Within my class were many international students. Some were on exchange for a semester, like me, and some were progressive students. There were students from the US, France, Switzerland, Egypt, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, China, Singapore, Ireland, and more. With this many countries represented, classes felt like the UN, minus Robert’s Rules, at some points (haha that’s a joke). But honestly, group projects were really difficult at times because of cultural differences, so I cannot stress how important it is to actually have skills in that buzzword, cultural intelligence. My class got pretty close, which made for some pretty good in class discussions and fun nights out.

Class Schedule

The schedule for courses here is somewhat stressful if you like routine. We had a different schedule every week, with different courses in different rooms. The cohorts had slightly different teachers for different courses, and some of our courses had multiple teachers. The nice thing is that we would always have class from 9am-12:15pm, 1:15pm-4:30pm, and/or 4:45-8pm. We would only ever have two of those time slots in one day, and we got a 15-minute break between. Overall, I felt that this schedule was a nice change from the normal routine.

Our courses were focused on international business, which made them feel repetitive at times. However, since we were able interact with and learn about so many cultures at once, the content was more applicable to our actual experience. One of my favorite courses was Intercultural Business Skills. While it was a pretty common-sense class, the professor helped us to understand cultural differences in a really applicable way. Actually, one of the most enjoyable assignments (aside from it being due at the end of the week with the heaviest workload), was a paper comparing our own culture to another. Another fun class was Innovation Management, where we got to create a new, innovative product and present it to the class. Additionally, out professors for this course were amazing. In the first half, we had an energetic ex-pat American who encouraged us all to be more creative in our daily lives (we played with legos in class one day with him). The second half was a no-nonsense Italian who sounds just like Gru from Despicable Me. He would run around during his lectures and try to keep the whole class engaged. While intimidating, he had a certain candor with the class that made us feel like we were his colleagues in some sense (maybe that’s why he thought tossing candy across the room was a good idea, until he hit me in the head…).

Our language classes are kind of cool in that they mix together all of the masters and bachelor students, and then place them depending on a test score. French students take English, and all other students take French. If you are already fluent in both, you take a third language, such as Spanish, German, or Chinese. While the content wasn’t the most interesting, I really enjoyed that this class was taught completely in French, and that I had a different variety of students than in my other courses. However, living with a host family, I didn’t exactly need the practice as much.

Student Life

The way clubs and social life at GEM is so different from UW-La Crosse, where I go in the states. First of all the student associations are quite difficult to join, and even more difficult if you aren’t French. I would compare joining them to joining a fraternity (I am in a co-ed business one, Delta Sigma Pi, so this is my frame of reference). You need to apply, interview, and hold a position to be in one. For most of them, you need to be friends with people already in it, and be able speak French to have a chance. Others, such as the international student one, are nicer about publishing information in English and accepting students their members don’t know. This was a very big surprise to me, as in the US, you can just show up to club meetings for most clubs, without officially being a member.

Even though they are selective, the student associations at GEM are highly active and put on cool parties, called SAT’s or OB’s (open bars). These are usually themed, and you buy a ticket for about 15-20 euros that covers all your drinks for a night. The tickets go on sale at a certain time, and you have to buy it right away. This is called a shotgun (French people use this word for everything, I guess you could say they’re trigger happy hehe). Then you also have to shotgun a bus time later in the week. Overall, I find this process very stressful, but the parties are cool. On the night they take place, you get bussed to the place, usually a warehouse outside Grenoble. Once there, you are drinking whatever mixed drink they have, and probably getting it thrown at you. The last one I went to only served tequila and orange juice, and I am not sure I can handle the smell of either for a couple months…

The other one I went to this semester was called Wall to Wall. Everyone wore white t-shirts and then went around writing things on each others’ shirts the whole night. We got a big group together to go, so we mostly just wrote on each others’ at the pre-drink (they don’t call them pre-games here). Here’s a picture from our whole group that night!

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Soooo…

…this is getting a little long, and honestly there isn’t that much more to say. If I don’t drown in studying for finals, I’ll post about some winter activities here (aka my Alps ski survival guide).

 

 

The Part Nobody Mentions

Posted on Posted in France, Grenoble - Fall 2018Tagged , , , , 1 Comment

In the first week of class, one of my professors told me that living outside your home country makes the highs higher and the lows lower. In that moment, I understood why that could be possible, but after living in one city here for about two months and traveling for another month before, I have lived through some of these ups and downs. This is not necessarily an easy thing to write about and post on the internet for everyone to see (yikes), but I think people often go abroad and just talk about how amazing it is, without talking about the tough parts. Don’t worry, I will mention some of the great moments too.

The First Month

The beginning is the hardest part. My school made sure I was ready for culture shock, but that wasn’t what made this time hard. It is how lonely it can be. This is the result of a couple of different things. First of all, making new friends takes time. Back at my home university, I can call a number of my best friends, and show up at their house 10 minutes later just to hang out. Not to mention, I had a boyfriend with whom I spent time constantly prior to leaving. So moving somewhere where I live with a family I don’t know well, who only speak a language in which I am not fluent felt extremely isolating.

On the weekends, there were people to go out with, but when I had class only for 6-9 hours a week, with not much homework to do, all that extra time felt huge. However, I did find some amazing friends who constantly want to do things together, which has helped me avoid being alone. Now, I enjoy these moments alone to recharge.

Brunch Day!

One of the best days of my entire semester was October 13th. My friend Victor invited a bunch of our friends to his house in the mountains. He made us the most amazing brunch and we all just enjoyed hanging out for the whole day. This was the first day I met most of the people I would hang out with for the following two months. All of us were really in a great mood and were constantly laughing. One of  my friends spilled some red wine on his white shirt, and then there was a group effort to clean it. In the meantime, he put on three of the girls’ sweaters or jackets before he finally took an extra shirt from Victor. Then he proceeded to wear that shirt out to the bars with some of us that evening. Some photos of the food and Victor walking around with this beautiful cake are below (unfortunately I am saving the photo of the friend in the girls’ clothing for his birthday…)

The Stress of School

At a certain point in the semester, everyone started getting sick, and the school work started picking up like crazy. This makes everyone really irritable with each other and sad about how hard our lives are. While this happens even when you’re not abroad, this situation panned out differently here for several reasons. First of all, my normal reaction to this much stress is to camp out at the library or a coffee shop in all of my free time. However, between having a set dinner time with my host family, and coffee shop hours not being quite as extensive here, this isn’t really an option. So I have to lump my work around times when I am at school, or motivate myself while at home, which is very difficult for me. Secondly, I know what stress looks like from an American culture, but from other cultures, it can look very different. So while I am extremely stressed myself, I am also trying to manage my friendships with friends who are also stressed, but their displays of emotion are ambiguous to me. Throw in a break-up and missing my family because of Thanksgiving, and you might assume I’m having the glorified mid-semester breakdown. I suppose you could call it that, although there hasn’t been any crying.

Thanksgiving

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this was another high of the semester, and it perfectly countered the aforementioned stress week. Thankfully (hehe), it fell the evening after our last class of the week, so the stress had been lifted. This is definitely another top memory from my semester here. It started with grocery shopping with my friends Fie and Megill, and then we spent the afternoon cooking. We were planning how to warm everything up when we got to the apartment that was hosting (the hosting apartment didn’t have to cook since they weren’t American and we invited ourselves over), just like my family does every year. All of this preparation felt like the evening and morning that happens before Thanksgiving at my house back home, where my mom and I talk and cook, with my brother and dad nearby organizing all of the food.

We arrived at dinner to have the boys who were hosting surprised at how much food we had brought (this was their first American Thanksgiving as far as I know). They all laughed at me when I poured apple cider into a pot and threw in some spices and orange peel. Then our friends started to arrive. It felt just like my family showing up every year (minus the dogs that were always roaming around), with us greeting each new arrival and offering drinks, including the aforementioned cider that was greatly enjoyed.

At dinner, we had all of the Thanksgiving staples. Megill even made us all go around and say what we were thankful for (not quite the rocks in the box, mom), which was nice after how much our group of friends picks on each other. In fact, I wouldn’t say that we had a Friendsgiving, it was actually a Thanksgiving, because in that moment, I felt like I was among family (ewww sorry for getting corny).

To top it all off, I got to call my actual family back home and say hi to everyone. This could have been the lowest low of being here, because I wasn’t home for such a special family holiday, but instead it was one of the highest highs.

This brings me to where I am now…

Honestly, I started writing this post about four or five days ago. But this was not an easy one to write because it bounces between being sappy and being vulnerable, both of which I do not enjoy. Moreover, I am a little under three weeks until my semester here is over, and only 22 days before I fly home. Then, I will be leaving the people who have supported me through so much while 4,500 (or 7,200km) miles from home. I think this is a harder goodbye than my family and friends back home, because I don’t know when or if I will see these people again.

So the highs are higher and the lows are lower, but I think it’s that way because we remember more intense emotions much better.

So it’s two AM here…

…which means I need to sleep, but coming up, I will actually write a post about my school and what that’s like!

I’m Still Alive

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As I am starting to hit crunch time in my classes (hence the title of the post – also it’s a killer Sia song), I seem to be losing time to post here. However, I just finished writing a 5-page paper on business ethics related to sexual harassment, so I am already on a writing binge. While I still have many jaunts to share about from the past few months, I need to stop to update you on my life here in Grenoble, France. A lot has changed since I arrived here; I have friends I cannot imagine not knowing, I have become single, and I’m trying to figure out what to do with my life after I graduate.

While I could tell you about the city I’m in and everything, I’ll save that for a later post (I promise I won’t go missing for months again). Instead, I’d like to share some cool things about being here!

Speaking French Constantly

Everybody knows that the best way to learn a language is full immersion. I thought I had this when I was working in collections with French-speaking customers from Quebec. However, hearing words in French around me every day is very different than talking to customers on the phone. I can’t even talk to the family I live with here without speaking French. When I was back in the states, I was always so eager to practice, whether it be through listening to music or watching Netflix in the language. Being here, my brain is half in French all of the time, so I can understand the world around me. It’s going to be strange not to have to do that when I’m back.

*side note: it’s so strange to hear people speaking American English here, that it’s kind of head-turning every time I hear it. I’m sure when I first get back, I’ll keep being surprised just hearing people talk!

Wine wine wine!

This one is a very true French stereotype. You can get a bottle of good wine (by American standards) for 5 euros, and that’s not even the cheapest bottle you can get. Also, at restaurants, you can always order a glass of wine. I have yet to go to one that does not offer it.

Greeting people: La Bise

This is definitely one of those things that I’m still getting used to. It’s when you say hi to someone and you do two cheek kisses. I like it because it’s used like we would say “what’s up” or “how’s it going” in the states. We use these in a rhetorical sense, so they’re kind of just a way to say hi. Doing la bise is nice because you know that the person actually wants to say hi to you. The only hard thing about it is knowing which side to start on. Also I once got made fun of by my friend Victor for looking disoriented about greeting their friend whom I’d never met this way. It’s okay though because I’m American so it’s not like I do this all the time.

However, as I am in a class that is mostly exchange students, greeting people can be a struggle. Every culture has it’s own way of saying hi! My friend from Brazil does one cheek kiss (but he’s started doing two to avoid confusion). I wouldn’t dare to try la bise with my friend from Finland, since he told me they stick to a head nod or a handshake. My sweet Danish friends both hug, as do the other Americans I know, but my friend from Norway always does la bise. And one of my close French friends (he’s actually half Chilean) has taken to hugging me. So pro-tip: if you’re going to another country where you’ll interact with a lot of locals, make sure you know how to greet them.

Polyglots everywhere

My friends here, on average, speak three or more languages, so they find it funny that learning a second language proficiently in the US is not very common. Most of them speak English, French (the school requires it) and their native language (if it’s French, the school requires them to take another language). One of my closest friends, Fie (from Denmark) was just telling me how she speaks so much English here that speaking Danish is really strange for her. When she does speak Danish with other students from there, they often mix a lot of English words in.

Public transport is great?

Okay this one is kind of an exaggeration. I take public transport everywhere here, which includes busses and trams. Doing this is an art when you live a mile from the city center and almost two miles from your school. There are multiple routes to get home, so I’m constantly checking schedules to see which will be fastest. Moreover, on Sundays and in the evenings, the transport runs less often, or will just stop all together, so I always have to plan ahead for when I’m going to arrive somewhere. The craziest thing about this is that driving would take even longer. The streets here are difficult to navigate and the traffic is insane. Busses and trams get priority at intersections and special lanes, so they’re often faster. I’m pretty pumped to get back and feel like my 10 minute walk to class is short.

Never getting ID’d

Okay I did get ID’d once while buying some wine and beer (the age to buy in most stores is 18, even though the legal drinking age is 16). But just walking in to bars without having to go through a bouncer is amazing. Sometimes when I see people outside smoking, I think it’s the line to get ID’s checked and then I remember that it’s not necessary. It’s funny because I’ve gotten my public transport pass checked three times in the last week, and can’t enter or leave my school without my ID, but don’t need my government ID at all!

Living with a host family

I don’t have to cook dinner or clean, and get a home-cooked meal every night. Plus I get to practice a lot of French with them, not to mention that my host dad is a history/geography buff, so he is always telling me great facts and information about the regional gastronomy and wine in different regions of Southern Europe. This is probably one of my favorite things here.

So I am sure that there are many more cool things about being here, but it’s almost 1am here and I can’t think of anymore right now, plus I want to go to bed. Also here are some cool pictures from my time here!

Goodbyes

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A couple weeks before I left, my boyfriend sent me a long text at 2am. It said pretty much everything I knew but he had never told me. He was going to miss me, but was excited for and supportive of me. He knew how much this semester would mean to me. He would FaceTime me as much as possible. The next day, he told me “I’m a pretty lucky guy to have you around,” A couple days later, he decided he was going to visit me during my semester in France. I’m trying to keep this as un-mushy as possible, but he’s a pretty cool guy.

Two nights before I left, I had gotten home from a four-day music festival in Chicago. As soon as I got home, my boyfriend wanted to facetime me. Then my best friend texted me telling me she needed me to call her. When I mentioned this to my mom the next morning, she said “What’s she going to do for the next five months when she can’t call you?” I assured my mom that she could still call me in Europe. Such distance did not stop us from being ever-available for each other last summer, so why would it now?

The day before I left, I picked my dad up from work. It was my last night home, and he, having studied abroad in college also, shared my excitement for the months to come. He got into the car and immediately explained to me my best options if I missed my flight or if it got delayed. That’s when I realized that this would be the longest I have ever been away from my family. I think that should have scared me a little, but my dad’s excitement told me “hey I know you’ll have a great time and I have confidence in you.”

The day I left, the aforementioned best friend came over to say goodbye and was so excited for me to leave. But what really brought me joy was how jazzed she was to tell my mom about her plans for the upcoming semester to run her first half-marathon. My mom assured her that she would go watch and cheer her on. So that’s how I knew that my best friend had become like a sister to me and that my parents were going to be there for her in my absence.

The airport from which I left gave me the goodbye that struck me the most. My mom drove me to the airport. For background, over the past months through my planning, she always expressed how careful I had to be as I would be traveling by myself for a couple weeks. She was my constant reminder that I needed to keep my safety in mind when traveling. Despite this, when she started crying and hugged me goodbye, she said “I’m going to miss you.” There was no more ‘be safe’s’ left to say. She knew I knew that and like my dad, she has confidence in me. She was going to simply miss my relationship being near.

Hey dad, I am ever grateful your confidence.

Hey boyfriend, I’m a pretty lucky girl too.

Hey best friend, I might be across an ocean, but I’m still here for you.

Hey mom, I’m going to miss you too.

And I am so thankful for all of you and so many more of the amazing people who are supporting and excited for me. And I want to thank each and every one of you for the special goodbye I got to have with you over the last couple weeks. I’ll see you all in five months!