So...here we are...back by popular demand :)
It is crazy to think that I have been home for a year now. Time has flown! So first a short recap...
I am 23 and a college graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a second Bachelor of Arts in French Language. My last year at California State University San Marcos was amazing. I got to serve as the French Club Présidente, had the opportunity to work with CEA Global Education as an Alumni Ambassador and was CSUSM's french tutor. It was a lot but as I think about it, I loved every moment of the insanity because it allowed me to share my passions with my campus community. I think before my experience abroad, I was so content with remaining in my books and completing my studies but after, how could I not share the amazing-ness that is the world with my fellow students?
What did I love most about my undergraduate college experience? I would have to say...finding myself. College for so many is the time to party lots and study little. I looked at it another way. It was a new challenge and a time for me to find my element. I found it thats for sure. I think what is so incredible to reflect on is how each one of my history, literature and french professors was able to teach me something other than the required materials. My history people taught me about the world and they helped me discover that history is a constant, living thing that is completely dependent on those who study it. My literature professors showed me how to see the world as a human and to read the history as if I was there. And last but certainly not least, my french professors gave me a challenge; one that pushed me to realize that settling for something you are naturally good at isn't always enough. To all my CSUSM professors, I thank you; for dealing with me and for helping create who I am today. Each of you has left an impact and I will never forget it.
Here is the fam bam! I am so lucky to have all of them in my corner. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a family who loves you and supports you no matter what. I have that team behind me...whether I am in the US or moving about the planet :)
Oh Cal State Stair Master....I will miss you....kind of ;) I was so proud of this regalia that I did not take it off ALL day :)
True? I think yes :)
On that note, I think its time to bring up my "what's next".
I have been accepted at the Université de Bordeaux 3 and I will be moving back to France in early September! I am so excited and honestly I am not sure I have fully realized that I am now a grad student about to move "home." I will be studying études anglophones or english studies and I would like to become an english professor.
As I wrote last year, I didn't want to leave France and at that time I promised I would be back in a little over a years time. I remember my return flight from Paris to London, sitting in a window seat over the plane's wing, watching as the Eiffel Tower came into view for a brief moment and then disappeared. I felt as if my world as I knew it had changed. I was a different person and the world I fell in love with, was disappearing in front of my eyes. I had already made up my mind to graduate and come back but I was terrified that something was going to happen and that it would be impossible. Well, that is not the case and I get to go "home" in just a few short months and I couldn't be more stoked! However, there is a sense of trepidation because this time, I won't be with a program. It is as if I am a "real" grown up and now is the time to really find my wings and fly. I'm sure there will be challenges and bumps along the way but I have the best support system filled with family and friends who love me and I know they will never let me fall.
"Suis ton coeur aussi longtemps que tu vis..."
je le ferai...toujours
:)
