Global Experiences
Palace of
Versailles
Study Abroad
In the Spring of 2022, I decided to study abroad in Paris, France at Sorbonne University. This quickly became one of the best decisions of my life. Besides fully immersing myself in French culture, I was able to meet many other international students and learn about their respective countries and cultures. I made friends with people from Italy, Norway, Portugal, Hungary, and Germany, just to name a few of the countries represented. I learned everything from the political environments of their countries to the traditional dishes of whatever region they came from, but this wasn't a one-way street. My new international friends also used me to learn everything they could about the United States of America. For many of them, I was the first American that they have ever met or even had the chance to ask these questions to.
Besides this, I was able to learn as much as I possibly could about France and its culture. I spent many weekends traveling around to different cities and regions in France, tasting their foods, learning their slang, and discovering their hidden treasures. One of my favorite places that I visited was the city of Marseille and the surrounding areas. In this coastal area, I was able to discover the beautiful beaches along the Mediterranean Sea, a little reminder of home. Sitting along the Le Vieux Port, I was able to try the famous seafood cuisine of that region along with the special flavor "cassis," a sweet berry that they add to just about everything from ice cream to soda. My home base of Paris was also another love of mine. Within one week, I quickly fell in love with the city and its people. I loved the culture of art and creativity that spread through the air, visibly everywhere from the people painting in the parks to the unique fashion sense of every individual Parisian. Truthfully, this city became my second home.
During my time abroad, I also participated in the University of Florida's study abroad blog, The Global Gator. This blog allowed me to write down and share my experiences with its subscribers as well as read the experiences of my fellow gators that were abroad at the same time as me. While being a part of this organization, I wrote about my transition into the European lifestyle, a "catching-up" of my travels and adventures while abroad, and a piece about what it truly was to experience the changing of seasons for the first time. Because of my involvement with this blog, I was constantly looking for something new to write, always jotting down ideas and little notes about possible topics and anecdotes that I could later add. I even had a separate photos folder full of pictures that I wanted to include in the posts. It allowed me to not only live my experiences but view them through a critical lens. I was keenly focused on the small daily differences in Parisian life, wanting to be sure to take everything in. If you wish to see how I wrote, I attached one of my blogposts.
International Coursework
FRE3320 - Composition and Stylistics
In this course, I focused on my writing and reading skills in French. Throughout the semester, we looked at different works from French artists and analyzed them through different lenses. We were taught the differences in techniques amongst the many genres of literature, from children's graphic novels to newspaper articles. This class challenged me to be creative and expressive, using new vocabulary and expanding my knowledge of the French language within my assignments. These writing assignments focused on the development of a variety of skills, including summaries, literary analyses, argumentative essays, etc. I was pushed into the world of formal French literature and loved every aspect of it. The link below is an example of on the assignments I did for this course.
FRE3410 - French Conversation and Interaction
This course focused on harnessing and furthering our skills in spoken French. Each chapter focused on a new topic of conversation, from immigration to religious freedom, to climate change. Opposite to many of my previous courses, this class allowed me and the other students to grow beyond the formal French. We were encouraged to not only learn but use slang in our in-class and out-of-class assignments. We were exposed to people that lived throughout the francophone world, having multiple conversations through the platform TalkAbroad, where we were connected with a French speaking partner and allotted thirty minutes to have a conversation about whatever we chose. Beyond this, we had multiple oral assignments. Typically, these were responses to assigned questions or prepared presentations that we had to give in front of our classmates. These presentations allowed us to get comfortable speaking this foreign language in front of others. The professor’s philosophy with the presentations was "You already know the language, but what use is it if you are too afraid to speak it." The link below is an example of one of these presentations that I prepared.
Language Learning
Growing up in South Florida, I was constantly exposed to many different languages and cultures. Outside the house, I heard mainly Spanish, English, or Creole, but we spoke either French or English within my household walls. As a child, I was quite fluent in French, being able to have small conversations with my mom and her family and being able to hold my own in a French environment. As I aged, and began pushing back on speaking a foreign language at home, I gradually lost my ability to communicate in French, but I was still able to maintain my comprehension. When I started my undergraduate career at the University of Florida, I decided to restart my learning in the French language by enrolling in Beginning French 1, starting from the absolute bare bones. Little did I know that this would spark a new love for my culture and language, ultimately deciding to further my education and pick up a minor in French and Francophone studies. I slowly started to understand my family much clearer than before and was no longer fully relying on my mother to translate for me when I wanted to talk to her side of the family. One of the most influential steps in this language learning was when I studied abroad in France for 7 months. I began that journey by spending a month living with my grandparents who speak little to no English, forcing me to use and improve my French skills. After this, I spent the next six months fully immersed in the language and culture of Paris. I was hearing French on the streets, in the metro, in the clubs and bars, and even on my social media, as it switched content as soon as I stepped foot in France. This immersion gave me my biggest improvement in the language, so much so that my family began to notice the changes in my accent and I began to switch my sentence structures in English to those which were more similar to French. Currently, I feel quite confident in my ability to speak and communicate in French to the point where I feel comfortable holding a conversation with a native speaker. To hear an example of that, I attached a recorded conversation I had with a native speaker about the effects of social media on the authenticity of friendships.