This is my third study abroad. My first was in Rome, Italy for four months than I went to London for three months immediately after and now a year later I am spending my summer in Paris and London for a total of three months. So why would I want to leave a great job, friends, family and Drexel again? Well, I had three main reasons 1) I wanted to see the Olympics in person 2) I wanted to try luxury brand marketing class before applying to an MBA specializing in it 3) I’ve always loved French culture and the language.
This program seemed to be the perfect fit for completing all three goals in one term. I have previously visited France during my study abroad in Rome, so I have seen most of Paris attractions, Champagne (the region), Nice and Monaco. Having that opportunity is now allowing me to see France away from the tourist attractions so many students usually wait to see in their program. With that said, I’m not a French expert so there is still so much I want to see and there so much I will never tire of seeing again. For example, I have seen Versailles previously but I will never tire of seeing either the chateau or the gardens. What I am looking forward to the most would be to learn more about the French people. I feel that like Americans, the French are often stereotyped or misjudged which surprised me on my last trip to France which proved so many of the judgments wrong.
In addition to explaining things I have seen, I hope to include in each blog either a recommendation, funny moment or observation that occurred or suggestion in each entry.
This entry’s recommendation: Pack light! I could not stress this enough! I am known for packing far too much for far too short of a time period. I think this flight was the first time I ever boarded a flight without having to pay for extra baggage because I finally took everyone’s advice and packed lighter. It made life so much easier than I could ever begin to explain. It helped first with moving around both in the airport and on my way to my residence.
This entry’s observation: Getting from the airport to the residence might be tricky. I had to take a taxi from CDG because orientation started only an hour after my flight arrived and I knew that it would take about an hour to get to the city. By metro it is possible to get to ESCE since the La Defense metro is only about 2 minutes away from the stop but you should plan out your route by using Googlemaps or looking at a map of Paris before arriving as it could be very tricky to someone without experience of walking between the buildings in this area.