Wrap Up

It’s almost been a week since I returned from Quebec and it feels as though I never left Virginia. I went straight back to work (nothing says Christmas spirit like working in retail!) and my room was exactly like I left it. It feels like my life here was simply on pause while I was away.

Quebec feels like a dream. If I hadn’t documented everything so thoroughly I would think I had been dreaming. 

A friend told me I would suffer from post-abroad blues and yep, it’s happening. I miss my life abroad already. It’s hard to feel content back in a small town where absolutely nothing has changed in the last four months. (Except there’s a new Dunkin’ Donuts.) Though I am very happy to be back at home with all my animals and my space. And I’ve got my friends to help me acclimate.  

As I’ve been thinking about my trip, I’ve settled on a few things that I learned about myself. Things that may have been a part of me before, but were never given a chance to develop.

Living alone in a foreign city, and speaking a different language, has given me more confidence in my abilities and capabilities. I was able to navigate Quebec City and carve out a life for myself. I found my first apartment and made friends from all over the world. 

I’ve learned that speaking up for myself is necessary. If I can do it in a foreign language I can certainly do it in English. 

I discovered that whatever I do in life will involve traveling and adventuring. I’ve never been happier than when I was exploring and discovering new sights, sounds and tastes. 

My abroad experience has left nothing lacking and exceeded my expectations. I’m ready and anxious to see the rest of the world now. 

Airbnb, first impressions

I was really nervous about renting a room through Airbnb. Who hasn't heard those horror stories about crazy roommates? (Thanks for reminding me about them, Mom.) I was able to rationalize my fear of renting by remembering that crazy roommates happen in college dorms all the time. It's just a part of the experience when forced to live with strangers. 

Those selfies above were taken five minutes after I arrived at my new place in Limoilou, a little quartier about twenty minutes from Vieux Quebec. A little while later my new roommate would inform me that the bathroom is the best place in the apartment for selfies. 

I had such an insane case of jitters when I was moving last weekend.  I was a little scared of living with a new person that I found on the internet. I didn't exactly know where I was living. BUT. My roommate is the nicest lady and my new quartier is lovely. My roommate is easy to talk to and she made sure I was properly outfitted for the Quebec cold. 

When I first arrived, Celine Dion was blasting from the radio and I felt like I was in a Quebecois sitcom. And sometimes when we have conversations I feel like we would make a perfect reality show. However, my French has improved so much! I can now have normal conversations without the other person looking at me like I'm completely crackers. 

I have my own room (pictures coming soon!) and I'm free to use to the kitchen, washing machine and bathroom (obviously). I think I paid a little over $400 USD for five weeks, a great deal considering I got everything I wanted. And I'm not living in a hostel. Ha!

Before finding this room through Airbnb, I tried using Kijiji, a Canadian craigslist, but had little to no success. I found a few rooms, but it was so hard to get in contact with the owner! Renting through Airbnb is incredibly easy. Paying is easy and feels very secure, because the person you rent from doesn't get the money until you check in. No chance they'll take your money and split!

Finding a room is easy using Airbnb's search filters- I searched for a private room under $500 with a kitchen, internet and washing machine. Even though I'm a little further out than before, I really like my location. I've already found the neighborhood cafe! I plan on exploring Limoilou this week, if it doesn't snow too much.

I'm about a ten minute walk from the bus stop, but I don't mind the walk. It's good to be forced to exercise, heaven knows how many maple cookies I eat. 

I'll be sure to write a follow up post when I conclude my five week stay, but my first impressions are very favorable and my roommate isn't crazy. #winning  

If you have any other questions about my move or anything, let me know if the comments! 

The French Days of Old

*I found this little essay in the chaos of my desktop. I figured it's still applicable! And what better blog to post it on than this one?*

I've just finished my final for my intensive summer French class. It was a 930 word essay based on a French mystery novel. 

I'm currently experiencing three distinct emotions: extreme fatigue, elation and longing for more. 

The extreme fatigue comes from having worked 20 hours every weekend during this class and having pulled half-nighters for the last two weeks. (There was so much homework. My word. I even started texting people in French!) 

The reason for my elation is fairly obvious- I can now have fun! Its summer and I'm free as a bird! I've got grand plans to go shopping, finalize my Canada itinerary and catch up on my sleep. 

The longing for more is a little strange, I'll admit. But even as hard as these past five weeks have been, I know I'm this much closer to being prepared for Quebec. 

I had surprisingly high marks on my oral exams, which makes me a little more comfortable for my oral placement exam I have to take in order to enroll in the Quebec program. *yay*  Apparently my partner and I speak more quickly in French than the other students in our class. 

But I'm most proud of how much I've progressed since the spring semester. Back then I struggled to make basic sentences, much less hold a five minute conversation (my oral exams!)  I also earned much higher marks on my written exams- I attribute this to my professor. 

She was/is fantastic. She was enthusiastic, helpful and pushed each of us to step out of elementary French boxes.

Now I have to figure out how to study and maintain my French during the rest of the summer. I bought a new phrase book and a box of 1000 flashcards via Amazon, and I think I'm going to start trying to read children's books in French. 

But now it's time to celebrate! I'm off to have lunch with my French buddy, Megan.  

Merci beaucoup!

My sister, Hannah, and I have a similar conversation every time we visit each other. We talk about how comforting and relaxing it is to see people who know you so well. You don't have to explain anything and you can just be you. Now, I know that this seems like a rather simple revelation, but for me it's so important.

As a student studying abroad and as someone who needs some alone time every day, I crave time with people who I don't have to explain anything to, especially in a different language.

This lovely experience happened this past weekend. Some family friends who live in Montreal drove up to Quebec for a a quick tour and thoughtfully asked me to join them. It was one of the best days I've had!

This family is special to me. When my family and I moved to Hawaii fifteenish years ago (holy cow!) we moved over my birthday. Our house was entirely packed up into hundreds of boxes and everything was in disarray. This family gave me a party that I still remember; there was a butterfly cake and a mock circus complete with games and prizes. One of my sweetest memories!

I'm so glad I was able to share some of this city with them. I was able to introduce them to my favorite creperie and the farmers' market I adore.

Nothing can beat a day full of conversations, laughter and crepes. Thank you, Hof family, for a really lovely weekend.

Well have you?!?! 

How to be an interesting person

Chateau Frontenac 

I found this article via my school's study abroad office and found it intriguing. Even though I've only been abroad two weeks (it feels like more!), I can already tell how it has changed me. And I agree with almost all the points in this article, which I've posted below for easy reference. 

However, I completely disagree with #8. The author states that those who've gone abroad are "more interesting  than those who haven't lived abroad." This really infuriates me. I've met so many interesting people who have never even left the U.S. People who've had incredible experiences without leaving their own country. People who've lived full lives and have so much wisdom to share. People who are full of joy and ready to share their life stories. For example, this man I met while working as a sales associate in a very small country town. 

Yes, studying abroad is exciting and different, but it doesn't make you the most interesting person to ever walk on the earth. 

You know what makes you more interesting? Being interested in others. Being a thoughtful person. Being a person who is always ready to learn from others and to take advice and wisdom gracefully. 

Be a person who is more interested in others than himself/herself. 

(Also, someone called the author out in the comments and she said that it was meant as joke. But like my journalism professor says, if you can't commit to satire 100%, just don't.) 

1. Suddenly you can do anything. There is no more empowering feeling than being absolutely terrified of something and doing it anyway. The knowledge that you can do this will stay with you for the rest of your life. It will seep into your relationships, your career prospects - it will help drown out the inevitable moments of self-doubt.

2. It challenges preconceived judgements. We all have them - beliefs that cultures are a certain way and opinions on whether or not we agree with this way of life. Living in another country is totally different to visiting it. You get a privileged peek inside and, while that may not mean you ever truly understand what you see, you will realize that you never know enough to judge. Hopefully you will be thirsty to discover more.

3. Understanding a new culture is more enriching than you could ever imagine. Once you do begin to understand the weird and wonderful goings on around you, you will also start to look at your own culture differently. Those who have travelled and even more so, lived abroad, have a much more realistic and balanced view of their own country. In my experience, these are the best people to know.

4. Patience. Many countries have no concept of queueing; you may never get your post; you have no idea what you're ordering in restaurants; and in certain places it is so unbelievably and incredibly frustrating, you will be reduced to tears at the apparent impossibility of what was previously so easy back home. 101 in patience training.

5. You will get lost and then found. This will happen again and again. You will learn to cherish it (unless you're on your way to an important meeting, in which case you will want to scream).

6. You will fall in love. With food. A city. A culture. A building. A feeling. You will probably also hate a lot of things. It's a time of extreme emotions.

7. Every day is an adventure. You will never know what to expect when you leave your front door. You will have countless "Really? Did that really just happen?" moments, purely because you're not in Kansas any more and things are done differently around here. If you're smart, you'll use those moments for creative fodder, or to give your pals back home a giggle.

8. You will be more interesting than those that haven't lived abroad. Of course they may not see it that way and may not really care about all your exciting stories of adventure in far flung places. Their apparent disinterest won't bother you though. You've conquered the world.

joyeux anniversaire

I realized last night that this week marks my one year anniversary in my French journey.

A year ago I was sitting in a classroom in Combs Hall petrified about learning a language. I had no prior experience with another language and had absolutely no idea about what to expect.

I was pretty certain that I was going to fail. That I was going to earn a failing grade for the next four semesters.

But it turns out that I'm not completely a failure at this whole learning a language thing.

I worked my way up from a B- to an A- in three semesters. I wrote a 900+ word essay completely in French during an intensive summer program. Now I'm studying French abroad.

And a year ago I had no inkling that any of this would occur.

This realization came at the best time. Speaking French is not easy and it's hard not to feel like you will never get better at it. Which is how I feel 24/7 right now.

Throw in a little homesickness, living in a new environment and you have a great case of the blues.

But if I look back over how much I've accomplished in the past year, and the solid grammar foundation I've built, I can be hopeful about the future.

I know, I know. The first few weeks are the hardest. I'm finding that out, y'all. But nobody can prepare you for how hard. I want to talk and talk and talk in French, but it's just not possible. Yet. But it will be.

In my head I can my dad's encouraging voice telling me to take it one step at a time.

That's what I'm doing. After classes, I work on vocabulary and finish up homework. At dinner our host parents ask us questions about our day and they make us talk. No oui or non answers for them!

It's interesting to compare my current struggles with last year's struggles. A year ago today I didn't even know what a verb conjugation was nor how to pronounce a French sound. At this moment, I can conjugate so many verbs and my French pronunciation is a trillion times better.

Baby steps, y'all, baby steps.

Happy anniversary to me! I'm excited to think about where my French skills will be next year. I'm hoping that I'll be able to read books.

I think tomorrow I'll buy myself a celebratory crepe. Or a cupcake. Or the biggest latte imaginable. Or all three.

I have goals.

s'inquiéter (to worry)

A few weeks ago a customer came in and wanted a few slices of fudge, he seemed to be cheerful and pleasant. A winning combination in retail!  I always try to match my attitude to the customers attitude- if they're quite I'll be quite. If they want to chat, I'm more than happy to chat. Happy customers are always more fun to help, especially when they come in between several nasty customers.  

This older man came in knowing exactly what he wanted: four medium slices of chocolate fudge. As  I was slicing his fudge he started asking me about my weekend. I told him that I'd been here, at Hallmark, all weekend. "It must be nice to have extra cash, though," he said. I told him that, yes, I'm very glad to earn whatever I can because I'm going abroad next month. 

He asked the normal questions; where are you gong, why, for how long, etc. He then told me that he'd never been outside the United States except for a brief stint over the Mexican boarder when he lived in New Mexico.  He said that when he was younger he exchanged traveling abroad for exploring the national parks, unlike many of his friends. "If I could do it over, I'd do it differently," he said.

This was an eye opener for me. I know I'm lucky/blessed/privileged to have this opportunity to study abroad, but sometimes all those things get clouded by worries and stress.

Should I just focus on graduating and not go abroad? How will I pay for next semester because I'm not working for a few months? Should I stop taking gap semesters?

But if I don't do this while I'm young, when will I?

I'm calming my fears and taking care of my pre-trip jitters because this trip is important to me. Not just to learn the language, but to gain experience and grow as a human. I'm not going to waste the time I've been given by worrying about things I have no control over.

However, I've stress cleaned and organized so much that my room is looking pretty fantastic.

Away with fears for the future, Quebec and adventures wait for me!

Le processus

I actually started the process of choosing a program back in November of last year. By the time that semester ended I knew where I wanted to go: the French speaking city of Quebec. However, it turned out that my college didn't have an established program up there, which meant I had to create a petition.

Many, many phone calls and stack of forms (in triplicate, please!) later and I was able to turn in a completed petition in early March of this year. After turning it in I was euphoric. So much worry and angst had gone into its completion. I spent so much time running across campus between classes to get forms signed three different department heads. 

During this time I also applied for my passport (I didn't know they were that expensive!) As the post lady signed my forms she exclaimed "now you can go anywhere!" That was pretty awesome.

Then came the waiting. But so did midterms and Spring Break.

On one very uneventful evening, I opened up my email and saw it: your program has been approved. And this was after a lady assured me I wouldn't earn approval, so take that, pessimistic lady! 

Now I was officially going to Canada to learn more about the beautiful and difficult language that is French.

After all this excitement, I had to actually pass French 102 (I did, B+!) and attend a boring, but necessary, financial aid appointment.

I also signed up for an intensive five week French immersion class. "I never do things the easy way," my life motto apparently. 

I received an A- in my latest French class! I've never been more thrilled. Especially because my final was an essay written in French. Majorly terrifying. But I managed to write a somewhat coherent essay of 930 words. It is nice to see evidence of improvement, especially since the class was so rigorous. 

Now all that's left is to keep studying (I bought a thousand French flashcards off Amazon!), research, pack and try to prepare myself for this new adventure.  

My Story

Bonjour! I don't think I've ever been quite this excited to write a post before.

My name is Della, I'm a college student with simple goals: to graduate college and explore the word. Since I've still got a few more semesters to go until I receive my diploma, I decided to work on my other goal: traveling this beautiful world.

Growing up my six siblings and I frequently played with the big blue atlas and spinning globe, putting to use the knowledge we had previously acquired after devouring the latest issue of National Geographic.

We would daydream about faraway places with unusual names. We would spin the globe, close our eyes and randomly pick out a country that we wanted to live in. Who needed geography lessons after this?

Having a father in the military who has traveled to nearly every country only furthered my longing to see more of the world. I remember when I was about eight I asked him to list all the countries he had visited- I was enthralled and curious.

I like to think that I am well suited to living and traveling abroad. I like to be alone when discovering and processing new things. As one of seven kids, I'm used to and enjoy chaos, as well as having learned to be flexible as plans change and unravel. (A trait I inherited from my mother.) As a novice writer, I believe these experiences to be necessary not only in broadening my world views, but also in developing and refining my voice as a writer.

My writing heros are Ernest Hemingway, Anthony Bourdain and Gerald Durrell. Bold, courageous and daring writers each with a unique perspective on life and humanity. Just the type of writer and person I want to be.

A global perspective is essential for a writer and I'm determined to gain one. I've decided to go about this using my French studies as my compass.

I picked French not because of a previous affection or attachment, but because I did not want to take Spanish or Chinese. I figured I would fulfill my four semester requirements and quickly say au revoir to language studies. But French presented itself as my ticket to the outside world.

After a few weeks of French, I was already googling study abroad programs in French speaking countries.

Somehow I stumbled upon programs in Quebec- the French speaking neighbor to my north. A quick examination showed that studying there for an entire semester would cost no more than a semester at my current college. The dream was realized and the process of applying embarked upon. (For more info on this process, click on the Study Abroad Timeline above.)

For these next few fall months, I will be attending Bouchereau Lingua International, a language school based in Quebec. I will be studying and speaking French while exploring this historical city.

I'm so incredibly excited to document my new adventure on this blog, and please, if you have any advice about traveling abroad or living in Quebec, leave a comment or send me an email. I need all the advice you can give! I'm just a baby when it comes to exploring this world.