Last blog! I head home tomorrow! My last week here has been mostly relaxed and full of good food and conversations, which is the way I like to show real affection to a place\u2014more so than traveling around and trying to see it all. That\u2019s why I liked it here in Tours; it has that sort of atmosphere, not too huge and tourist-y to make me feel out of my element.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s good news: I got a final grade in my French class, and if I were staying here, I would qualify for the next level! Practically I know it doesn\u2019t mean much since I\u2019m not staying, but it\u2019s definitely a personal achievement. I would have enough trouble with those crazy listening exercises in English! Good to know I did all right on them. One of my teachers told me I had good class participation, which means a lot to me since her discussion exercises were easily my favorite part of her classes.<\/p>\n
Overall, this was definitely a learning experience for me. I say that in a very serious way\u2014this is the first time I\u2019ve ever left the United States, and I was completely on my own. It was hard to adapt to, since for the entire first week I hardly met anyone my age. I\u2019d like to say that I\u2019ve gained a certain amount of maturity from the experience. Obviously, it was also a learning experience in the way that I hoped it would be\u2014learning French. I came in with a high level of it, but I can now slip in and out of it so easily and express ideas without stumbling or using the word chose<\/em> (thing) quite as much that I\u2019m starting to think I might be fluent. I\u2019m not quite sure what the qualifier is, but if I haven\u2019t reached it yet, I must be close!<\/p>\n A huge, huge thanks to the people who made this possible! I\u2019m very honored to have received this scholarship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last blog! I head home tomorrow! My last week here has been mostly relaxed and full of good food and conversations, which is the way I like to show real affection to a place\u2014more so than traveling around and trying … Continue reading