I’ve been back in Louisville from studying for a little bit but wanted to share some thought about my time abroad.

I attended Audencia for 3 weeks. I had 3 classes. My favorite class was one called “Crisis Management.” The instructor had set up scenarios for groups of us to handle as crisis managers and would give us “live updates” as we developed our plan that would change everything. It was SO FUN! I could see that type of work being a future career of mine. It was intense and difficult and exactly perfect for my personality.

One thing that I was most shocked about when I traveled was how all the students I was studying with took care of each other. I made a lot of friends while I was there so easily and in a new crazy environment, they really had my back. This helped me a lot because I was very nervous about traveling alone.

I got lost in France by myself (longgg story) because of a cancelled flight situation. I am very lucky to have turned the situation around but it taught me a lot of lessons. My advice to anyone traveling to Europe for a long time is to BREATHE before making decisions and to keep transportation plans as simple and as prepared as possible ESPECIALLY IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE LANGUAGE.

Another tip is don’t go to France for a long time without knowing SOME French. Learning 3 to 4 basic sentences that you know you’ll need is good enough, but know some. If you’re just visiting Paris for a couple days you might be fine without it, but if you go anywhere else or stay more than a few days, you need to know some French. I found it very difficult to get help from people as an English speaker, but as soon as I said something in French they immediately had more patience. So don’t expect them to know English.

While abroad this time I visited Nantes, Normandy, La Mans, Leon, and Paris (4 times) in France. Also Rome and Naples in Italy. London and Luton England. And Eindhoven in NL.

I had a great time and there were a lot of lessons learned. If you’re traveling now or traveling soon, HAVE FUN!! BE SAFE!!