Author: Sean Carroll

Salut à tous! One thing that j’adore (I love) about France is how committed the French people are to their vacation time. Unlike any other abroad location, the HC students in France can always count on at least three full weeks off during a semester, which is parfait (perfect) for exploring Europe. So, with my first full week of break this semester, I made plans with a few friends to visit three countries that I never dreamed of visiting in my lifetime : Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

The first stop on our tour was Budapest, Hungary.  The city was charming and had a culture clearly distinct from all the other countries I had previously visited this year. It was clear that I was no longer in western Europe when I couldn’t even piece together what the language read. One distinct characteristic of Eastern Europe that I grew accustomed to very quickly was the cleanliness. Their value for order was especially apparent early in the morning when I saw shop keepers sweep their sidewalks and throw away the sweepings not into the street, but into their OWN TRASH BINS, something you would never see in a city like Paris, Rome, or even New York. Budapest had some amazing sights to see and the famous thermal baths are definitely a must-do for anyone looking for unique experiences while studying abroad. Overall, my exploration of the city was great, however one situation sticks out in my mind that does not match all the others. While leaving the city Abby, Ava, and I thought it would be cheaper to take public transportation instead of ubering to the bus station. So we bought three tickets for the tram and then transferred into the metro, where the same tickets were ACCEPTED by the machines. Upon leaving the metro we were stopped by security who checked our tickets and told us that we had to pay a “tourist fine” of 6000 forints (20 dollars) for not buying two separate tickets for the tram and the metro, even though this law wasn’t posted ANYWHERE. Because we didn’t happen to have 18,000 forints in CASH, the security had to walk us to an ATM where there was an EXTRA 3000 FORINT CONVERSION CHARGE (10 DOLLARS). I was fuming to say the least. In the end, the Budapest Metro basically robbed Abby, Ava, and I a combined total of 90 DOLLARS and left a horrible taste of the city in our mouths. But I digress…

In Vienna, Austria, our luck improved. After seeing all the beautiful buildings and Habsbourg Palaces we were able to meet up with our international friend from Tours, Zelie! It’s honestly super chouette (cool) having friends who travel the world like Zelie because you never know where or when you will run into one another. Together, we had a typical Viennese afternoon chatting in a fancy café, where I almost accidentally tipped our waiter 50 EUROS (luckily Zelie stopped me before I pressed enter on the card reading machine). That night Abby, Ava, and I were exhausted and were so close to bailing on our plans of going to the 3 euro Viennese opera which was recommended by all of our friends who had already visited. After a few minutes of rationalizing our decision with a, quand à Vienne (when in Vienna), we decided to tough it through and hopefully get to the opera house before the tickets were sold out. After arriving to the ticket booth we were dumbfounded when we saw that the show that was being performed that night was none other than SWAN LAKE. Luckily, we were able to secure three of the last tickets and enjoy the show in the nosebleeds.

The next city on our tour was Prague, in the Czech Republic, where we met up with our friend Nate! It was great catching up with Nate because I hadn’t seen him since Oktoberfest in September and it was refreshing to add a new member to our travel group dynamic. In Prague, we spent four days sight-seeing, eating, and “fika-ing” (sweedish term for having a coffee break and chatting with friends). Although Prague was not my favorite city of the three, I had the best time there just relaxing and enjoying myself in a foreign city with three friends.

Then, after Prague I returned back to France to have my 1 night in Paris with one of my best friends, Caroline, who is currently studying abroad in Paris Rome for the semester. It was a dream come true walking the Seine and visiting the Princess Diana Memorial with her before she jetted off to Dublin.

This trip was truly amazing. It was great seeing three cities that I never thought I would have the desire to visit in my life, and it really opened my eyes to the fact that Europe isn’t just the few west-most countries like France, Spain, and Italy. It also reminded me that I still have so much more to see before the year comes to an end, so hopefully I will be able to cross a few more countries off my list before my time here is up! Wish me luck!

Leçon du jour: Pour changer la mentalité d’un individu, il faut juste changer son environnement -inconnu

“to change the mentality of an individual, you have to change his environment”

A bientôt!

-Sean

Bonjour à tous! These past few weeks in Dijon have been nothing more than a constant repetition of school work, teaching au collège Saint-Joseph (at my middle school), and preparing for my trip to Eastern Europe. Tonight, as I sit struggling to think of something worthy to write about, I remember that it was around this time last year that I was approved to study abroad! With this in mind, I couldn’t help but wonder : what would I want to know as a student faced with the decision of committing to étudier à l’étranger (studying abroad) or staying at home? So, I’ve compiled a list to help those seeking some guidance with their decision!

10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Studying Abroad

1.The French taught in class is not the same French that is spoken by natives *This probably works for any country that speaks a language other than English*

When I arrived in France, I thought that my seven years of French class had taught me all that I needed to know to get by. However, getting off the plane and immediately hearing new versions of French words like “chais pas” instead of “je ne sais pas” as the translation of ” I don’t know,” or the use of “on” in place of “nous” as the translation of “we” really threw me for a spin during my first few weeks in France. It’s difficult to speak and understand a language that you have been taught, let alone a language that you have NOT been taught.  Luckily, being surrounded by native speakers who want to help you learn their language creates a environment where it is easy to ask for explanations of a new words like these without feeling dumb.

2. Studying abroad is definitely not cheap

When promoting study abroad, Holy Cross heavily focuses on how much money studying abroad will “save” you in your tuition and airfare stipend. What HC doesn’t tell you, however, is how much it will cost to do all the traveling that you will inevitably want to do while outside of the US. I talk on my blog about all the trips that I take, but never really the costs. I would suggest to anyone wanting to travel while abroad to have at least $5,000/$6,000 saved up . With this, a student can live comfortably with a host family, travel occasionally, and have a little extra money left over as long as they are conscious about their spending and cut corners where they can.  

3. The fear of missing out is almost non-existent while abroad

One of my biggest fears about studying abroad for the whole year was that I would be missing two entire semesters back at home. The reality is that you will be way too occupied to be worrying about what you are missing back home. While I was running around exploring the streets of Florence and Rome I nearly forgot that it was Halloweekend back home. I have also been told by many sources that Holy Cross is not the same during Junior Year because of the amount of people who are not on campus. I’d gladly take a weekend in Paris with my friends over Catalina any day.

4.  It’s super easy to keep in contact with friends and family

One thing I could not live without during my time in Europe is my phone. Having the ability to facetime my friends and family back home is essential, and is honestly a main factor of how I manage to live in a foreign city by myself. This leisure of talking face to face with someone thousands of miles away is an easy cure for any traces homesickness instantly. It’s also very useful for keeping up with happenings at home, and to see who makes the effort to keep in contact during my long year away. I don’t know how anyone could move out of the country before video chatting.

5. Studying abroad comes with the highest highs and the lowest lows

Never in my life have I experienced such drastic mood swings as I have here. I can go from being on cloud nine while exploring a new city with friends, to being in the depths of despair while waiting for a train in Charles De Gaulle. But yet the highs always outshine the lows. I can be simply walking through the streets of Dijon looking at the ancient buildings and the strange tiny cars and be flooded with a sense of accomplishment just for acknowledging the fact that I am where I am, something that would never happen to me while walking through the suburbs of New York.

6. This year is not just for external discovery, but of internal discovery as well

Yes, I’ve traveled to more places this year than I ever have in my life. Studying abroad has given me the opportunity to experience new cultures and meet new kinds of people that I had never before been exposed to.  While these discoveries have truly changed my outlook on the world, my biggest breakthroughs have been my newfound independence and confidence. Through my time in Dijon, I have been forced to rely on myself and to fine tune my instincts and intuition, all qualities that have proven to be invaluable during my day to day life. And I can’t wait to see what these skills will bring me back at home.

7. The U.S. is weird, and Europeans have very strong opinions of Americans

It did not occur to me how strange America is until I left the country. Why we have unnecessarily big cars, how we drink iced coffee in the winter, or how we don’t include sales tax in our prices are all questions that I have found myself also questioning when others asked me. American culture is bizarre once you see how the rest of the world lives. We are a very interesting people, and the reactions of Europeans when they hear that I’m from the States shows that. One thing is for certain, when a professor outs me to a lecture hall of a hundred students as being “un étudiant américan,” dozens of heads are bound to turn, and people are sure to come up to me after class and ask me more about who I am/what my thoughts on Trump are.(It has happened to me quite a few times.) The same thing goes for when people hear me speaking English on public transportation, but the excited students are usually replaced by angry old drunk men who yell at me for allowing Trump to get elected.

8. The amount of walking is unbearable at first, but you get used to it

This one is more of a cautionary tip. The amount of walking while in Europe is insane,  especially during trips. Public transportation here is pretty good, but not always reliable. Walking 15 miles in a day has been standard during my trips, so bring some good walking shoes!

9. Awkward interactions are inevitable

A true abroad experience is not complete with out the many cringeworthy interactions that are exchanged. Whether it is due to the language barrier, missed cultural cues, or just Europeans being weird, these uncomfortable exchanges are bound to happen and you kinda just have to laugh them off.

10. Remember that your experience will not last forever

I seriously cannot believe that I am only in France for three more months. I try to savor every moment whether while I’m eating dinner with my host family, hanging out with all the English/Irish/Scottish friends that I’ve made here, or even when I am sitting in my bed scrolling through photos on my phone. I am loving every second of my experience and am trying to make it last as long as I can, because I know that the end is slowly creeping closer.

To those sophomores who just found out that they are going to study abroad: congratulations and I hope this list was utile (useful)!

Leçon du jour

A bientôt!

-Sean

Bonjour à tous! Aside from the weekly manifestations involving tens of thousands of gilet jaunes across the country, life in France has been pretty uneventful since my last upload. My classes have yet to start up again, and I have been spending most of my time relaxing and preparing myself for next semester. While lying around in ma chambre (my room) for the third consecutive day in a row, I made the rash decision to buy two bus tickets for Paris, prompted by a one euro sale that a bus company was offering. I had previously read on countless travel blogs that solo travel is the best way to explore a city, so I was excited to see how this solo day trip was going to compare to my other travel experiences. Then the next morning, I was up and ready for a four hour bus ride directly from Dijon to Paris. Although I had already seen so much of the city during my visit last semester, I knew that I did not even scratch the surface of what Paris has to offer, and was extremely excited to see what new parts I would explore.

The first stop of my trip was le Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris’s famous giant cemetery, where legends such as Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison are buried. Being in the cemetery alone was honestly the perfect way to explore (as weird as that sounds).  I was able to move at my own speed and see des tombes (the tombs) that only I wanted to see, which I loved. Père Lachaise is special to me because it was the one place in Paris that I promised myself I would visit this year, after researching the cemetery for dozens of hours as part of my final assignment in my French 306 class. Visiting a place where I had done so much painstaking research and knew the extensive history behind it really made me appreciate the gloomy cemetery a whole lot more than a regular visitor.

After Père Lachaise, I headed to Sacre Coeur, the famous basilica on top of Monmartre which overlooks the entire city. The view of the city from on top of la colline (hill) was breathtaking, I could stare at the maze of thousands of beige buildings with their purple roofs for hours. I couldn’t help but just to sit on a step and stare at the sprawling city in amazement for a few minutes. After visitting inside the church, I walked down to Moulin Rouge and le Palais Garnier opera house, both of which I was content with looking at for a minute or two and then just kept moving. Once back at the Seine, I visited le musée d’Orsay, a museum of impressionist/post-impressionist art inside a renovated train station.  At this point of mon voyage (my trip), I was utterly exhausted from walking almost 20 miles around the city and my feet were killing me because of it. I then chose to just sit down on a bench in the museum’s main hall and enjoy my surroundings until the museum closed an hour later, right before my bus’s departure time.

While traveling back to Dijon, I reflected on whether or not the idea of solo travel was all it had been hyped up to be. By the end of my ride home, I came to the conclusion that traveling alone has its pros and cons:  I enjoyed being able to make all the decisions of what I saw and what I did without compromising with other people, but I also hated the fact that I did not have anyone to share my experiences with. For my second trip to Paris, I think that traveling solo was the right choice, because I was able to do exactly what I wanted to, but I definitely prefer traveling with friends when it comes to discovering entirely new places and experiences foreign cultures .

Leçon du jour: L’homme qui y voyage seul peut commencer aujourd’hui; mais celui qui voyage avec un autre doit attendre que cet autre soit prêt.- Henry Thoreau

The man who travels alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.

À bientôt

-Sean

Salut à tous! It has been exactly one month since my last blog post, la saison de Noël (the Christmas season) has come and gone, and a lot has happened since I last updated you all, so let’s just jump right in.

Shortly after posting my last blogpost I went to revisit la Capitale de Noël (Strasbourg) to see its famous Christmas markets and catch up with some of the Holy Cross kids. The name, “Capital of Christmas,” does not lie. The sights and sounds of Strasbourg’s Grande Île (big island) were as Christmas-y as you can get. Little wooden houses crowded every open area on the island, selling delicious crêpes, aromatic vin chaud(  hot wine), and various types of Christmas decorations. Dozens of nativity scenes and giant illuminated christmas trees were also scattered around the city. Having the opportunity to catch up with friends as well as being able to reflect on how incredibly fast our  past five months in France flew by was also a highlight of my trip. Then, after my short one night stay, I headed back to Dijon to find a smaller scale version of les marchés de Noël( Christmas markets) waiting for me in my own city. That following Monday, I finally received my exam schedule, only to find out that I coincidentally had one of my only three exams the day after I was scheduled to leave for the US. So, in place of this two hour long written exam, I had to take a separate hour long one-on-one oral exam with my professor. To be completely honest, the “exam” did not go over so well.  Even though I studied day in and day out for this exam, even going over questions with my host mom, nothing could have prepared me for that hour long FRENCH interrogation of the economics of the European Union.

After that fiasco, the next day I headed back to Charles De Gaulle Airport to fly back home to New York for Christmas. I can’t even describe la joie (the joy) it brought me to be back communicating in English and understanding all that was being said to me so clearly. However, I oddly found myself speaking much slower, as I am used to in order for foreigners to better understand me. Although I was only in the States for nine short days, I jam packed all that I could in the time I was allotted. My trip was filled with runs to Dunkin’ Dounuts, trips to Manhattan and Queens, and chances to see so many friends and family that I have missed. Having everyone ask me questions about my experiences during le dîner du Réveillon (Christmas Eve dinner), and being able to tell stories of my own experiences felt amazing. I did not truly see the extent of my personal growth as a result of my time abroad, until almost everyone at home brought something new about me to my attention. To be fair, I do feel like I have been through more in the past five months than I have in any other period of my life, so there is a reason for so much change.

After spending quality time with my family, and eating as much home-cooked holiday food as possible, it was time to start the second leg of my year abroad. Although my trip was bref (brief), it was just what I needed to mentally and physically prepare myself for round two of my study abroad experience. Right now, I am currently in the process of studying for my other two finals (French Universities usually have their finals in January), as well as applying for summer internships. And at the same time, I am also planning more great trips for next semester, which I’m excited to share with you all! I’m so glad that my time abroad isn’t finished yet, because there is still so much more to see and do! I can’t wait to see what this next part of my year has in store for me!

À bientôt!

-Sean

Leçon du jour: On est vraiment bien que chez soi pour les fêtes. 

There’s no place like home for the holidays.

Bonjour à tous! After living in France for the past five months, this weekend I finally made mon premier voyage (my first trip) to Paris! Although it was not the most ideal time to visit the City of Lights, (I’ll touch upon that later), it was a very cliché French weekend that allowed me to put my many years of studying the French language/history/and culture to good use. I saw this trip, not only as another fun adventure with my friends, but as a chance to see all that I have read and heard about Parisian culture come to life in this one city.

I arrived in Paris on Friday evening and met up with my friends Carley and Jason(yet again) to start our busy weekend filled with sightseeing and food tasting. After catching up with one another, we decided to have a little goût (taste) of home at a restaurant that was located only a short seven minute walk from our hotel, Chipotle. The burrito that I had made me very excited to be back in the States eating Mexican food and sipping iced coffee during the rapidly approaching Christmas break. After notre repas (our meal) we made the decision to actually start enjoying actaul Parisian life by visiting la tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower). I had yet to see the Tower at this point of our trip and was anxiously awaiting the first moment that I would lay eyes on it. Then, while walking towards the 7th arrondissement (part of Paris where the Tower is), I saw a glimpse of the lit up wrought-iron figure and was instantly flooded with emotions. I found myself on the verge of tears just from seeing the symbol of the French people and their culture while simultaneously thinking about all the work that I have put into being apart of what it represents. After standing with Carley and Jason utterly stupefied at the base of the structure for about an hour, we were able to get our pictures and leave feeling extremely accomplished and proud for being where we were.

The next morning the three of us woke up bright and early to get a head start on the day. We first went to a classic boulangerie (bakery), where I forced everyone to have a typical French breakfast of pastries and coffee. Ensuite, we headed to the Louvre where we were able to see la Jaconde (Mona Lisa), Le Sacre de Napoléon (the Coronation of Napoleon) , and Les Noces de Cana (the Wedding of Cana). After that, the three of us visited Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame on île-de-la-Cité, where I was able to forcibly relay dozens of boring history lessons about Paris to Carley and Jason. After visiting the churches, we met up with some other Holy Cross kids who were also in Paris at the same time we were. It seems like whenever you’re traveling while abroad, you will always be in the same city as other friends who you did not plan to see.

We decided as a group to make our way from the Louvre to go see the Eiffel Tower while there was still some sun out. Unfortunately, the weekend that we visited was also the weekend of some of the most violent manifestations (protests) that Paris has seen in a decade. The protesters, also known as the gilet jaunes (yellow vests), were protesting throughout Paris about taxes on gas. From the Louvre, we were able to see clouds of  black smoke coming from the Champs-Élysées, which is more than two miles away. On our route to the Eiffel Tower, dozens of rues (roads) were closed as well as some crucial ponts (bridges), adding at least 30 minutes to our walk. Even though this scared the non-french Holy Cross kids, it was funny how normal it seemed to me due to the fact that the chants of various riots have been a constant background noise throughout my stay in France. My time in Dijon has taught me how much la manifestation is a part of authentic French culture.

Once back at the Eiffel Tower, we were still starstruck. I have seen my fair share of monuments and large buildings, but the Eiffel Tower is incredibly special. And when it twinkles during the first five minutes of every hour, the only word that to describe it is “magical”. After seeing what we could see on account of the massive protests, Jason, Carley and I split off from the rest of the HC kids and went back to our hotel to eat some wine and cheese, which we hyped up almost as much as the Chipotle we ate the night before.

Although it was a short weekend and we only saw fraction of what Paris has to offer, I was incredibly happy with my first time in France’s capital. Being able to show Carley and Jason around the city and giving them history lessons, without ever having been to the city myself, was truly a great feeling. It really confirmed all the work that I had done up to this point in my French studies. I know that I will be back to Paris very soon (Hi Carol and Caroline), and I am exited to explore different parts of the city during my next visit.

À bientôt!

-Sean

Leçon du jour: « Ajoutez deux lettres à Paris : c’est le paradis »- Jules Renard

Add two (three) letters to Paris, and its Paradise