Lessons from Studying Abroad

Hi, my name is Josh! This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Paris, France. The experience was revolutionary for me, and opened my eyes up to what I was truly capable of. Here are the lessons I learned out of the experience that have stuck with me the most.

1) It doesn't hurt to ask

Before going abroad, I was timid when it came to asking for help from others. My time in Paris taught me how to be more open with the concept of asking strangers for help. I was confronted with the challenge of asking people if they spoke English on a daily basis. I came to France speaking almost no French. I knew some basic words and phrases thanks to Duolingo, but nothing beyond that. Someone had advised me ahead of time to learn how to say "Bonjour! Je ne parle pas francais. Parlez-vouz anglais?" confidently and that most people would do their best to help me out. The first few times I spoke to people in Paris, I felt so vulnerable admitting this to people I interacted with. I felt that I was being a burden, not knowledgeable enough to speak to people in their native language. To my surprise, most of these encounters were met with a welcoming response in English. Sometimes, people were even enthusiastic that they could practice their English with a native speaker. By the end of my first week, the vulnerability went away. I accepted that asking for help was required if I was going to have a positive experience abroad. Since returning, I've noticed that I am no longer afraid of asking people for help in my daily life. I recognize that I won't always have the skills or position to fulfill my needs without help from someone else.

2) Explore more

I spent as much time as my feet could endure walking around the city and exploring neighborhoods off the beaten path. According to my step counter, I walked an average of 8 miles per day while I was in Paris! Most of my time outside of class was spent exploring the city around me and enjoying the small details around me, like the varied facades of buildings, and neighborhood gardens. When I came back to San Diego, I vowed to explore all the places I've never been. The first place I went when I came back was the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge. I've lived in San Diego my whole life and never went to this beautiful location. Since then, I've made an effort to explore all the nooks and crannies of this city that I've never experienced.

Bear statues are all over Berlin!

I went to the Bastille Day Parade

The Loire river in all its majestic beauty

My favorite walk street in Paris

3) Attitude is everything

On our first night in the city, my flatmates and I decided to go out and explore the nightlife that would be available to us for the next five weeks. Upon returning to our apartment, we realized the lock to the building was broken. We were stuck outside our apartment on the street from 4 hours overnight until someone in the building woke up to go to work. At first, I was scared to be locked out. We didn't know how safe our neighborhood was, nor did we know if there would be someone to help us until 9:00am when our program office opened. Furthermore, I was frustrated because I was exhausted from the long day and I just wanted to sleep. After about an hour, one of my flatmates asked me to calm down, reminding me that there was nothing we could do to fix the situation. He was right, and as soon as I calmed down I started to enjoy the situation. We found out that our neighborhood was incredibly safe. Not a single car or person passed us over night. And we got to enjoy watching the sunrise over the Eiffel Tower. That experience taught me that attitude impacts how you adapt to a setback. There are things that are out of my control, and if I focus on the setback I could be losing out on all the positive experiences available to me.

We watched the sunrise from our stoop!

4) Lean into curiosity

I spent a lot of my time exploring different restaurants throughout the city. I tend to be someone who doubles down on a dish when they like it. If I go to a restaurant and order something I like, chances are the next time I visit I will order the same thing. I made a conscious effort to not do that knowing I only had a few weeks to take everything in. One place I frequented often was the bakery down stairs from our apartment. I was able to try every type of pastry that they sold in their case by the end of the trip. I found some that I would have never thought of ordering if I had just stuck to Croissants and Pain au Chocolat. I also forced myself to apply this principle to activities throughout my daily life. If I was curious about something going on, I would try to stop and enjoy the experience. For instance, I am not a fan of sports. In fact, I tend to hate any experience related to sports. This summer France advanced to the World Cup Finals. I went with my group to a club to watch the game and had one of the most memorable days of my life! It wasn't something I would think of doing myself, but I leaned into the curiosity and found an awesome experience where I thought I would be disinterested. What I learned out of these experiences is that I should be more spontaneous and explore my curiosity when it comes up in my daily life.

A really cool comic book shop I found while exploring

The lessons I learned while abroad will continue to impact how I see myself and the world around me. I am so grateful that I got to experience such an amazing adventure!