Bonjour 🙂

My name is Aarti and I’m a sophomore at Penn State. I’m majoring in Supply Chain and minoring in French and International Business. I’m studying abroad in Rouen, France for the fall semester of 2010.

Rouen is about an hour west from Paris (I used Paris as a guideline because this seems to be the only place everyone knows in France), and it is a charming little town, forever enshrined as the place where Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. Having analysed and read Joan of Arc several thousand times for IB English in high school definitely makes this an interesting point of reference, and I can’t wait to explore the cathedrals and old buildings that still exist in Rouen.

Besides living in another country (this will be my third, since I am an international student from India), I’m looking forward to immersing myself in French culture. I’ve taken French lessons for the past 7 or 8 years and it’s a bit tragic that I still choke sometimes while having an actual conversation with someone, especially if their language skills are clearly far more superior than my own. So, my main objective while studying abroad in France is to achieve fluency and gain more confidence in speaking the language without any inhibitions.

I am also excited to travel all over Europe on my own and with my friends (thank you, Schengen visa), since all my previous travels have been with my family. This will effectively be the first time I’m traveling abroad by myself (I don’t count coming to Penn State under traveling abroad since there wasn’t a language barrier and it wasn’t a significant culture shock for me) and I’m a bit apprehensive, but mostly just super excited.

More to follow as we come closer to crunch time!

Location: Penn State University