Hello all! My name is Meaghan Basile, I’m a rising sophomore at University Park and I will be spending two months in Besancon (along with fellow GeoBlogger Sabrina Peterman).  I’m pre-major in the College of Engineering looking to double major in Computer Science and French, so the French Language Studies in Besancon will hopefully improve my French skills.  This program means I’ll be staying with a host family and have five hours of class a day with a two hour lunch break. The school I’ll be attending five days a week is the Centre de Linguistique Appliqu�e.

Unlike many of the other Penn Staters going on the trip, I have not taken a French course in the past year, so one of my major concerns right away is that my French skills wont be as sharp as they should be.  I have taken many years of French in middle school and high school, so hopefully I remember more than I think.  I am also struggling to pack light but efficiently!  It is comforting to know that in a place like France you can likely buy anything essential that was forgotten at home.

My father had business in Germany and the Netherlands right before the beginning of my program in Besancon, so I’ll be visiting those before I head to Paris and then Besancon! 

My goal for my following GeoBlogs will be to give a good idea of both how the CLA operates and of the French culture in general.  Hopefully this will help any future Penn Staters that are going abroad to France!