My foremost goal while studying abroad is fluency in the language. I collect French slang the way some people collect quarters or stamps, so I’m very excited to get to live immersed in everyday French language. I’m on the intermediate level when it comes to speaking, but my listening and reading comprehension are quite advanced. I hope to be able to better express myself in French (and, ultimately, be fluent) before I come back to American soil.

My second goal is to become engaged as a global citizen. Due to my family’s financial situation, my experience with international travel is basically nonexistent. I stay updated on international news through the Presidential Leadership Academy’s (PLA) subscription to The New York Times and my own monitoring of BBC and France24. However, contact with foreign news sources does not a worldly traveler make. It is the mistakes, faux pas, triumphs, and journeys of actually living abroad that make an individual into an engaged, mature global citizen.

My third goal is to examine my own leadership in relation to a global context and a foreign cultural context, while also learning about what it means to be “a leader” in France. As of right now, this is my most murky goal. Though sustained reflection, I hope to make clearer my ideas of what it means to be “a leader” as they are transformed throughout my study abroad experience.

I leave for France in 3 days. This has still not entirely sunk in, despite the luggage littering my bedroom floor. The next time you hear from me, I’ll be across the Atlantic!

A bient�t, mes amis!