First blog update…. less than 24 hours until departure to Montpellier! Packing was a disaster…. who knew packing for 4 month was this difficult?? It’s not like I’m going for a weekend trip or something.. so it was very very difficult for me, the one usually to pack everything incase of emergencies. However, since my airline is only allowing 50 pounds for a checked baggage, it took me quite a while to decide if i really needed my gray tanktop when i already packed a white one…. Kind of missing the idea of home already when I haven’t even left yet! By the way, my name is Julie and I am a senior majoring in English. I’ve received many questions such as, “aren’t you supposed to graduate this semester?” and “why are you going in your senior year?” Well to answer those questions, I’ve always wanted to go to France and I finally got the chance to go this semester! I am also planning to minor in French so it’s not totally out of the ordinary to go abroad while majoring in English. With my English degree, I am planning to teach, hopefully in other countries other than the States. One of my other fascinations is to see how the education systems are in other countries. Although I am going as a college student, I will still be given the chance to see how the French education system is. This will be quite an eye opening experience! Since I’m leaving a bit later than other students in the program, it was nice to hear from other friends already on the program. Having said, that meant that school started on Monday; it felt weird still being home while all my friends had already begun their studies. Leaving home won’t be the first time, but being in a new area with different norms is going to be quite the challenge. I am also very very excited to meet my host family! Lucky for me, my host mother happens to be an English teacher while my host dad is a linguistics teacher! Of course I will be refraining from speaking English… or atleast try to most of the time. Hopefully I will be able to make the best out of this semester! See you next time in Montpellier! xoxo, Julie

Location: Montpellier