Pre-departure

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Hello all!

I am about to leave for Aix-en-Provence, France in a week!!! It seems crazy that the time is coming so quickly! I have wanted to do this for a few years now, I've began planning it three years ago and have been actively planning for the past year and a half...and it's coming in a week!! Ahh!!

In this blog I will write to keep people at home updated on my wellbeing and where-abouts during my semester abroad. I plan to travel around the area and within Europe as much as possible so hopefully I will have some interesting adventures to report. I will also post everyday kind of things..how I like the town, how school is going, etc. I'll add pictures and videos to the blog too (unfortunately, my digital camera takes videos but without sound..so they'll be silent films).

If you want to know my address in France you can message me here, on facebook, or at my email address (if you have it). For safety reasons I don't want to publish the address here since its so public.

I have all of my official, school (both Widener in American and IAU in France), and travel documents taken care of. All I have left are smaller comfort and ease of travel things that seemed like small potatos in the grand scheme but are now steadily piling up!! My parents also intend to sell our house and move (but remain in the area) during my time abroad so I have to pack everything - both for my four months abroad and everything else into moving boxes!! The combination of it all is getting stressful but I am trying to take it day-by-day and get through each task in good time. Wish me luck!!


Info I know so far:

*I am living in a homestay with a French woman and another student from my program. I wasn't expecting another student but I think it will actually be the best of both worlds - the cultural experience of living with a native and the comfort/companionship of another American student.

* I am going to the Institute for American Universities, an American-style University with other American students studying abroad. Located in Aix-en-Provence (town name) in Provence (region name), France. It is commonly called "Aix" (pronounced roughly in Eng as just "X")

*I am taking the following classes:
Painting and drawing (en plein air/outdoors),
art history: french impressionism and the 19th C.,
Comparitive French Education (with a service component requiring helping elem. students in France with their English),
Advanced French Conversation and Culture (taught in french),
France as seen through its movies (taught in french),
and a one-credit seminar called Perspectives on French Culture (taught in Eng and Fre).
(All classes taught in English unless otherwise specified)


I hope you continue to read my blog and enjoy my travels along with me!!
Wish me luck! 😊

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