Student Exchange Programs

France was half boot camp, half vacation. In June of my junior year, I was going through a really rough time and wasn’t sure if I would be able to board that plane on the twenty-sixth. As soon as I arrived, continually insisting that I would need to go home in a few days, I had my first taste of independence. I had to deal with my anxiety – I passed out in the Eiffel Tower elevator. I had to manage my money for the first time– I got pick-pocketed. While I made many missteps, I was still able to surprise myself. Going to France was not only an amazing experience, but also a place that changed my future and my self-perception.

From the second I got off that Air France plane, I was in a completely different world. I was wholly integrated into French culture and taken out of my comfort zone. When we went to the Swiss side of an Alps mountain near Chamonix, France, I changed forevermore. My French exchange group and I were beginning our quick descent down a huge peak in the Swiss Alps when another chaperone was injured. Our chaperone quickly, without even a word of advice, left us behind and went back up to help the injured woman. The French girls just plopped down on a set of erratic boulders and took out their cigarettes. Soon after it began to rain, and they began to get anxious as our chaperone was nowhere to be found. I, without hesitation, took the initiative to lead the girls down the mountain, hollering “Allons-y! Nous allons!” and warning them to keep an eye out for each other the whole way down.

The hike down in itself was a blur. I don’t remember anything except seeing the Mer de Glace at the bottom of the mountain. Once we had reached the bottom, I felt a rush of adrenaline, as I received a huge “Grenoble group hug” and realized that while we were the last group down, we were the only group to have gone it alone. It was a huge peak, and this was a huge feat. The chaperones at the top had had an ATV bring them to another mountain where they were able to take a ski lift down. But I lead this group at sixteen years old, in a different country, in a different language, down the Mont Blanc Massif to the Mer de Glace. I totally surprised everyone, but more importantly, I surprised myself.

After hiking down, I learned something about myself that I needed to in order to grow up. I realized that I am more than the girl who wears heels and dresses to school everyday. I am more than the blur rushing down the hallways as I go to my many activities. I can be the girl that pulls on her hiking boots and spontaneously leads people down mountains, speaks French, and accepts both her successes and failures. I learned that I have been limiting myself to my own judgments and perceptions. It was a liberating and maturing experience.

I learned so much about the world and myself. I discovered that while I may have thought of myself as shy, I’m definitely a people person. It was really easy for me to speak to people I had never met, and in French! For years, I had been set on getting an Art degree. Going to France and realizing I was dreading going home and working on my portfolio, which should have excited me, swayed me otherwise. My personality and interests are more suited to a degree like international relations. I know now that I will be able to get that degree and so much more than I ever would have believed, all thanks to Grenoble, France. I am so happy I took that risk in going, and took that risk at the top of the summit and just went for it – I am a different, happier, and more confident person. There is so much more to the world and myself that I would never have even thought to look for had I not been an exchange student.
lol no im terrible at essay writing, which is why i asked for help rather than just yelling at me. you could show me where i was wrong at least