Bonjour!

Bonjour! For those of you who do not know, my name is Nicole and I’m just finishing up my Junior year at the University of Northern Colorado. I’m very excited because I will be using this blog as my way of communicating to friends and family while I spend a month participating in a study abroad program in Paris, France. To say the least, I’m very excited for this trip. I can’t believe that in 9 days I’ll be in Paris. I’ve been looking forward to this for months and it’s hard to believe that it’s actually happening. As much as I am looking forward to this trip, it’s hard to be excited when there is so much to do before I leave. Not only do I have to do all my packing and shopping, I have a week of finals to look forward to. I have four finals and a group presentation to do before the fun can begin. This semester has been very full of group projects and hard work, so it’s been hard to prepare for my trip but I think I’ll do alright. A trip to Paris is the perfect reward for the most difficult semester of school yet. I have finals until Thursday afternoon and then I’m going to spend the rest of Thursday and Friday cleaning my house, doing laundry, and packing. I’m going to try and pack light, but I know that this will not happen and that I will leave for DIA with two full suitcases and that I will arrive in Paris wishing I had packed lighter. But what can I say….I just don’t travel lightly!

Besides being super excited for this trip, I am also a little nervous. I have never been out of the country before and I am a little afraid of experiencing some sort of culture shock. However, I do think that I will adjust quickly! Also, I don’t speak French. I have been reading multiple French books and trying to teach myself, but it is a little scary to be put into a situation where I don’t know the language. I hope I will pick up enough French too help me while I’m there, but I’m sure that the language barrier will be the largest obstacle to overcome while on this trip. Even though I’m scared, I am still really excited and I know I will make the best out of this trip!

I hope that you will all read along as I share my travel experiences, please leave me comments, give me your advice, and help me make the best of my trip to Paris.

Au revoir!