What a Great Trip

I've been home for a few days now and I can't believe what a wonderful trip that I had. After finishing up the study abroad in Paris, my boyfriend Tyler and I visited London for a few days. While we were there we saw all the sites (such as the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Tower of London). London is so different than Paris. Paris is quite, romantic, and very girlie. London is loud, full of pubs and noisy buses, and manly. I really enjoyed both Paris and London but it was weird at how different they were. After staying in Paris for four days, Tyler and I returned home to the beautiful Colorado. Being away from Colorado made me realize how beautiful Colorado really is.

Overall I really enjoyed my study-abroad experience. Living in Paris for a month was so different than anything I have ever done. Greeley is a relatively small town which made living in a big city even more exciting. It was such an experience to be able to take the metro or public bus to anywhere I needed to go. There where always new things to experience and see. There was never a time when I could be board because the city was full of possibilities. It was so great!

Paris (and Europe in general) is so different than the US. Some of the things that I noticed were:

• Paris is very green. They use very little water in the toilets, smaller packaging sizes, lights are usually on timers, and smart cars.


• The portion sizes of food are much smaller than in the US. Along with this, it's very common to spend a lot of time eating at a restaurant (a couple hours is normal), and you always have to ask for the check.


• People walk or take public transportation as much as possible. This was probably my favorite part. I wish we had a metro system in Colorado, I would use it all the time.


• Dogs are very welcome. They ride on the metro, walk calmly beside their owner (most of the time free from a leash), and wait patiently ouside of stores for their owners.


• Anywhere can become a parking spot and it is normal to "tap" a car or two while parking.
  

School in Paris was really a great experience. It was interesting to see how things can be more relaxed but at the same time seem more uptight. For example, classes may not start on time, but once they do students are expected to be silent and pay close attention. Most of the teachers would not announce that it was time for class to start, they would just sit and wait for everyone to be quite (which sometimes took a really long time). The teachers used mostly the same teaching styles that I am used to, so that made things a little easier. One thing that I noticed the most is that things were not always very well organized. This made things more difficult than they are in the US. There were always technical problems and I think that better organization would of made things a little smoother. Besides this, attending school at EBS was a great experience.

Now that I'm back in Colorado, it's hard to believe that I spent a month in Paris. I feel like I learned so much and am more cultured. I have a new outlook on school and other parts of daily life. I think I will be able to take what I learned while in Paris and apply it to my daily life in Colorado. I am so grateful that I got to experience life in another part of the world and it has made me want to travel more. This trip has open my eyes to the world and now I want to see it all!