Evelyn Najarian

When I began learning French at the beginning of high school, I developed a strong interest in the language and culture and realized I really wanted to spend time abroad in France in the future, as I had never visited before. When I came to Berkeley, I continued taking French classes and decided from the beginning that I would probably want to study abroad during my junior year. This long-time dream, coupled with weighing my options for my French and Linguistics majors led me to choose the UCEAP Bordeaux French immersion program. While I was very excited to experience a smaller French city (Bordeaux), Paris had always been part of the dream. So I decided to extend my stay in France through the summer with the Global Internships program in Paris, where I had the opportunity to also experience a French working environment.

I would say that the most interesting cultural experience I had abroad would be working at the Sociocultural Center in Belleville, Paris over the summer. Belleville is a quarter in Northeast Paris, with a very diverse, multi-ethnic population. Throughout the past several decades, there has been a large influx in the Chinese, North-African and Sub-Saharan communities in Belleville. All of the children I worked this summer had parents who were from countries other than France, ranging from Senegal to Kenya to Egypt. It was very eye-opening to be immersed in such a diverse culture, all within Paris. It was also very interesting to have a leadership/mentorship role to these children as a foreigner myself, especially all while speaking in French.

I would say that my biggest challenge studying abroad was making friends with the locals. Going into this experience, I really wanted to make French friends, to make connections abroad and speak French with people my age, as it can be very easy to just stick with the other Americans in your program. I found this a bit difficult to do, since the majority of the people in my classes already had their groups of friends and as an exchange student I was only there for a short period of time. While I did meet some French students along the way, it wasn't like the image of the close 'international friendships' I had envisioned before going abroad. However, through my host family I was able to become good friends with a few family friends of theirs, who I still keep in touch with.

In Bordeaux, my typical day abroad started in the morning with me having toast and jam and coffee, listening to the French radio, usually with my host dad. Then I would take the bus for about 30-45 minutes outside of town to the university campus, where I would spend anywhere from a few hours to a full day in my classes (which were all in French). After class, I would usually meet up with my friends and go into town for a bit, and then go home in the early evening, until my host parents arrived home from work around 8pm. We would eat dinner together around 8:30pm or 9pm, and then I'd finish up some homework and head to bed.

During my summer program in Paris, I'd wake up and have breakfast in the dining hall downstairs in our dorm building, and then I'd head to work from 10am until about 6:30pm. My tasks at work would range from administrative work, to helping the kids with their homework after school, to leading them in various activities. When I got home from work, I'd usually catch up with my roommate (another Berkeley student, but doing a different internship) and then we'd have dinner on the roof, and usually just relax for the evening before bed.

As a French and Linguistics double major, I took mostly all Linguistics classes in French, along with a required Methodology course and a Life Drawing course. For my linguistics type classes, I took Lexicology, Semantics, Translation, and a grammatical description course. In general, I felt that these classes were much easier than my Berkeley classes. I think part of this was due to the fact that I took lower level Linguistics classes as they were entirely in French, and also because the classes had much less homework as my Berkeley classes. In this way, it is more up to you to keep up with the material on your own to prepare for the 1-2 tests during the semester. However, I am able to transfer one class to satisfy a Linguistics upper division course, and three classes to satisfy some French upper division electives.

I would definitely say that the most meaningful aspect of my time abroad was developing a close relationship with my host family in Bordeaux. Before I left, I heard very mixed reactions to living with host families so I was pretty nervous to meet them and see how the whole experience would play out. I feel incredibly lucky to have been placed with my family and to have cultivated such a great relationship with them. It did take some time to grow comfortable with them, but by the end of the program it felt like I was truly at home. While being immersed in the French language helped me in an academic/practical sense, having a welcoming home environment made it much easier to transition to living abroad. I will always cherish moments we shared together, and we still keep in contact now that I'm back in the states.

Although I spent a bit of time abroad as a small child, studying abroad opened my eyes to the value of living abroad as a young adult. After studying French for several years, I was very eager to go abroad and experience life abroad in France. I am very happy to say that it was all I could have hoped for and more. Through the positive experiences I had, along with the connections I made, I am eager to go back to live/work in the near future. In addition, I developed more confidence in not only my French speaking skills, but also in my ability to go outside of my comfort zone and navigate intimidating situations.

While it is a study abroad program, I would say that aside from classes, the true magic of studying abroad lies in living abroad in a new, different environment, with a different language and culture, and gaining a new perspective of life. Last fall before leaving abroad, I had a brief second-guessing moment where I was feeling very discouraged because there were several opportunities in Berkeley that I couldn't participate in because I would be abroad the following semester. I had a moment where I considered not going, but I am so so glad I decided to go through with it. While I think these experiences I wanted in Berkeley would have been great too, my study abroad experience was priceless and I'm happy with the decision I made.

I would also say to try your best to make the most of everyday, and not sit around at home too much (But rest and taking care of yourself is important!). Even if I didn't have anything to do, I found it very enjoyable to just go for walks and wander through the beautiful streets in Bordeaux and Paris. There is history and beauty right outside your door! On a similar note, in contrast to the constant nice weather in California, I learned to make the most of the days when the weather was very nice.