A Bientôt Cher Lyon

Day One Hundred

T-Minus 48 Heures Jusqu'à Le Retour Aux Etats-Unis!

So much for committing to daily blogging.  I've never been one to consistently keep a journal, which has just been validated this semester.  Good thing I took enough pictures to gauge my memory as time moves on.  So as my last post, here are some things I learned this semester in France.


-You win some and you lose some.  There were days when speaking French just clicked for me. I was on a roll and everything just came naturally.  Then, days where there's no such luck.  Or maybe not even so lengthy as a day but a mere situation.  Like today when I went to handshake my host-uncle goodbye and he reached for a bisou (cheek kiss) and for a long 3 seconds it was quite awkard in limbo haha.  Ultimate fail after being here for almost four months.  But hey, you can't win them all.

-You HAVE to put yourself out there to experience any kind of change.  Coming abroad, I acquired so much freedom--it really was beyond me.  With that, I realized I could make this semester whatever I made it.  Among those choices, I could either stay in my comfort zone and cling to those I knew would speak English with me and just soak up living carefree in France.  Or, I could take the less easy choice by taking the initiative to hang out with classmates I knew would only speak French and really seek opportunities where I would have to uncomfortably force myself to practice the language.  Thankfully, I did the latter while also being able to enjoy a bit of the first too--at a 70:30 ratio.  I realized, unless I literally fell of the face of the internet--I wouldn't be able to completely shut myself off from using English.  But I would like to think I did pretty well in spite of using facebook and oovoo to keep in touch with friends and family.  I'm so glad my host parents set the rule of "no English" after my second day here because the improvement in our conversations--it's incredible.  There's no comparison.

-The French are extremely nice and hospitable.  Granted, I already knew this after spending 3 weeks last summer in France.  However, I just want to emphasize this as valid after spending a semester here.  People are so sweet and friendly here.  I can literally count on three fingers, the amount of times I had a bad experience--and that's for a whole semester.  There will ALWAYS be people no matter where you go who will live up to the stereotypes the world places on them.  However, you can't let stereotypes or one bad experience generalize your opinion on an entire population!  It's incredulous and narrow-minded thinking.

 -Having independence is so nice but I need structure to stay productive.  Haha, sad but so true.  This has been evident since high school when I would keep myself busy with extra-curriculars, sports, and school.  Right when a sports season would end, my afternoons went to absolute waste.  Always lookign forward to have time to do other things, I would end up being completely unproductive.  That partially happened here when I found out class wouldn't start until 13h30 everyday.  Thankfully, I found a morning rhythm soon enough but still.  I have room for improvement on some self-discipline and motivation haha.

-Relax and don't get so worked up over things.  I have definitely developed more patience this semester.  Maybe that's just because the lifestyle here is a lot calmer and slower.  I mean, I've spent 3 hours eating a meal of my own accord (not because the service was slow but because the conversation was worthy of a long meal).  And I encountered a lot of situations where the logistics just didn't make sense.  But if it's not my call, then what good is it to get frustrated?  The only person that hurts is yourself.  Sometimes, going with the flow may not be the most efficient manner of doing things but at the same time, you have to consider cultural differences and varying leaderhsip styles as well. 

-I can definitely see myself living overseas for a long period of time.  I am definitely going to work hard next year to ensure I have the possibility of posting OCONUS for my first assignment.  Although it won't be the same as actually living immersed in a foreign country like this semester, it will definitely still be worth it!  I love, love, love France and honestly know I have to come back in the future.  I've settled on retiring in the French country one day.  Most likely that won't happen but I can still dream.  Anyway, when I lived in South Korea, I loved it as well.  So there's a trend going on and there are many other countries to test this hypothesis.

-However, nothing beats being with family.  Going on vacations with my host family was always a great time.  But seriously, you can't beat being with loved ones.  It doesn't matter how beautiful the view or how crazy of an opportunity, if you don't have someone to share it with--it's just never going to be the same.  Having my parents in France last week was so awesome.  I was able to explore the French castles in the Loire Valley and Paris with them.  I was so proud to show them the French culture and the beautiful country.  With them here, things were in balance.  Okay, almost in balance.  Bridget wasn't able to come, neither Rocky..haha.      

-I need to learn Korean.  Like I said before, 90% of the students in my program are Asian.  And it was quite embarrassing to repeat multiple times that I no longer speak Korean ( Hangul).  I told myself after I feel pretty comfortable with my French, I am definitely going to throw myself into learning Korean again.  Granted, it would be a lot easier if I got stationed there--hopefully one day! 

-Take everything as a learning opportunity.  Whether it's bad, embarrassing, awkard, frustrating, sad, or an assortment of happy emotions.  Everything has a season and a reason.  So the one thing we can do after an experience is make us of it by learning and growing from it. 

Lyon will always hold a dear place in my heart.  I pray that I will have the opportunities to continue learning French and maintain it, hopefully one day to use it functionally for my career.  Who knows what the future holds but I'm looking forward to extraordinary surprises!  :)  So this isn't goodbye, this is just a "see you later".