I followed the group of fellow travelers and study abroad students out of the airport as soon as we arrived in the city of Lyon. As we walked to the bus that would take us to our hotel for orientation I took in the conversations surrounding me, realizing the buzz of the words did not reach my brain. Throaty “r”s at the end of “Bonjour” and in “au revoir” were not what I was native to. The bus ride was the last leg of my tumultuous journey of long plane rides and even longer layovers after Nashville to Chicago and from there to Frankfurt, all before arriving in Lyon.
I chose to stay with a host family in order to be more immersed in French culture and it certainly helped with that. My host mom did not speak any English and my level of French was not high enough for us to have a deep conversation or talk outside of meals. At first this was a difficult situation because I had thought I would be close to my host family; however, we ended up finding a rhythm that worked for us despite never getting to know each other as well as I had hoped.
Classes are four hours a day, everyday except Wednesday. It is an intense learning environment where English is not heard. The three other people from my program are the only Americans in my class and I picked up French a lot quicker than I ever did in my classes in the United States. Making friends from other countries is an opportunity I never had at home and now in France I meet people from all around the world. My two closest friends in class were from Japan and South Korea.
Course work is certainly not at the forefront of any study abroad students mind, even though it is important, traveling is. Planning trips around Europe with my new friends in my program was an unmatched excitement. We met at a café and booked train tickets to Paris over lattes. We booked Flixbus tickets to Nice during our break between classes. As soon as the weekend hit we would go to historic cities and jaw-dropping coasts. My program, USAC, includes three excursions, two of which are free. The first goes to the bright blue lake in Annecy for a day trip. It was the perfect first place to visit with its historical town that looks straight out of a French film and restaurants serving traditional French cuisine. The next excursion goes to Marseille, one of France’s most famous cities, full of culture and on the shore of the Mediterranean sea. This is the one that has a fee; however, with the paid hotel, tours, and meals included it is definitely worth the money. The last included trip was another day trip, this one to Bourgogne, another beautiful and ancient town. We got to taste mustards from an authentic Moutarderie and explore the historic Beaune Hospice.
Studying abroad in Lyon gave me great friends, unforgettable adventures, and a new understanding of other cultures and the French language. The knowledge of French I gained studying in the country could never be achieved outside of it. Even the hardest moments such as exams or getting lost on the metro were surrounded by an air of possibility because I was in France. Nothing can match the experience and skills developed during studying abroad, it is a crash course in independence and hard work.
CJ Johnson (BA English) spent the Fall 2023 semester studying abroad in Lyon, France through USAC. CJ had the following to say about studying abroad, “Studying abroad instills independence and problem solving skills you can not get any other way. It changes the way you think of the world and puts the severity of life’s problems in perspective.”
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