Nantes

A little more than a month after returning from France, I’ve had some time to reflect on my experiences in Europe and how they’ve affected me. Overall, my time abroad was an overwhelmingly positive venture; I had the opportunity not only to explore new places and new cultures, but also to grow as a person and become even more independent than I had been at my home college. 

I’ve never lived in a large city for an extended period of time before, which was the largest learning curve I had to face upon my arrival in France. Although I’d visited New York and Chicago often enough that I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the concept of navigating an urban area, those were always short visits with minimal or nonexistent use of public transportation. I became more and more comfortable with using the bus and tram systems in Nantes the longer I stayed there, which was especially beneficial when I travelled around Europe and was able to apply some of that practical experience toward Venice’s nightmarish bus system or the straightforward but vast network of U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains in Berlin. Despite that increased confidence in using public transit, I was still very grateful when my host family was willing to drive me to the airport at four AM with all of my incredibly heavy luggage and spare me the hour long series of buses and trams from the condo. 

My mom’s visit to Nantes in early March really put my personal growth into perspective, as she relied on me to navigate around a city with a layout that’s medieval at best and labyrinthine at worst. I am, apparently, the only one in our close family who did not inherit the chronic lack of directional skills that has plagued my mother’s side of the family for at least four generations. It was a little odd feeling like my mom was dependent on me to figure out what we were going to do and how we were going to get there to do it instead of vice versa, but hopefully this means that the next time we vacation somewhere new we’ll get lost a bit less.

The main benefit of my experience abroad has been a new ability to problem solve and, for the most part, keep a sanguine disposition while doing so. If I hit a roadblock, either metaphorically or literally, I’m now able to strategize a way to circumvent it and still reach a favorable solution. This new outlook on finding solutions to problems mostly stemmed from the simultaneously freeing and isolating nature of traveling alone or with other students: if you have an issue, the only way to rectify the situation is to waste time waiting for someone else to figure out what to do or to grit your teeth and do it yourself. Especially in an unknown environment, there will always be unforeseen problems with getting from point A to point B or figuring out where to eat; by treating problem solving as an inevitability, I was able to thoroughly enjoy my time in Europe regardless of anything that didn’t go quite to plan.

Overall, although I’m disappointed that I had to return home early and miss even more life-changing experiences abroad, I’m still incredibly grateful for what I was able to see and do while I was there. From the mundane details like my morning commute and the new things I learned in class to the extraordinary adventures of exploring castles, seaside cliffs, and historical sites from many different eras, I will always cherish the memories I made while traveling and studying abroad.

I was absolutely thrilled when my mom came to visit me the week after February break; from when I left in early January to when I saw her again in early March was the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing her in person. Coming off a very busy week-long break, I had a somewhat outlined plan for the week that, at least for the most part, went to plan. My mom arrived on Saturday morning, so I met her at Charles de Gaulle airport and we drove to our first destination: Disneyland Paris. While we weren’t thrilled with the overall cleanliness of the park or the hotel we stayed in, but I really enjoyed the rides (especially Hyperspace Mountain and the Pirates of the Caribbean). 

On Sunday evening we braved the four-hour drive back to Nantes, which was somewhat harrowing not due to the length of the drive but due to the deeply confusing nature of the French highway system. I suppose I’ve been spoiled by the relatively straight, well-marked highways in the United States, but one would think that 130 kilometers per hour (about 80 mph) is a little fast for what is essentially an expanded system of winding country roads.

On Monday morning I went through my usual routine of getting up, eating breakfast, and taking the bus to IES for class; the main discrepancy was that immediately after class I rushed to the kitchen to make a PB&J then hurried downstairs to meet my mom at the car so we could drive to Chambord. My mom, having taught middle schoolers about the feudal period, was amazed to see all of the mostly intact feudal manors she could spot while driving during the day, the majority of which are still being used as homes and farms. We got a good hour and a half in at Chambord before it closed, and this time I actually kind of knew where to find various cool rooms so we were able to take a more efficient tour of the highlights.

On Tuesday, after my afternoon class, we drove up to a feudal manor in Normandy that had been converted to a very cool hotel; we used it as a starting point the next morning to visit the American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, and Mont-Saint-Michel. I would have liked to show her around Pointe du Hoc, but a combination of an incredibly inconvenient blocked road and the fact that we had to get back to Nantes in time to have dinner with my host family at 8 pm prevented us from doing so. Nevertheless, I had a great time showing my mom some cool French landmarks, and we got back to Nantes in time for a lovely dinner with my host family.

On Thursday we had a more chill day of hanging out in my mom’s Airbnb, doing homework (me) and grading (my mom), and eating the best ready-made ravioli I’ve ever had in my life. Then, on Friday afternoon, we drove to Charles de Gaulle, dropped off the car, took a bus back into Paris, and saw the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. The main thing I learned from the week I spent exploring France with my mom was that renting a car in France is both a curse and a blessing. On one hand, you can directly access many more destinations than by only using public transportation; on the other hand, the French are not exactly patient drivers, and sometimes you get rear-ended while stopped behind a long line of cars at a traffic circle. Regardless, it was a great bonding experience for my mom and me, and I was sad to see her go on Saturday morning.

And, as it turns out, my mom chose the perfect week to come visit me. The week after her visit was complicated not only by studying for and taking midterms, but also by looming threat of travel restrictions and quarantines. Literally the weekend before midterms one of my friends and I were working on solidifying our travel plans for spring break; about 72 hours later I was working on booking my flight home. No one in my program, students, professors, and staff included could have predicted the impact of COVID-19 not only on our program, but on the world at large.