The Technograph

As all college students know, returning to our homes for summer shows us how acclimated we had become to our college-town surroundings over the course of the school year: for example, being able to walk almost anywhere we need to go (but taking public transportation to class anyway), not having to report to our parents what we’re doing at all times, and missing the friends we’d made at college (but knowing we’ll pick up in the fall right where we’d left off). For most of us at the University of Illinois, however, Champaign does not embody a different culture than our own. France, on the other hand, does.

During my four-month study abroad experience in the south of France, immersion into a different culture taught me more about American culture than I had expected. Therefore, while I was not sad to leave European culture when it was time, I was instead excited to see how I would view my original environment once I returned.

At first, I found myself wanting to continue to say French phrases like “merci” and “je voudrais…” since I had integrated them into my everyday vocabulary. I had also become accustomed to the 2€, 1€, .5€, .2€, .02€ coins, all of which do not exist in American currency. And my “globe-trotting” lifestyle was put to an abrupt end—instead of every weekend being filled with a field trip, excursion, or visit to a new region of France, my weekends consisted of work and suburban normalcy.

Whether it is the atmosphere of a college town or the culture of a faraway place, adaptation is inevitable and unavoidable. Most of the time, this adaptation seems natural and happens without notice, but taking note of the minor changes in one’s lifestyle can teach one much about oneself as well as about the culture around them.

Tagged with: abroad, study, foreign, Europe, travel