North Reports from East

Joshua North, another MWSU French major studying in Angers, France this semester, files this report:

Doing a study abroad has been a very rewarding experience for me. Since I’ve been over here, I’ve learned many different things about the world. The city is a mix of cultures that I would have never expected. Not only are there lots of different cultures that are introduced through the exchange program here, but the city is also a rich mixing of people. For example, the Americans I have met include people from Arizona, North Carolina, Nebraska and Illinois. As for the rest of the world, I’ve met people from Ireland, Romania, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Austria and of course France. With this new view of the world, I have a new understanding of how the world sees us and vice versa.

Another thing that I will always remember about Angers is how beautiful their city is. As spring has just started around here, I’m sure the plants and the flowers will be coming into bloom and it will be even more beautiful. As a person who likes to get out and explore places, I appreciate the fact that Angers lets you rent a bike from the city for free. It has allowed me to get around town easier and with more freedom and to be able to visit many of the places that only the locals know about. One of the places I just recently found was “Le Jardin des Plantes.” I’ve returned there a few times since because of just the sheer beauty of the garden.

So overall, this trip has been a very rewarding and very educational experience, but of course it’s never in the ways you would expect when you first begin your journey. As a quote from Don Williams Jr. says, “~ The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination. ~” This quote is a very true one about this trip, I would of expected to learn lots of things from the classrooms, which is a true statement, but I’ve also learned a lot of things from just being on the streets of Angers and the people I’ve met here. In the classrooms, I’ve learned interesting rules about the French language and proper grammatical usage, but out in the parks, the streets, the dorms, the pubs, the stores, etc., I’ve seen and experienced things that makes this journey a very educational experience and the lessons I’ve learned, I will carry all through my life and I’m very grateful for the chance to take this journey.