Gracyn Karp

My studying abroad experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It truly taught me so much about myself and the world in such a short amount of time. Growing up, I moved around a lot domestically and internationally so at a young age I developed the need to travel. Before even attending college, I knew that studying abroad was something I had to do while at school. When I found out about the amazing program of International Business and a Language at Clemson it seemed perfect because studying abroad was a requirement. In the spring of 2022, my junior year, I studied abroad in Montpellier, France through the third party program at University of Minnesota. This program was tailored to my major, International Business and French. While abroad the classes I took were: grammar, art history, cinema history, and a business class on the workforce in France. All of these classes were taught in French so it truly forced me to challenge myself in a way that I had no idea I could. 

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France was amazing on its own but getting to experience other countries culture was an adventure by itself. I traveled to Portugal, Spain, Greece, England, Ireland, Morocco, and all of Italy. I got to see and encounter every countries beauty and see things that I have only ever dreamt of. From so many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like seeing the Pope on Easter in the Vatican City or celebrating and participating Ramadan in Morocco, I got to immerse myself completely in these cultures. I got to learn about the world in this way - where people came from, what their traditions are, and what they experience as a community. The different cross-cultural experiences made me more conscious of myself and my habits and appreciative of the world around me. I believe that because I developed my understanding of other cultures, I was able to have more meaningful interactions with those who were around me. Every single place we went to, we were able to befriend a local and learn the best spots in town, the norms of the community, and how the world works in each area. I know that this definitely enriched my time in each new place by exploring the different countries and gaining new friends from all around the world. The world is filled with people who have different beliefs, religions, traditions, and ways of living. It is within those differences that we can find beauty. I know that studying abroad only kickstarted my love for traveling more because now I dream of going to the rest of the world to form new raw connections and beautifying experiences.

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While studying abroad I also got to experience life with a host family. My host family was absolutely amazing and I got to live with a mother and father, Sylvie and Bruno, along with another host sister, Thellcia. The parents had two grown sons who lived in different parts of Europe and they had been taking in students for seven years already! My host sister was from Gabon, a country on the west coast of Central Africa, and was living with them to get a better education and to study Management. This lifestyle truly made me so grateful for my time abroad. Every weekday after coming home from school, I got to taste delicious three course French cultural delicacies from foie gras to escargot. It definitely helped that Bruno was an exquisite chef and I got to expand my taste palette with learning to love so many new foods. They taught me about the different holidays associated with food as well in France. La Chandeleur is a day solely dedicated to eating crepes. Due do that, I had one for breakfast, two at school, then when I got home for dinner we all would make different types of crepe right in front of us and customize them however we wanted. I certainly celebrated the holiday correctly and had a total of it least 10 crepes that day! Beyond the gastronomy, they taught me so much about the culture. Every dinner conversation would be so enlightening and they would talk to me about the history of France and the areas, must-go places in Europe, and just about our daily lives. It unquestionably benefited my French to speak all day and night in the language and with a fluent family. Along with my host parents, my host sister and I got to form a great relationship. I would ask her French slang terms and pop culture while she would ask me about life in the United States and tell me about her home in Gabon. Every Wednesday we would watch the new episode of Euphoria with French audio and English subtitles to benefit us both as she was learning English and I was learning French. Staying with a host family absolutely enriched my experience as it gave me a sense of home away from home while building connections that I will think about for the rest of my life. My host family took me in and gave me the best memories that I will forever be grateful for.

 

Along with my classes, I had an internship abroad. My internship was to be the social media manager for the Montpellier Basketball team. I was tasked with going to the team’s practices in order to get footage, posting announcements on their Instagram and website, and spreading the popularity of basketball among university students. Here in the United States, we have a much different culture of basketball. It is looked at as a great sport with a huge fan following. In France, basketball is not a very popular sport. People tend to follow soccer a lot more closely abroad because it is a global sport. With that disadvantage already, my boss gave me the mission to try and get it more popular. I would hand out fliers at school, go to all the sporting events with the rest of my study abroad program, and post about it on social media/spread it by word of mouth as much as I could. At the end of the season, we got to go to the championship game and actually had all of the students in our program to come out and support our team. We were running around on the sidelines taking photos and assisting our boss and would look up and see our friends also supporting the team. It was a great feeling to get such a big turnout and achieve the goal of getting French students absorbed into the sport of basketball. This was a great learning experience for me because it truly taught me how to be a leader in a new situation. I have never been in the position of being head of a social media role. I actually had never done anything in the world of marketing or social media outside of classes so this was an amazing opportunity to be so immersed in it. Living in another country gave me the chance to learn about a new culture, meet new people and find new places to explore. I gained such love and respect for all things French through my time abroad. Most importantly though, I learned how to live in the moment and appreciate the small things. The opportunity to learn French well and to live in the heart of Europe was incommensurable. I will forever be grateful for my time abroad and all of the amazing memories I made.