Reflections

Why study abroad?

I'm not sure exactly what caused me to come to the decision to do a study abroad program, but I knew that I wanted to study abroad at least once during college. In the interest of graduating in a finite amount of time, I was somewhat more curious about the programs which would let you pursue your studies abroad, but perhaps with a relaxed schedule. I wanted to experience something new and different, as well as leverage some of my German language skills and visit friends in that area of the world. Georgia Tech Lorraine provided an environment that looked good to me, and it had only a few potential negative aspects (which turned out to be non-issues).

First, I didn't know any French whatsoever. Not only did I not know French, I did know that I have a negative proficiency for spoken languages other than English. I studied German for six years prior to coming to Georgia Tech, and I did reasonably well with most things written, but when it comes to understanding and speaking I don't have an extraordinary amount of talent. To be fair, I can still understand and speak a good bit of German, but I guess I just don't really feel as comfortable with new languages as some folks. Regardless, I decided to give GTL a try.

I am completely happy with my decision, but were I to do it again I think I would make some changes with regard to the language. If you are a student that's going to attend Georgia Tech Lorraine and you haven't ever studied French, you should at the least master the numbers, alphabet, and perhaps a few simple phrases before you leave (preferably with a French-speaking friend or audio tape type thing).

One of the interactions which I participated in countless times this summer was a visit to the neighborhood bakery. I love bread, and even more than that I appreciate fresh bread. I floundered around for the first couple of weeks with the "point and click" shopping method until I finally set down and learned the numbers. After this, the practical and financial aspects of obtaining fresh bread gave way to the secondary aspect of this transaction, which is small talk. I got lucky and found a bakery where the proprietor was at least bilingual, so we had the German language in common. She was a great language resource and really helped to improve my French, as well as providing interesting morning chatter.

My experience was that most French people are delighted when you attempt to converse in their language (unless it's a harried train conductor who probably speaks the train-conductor subset of ten languages). Being able to understand and communicate simple things like numbers and directions is invaluable.

Probably one of the most frequently asked questions that I received upon returning from other students was an inquiry into how much the trip cost. I haven't ever really put a dollar figure to everything, but I do have some advice for the fiscally conscious. Don't feel that you have to do everything this way, but this is how I would do it if I were to do it a second time.

Credit cards are your friends, as are debit/atm cards. Know their weaknesses, and do some research beforehand.
Get an extra credit card with a reasonable limit (perhaps $1000). You're in college, this isn't difficult. Check that it works once, and maybe even run a positive balance on it of a few bucks. Keep it separate from what you travel with, so if you lose your main cards on a trip and come home you're not out in the cold for a while. Friends would help you, but it's just easier this way.
A US $20 bill is accepted almost anywhere, if you're in a pinch. You may only get $0.50 to the dollar compared to having local currency, but it sure beats being thrown out of a train into a random town because you didn't have the $11 tariff. Regardless, you should also make an effort to have the right currency.
Weekend trips are weekend trips. Think about how much money you'd spend if you hopped on on an airplane (for free) this Thursday and then explored Washington DC until Sunday afternoon. You'd do all of the sights and a few major museums, as well as perhaps a decent dinner in the local cuisine (I hear fried pol is good). Add in a place to stay ($7 to $35 per night per person, in my experience) and food, as well as public transport, souvenirs, and dancing/drinking, if you're in to that. You'll spend about that much every weekend that you go somewhere in Europe, plus or minus a few. Sometimes people forget that they won't be living their normal lifestyle while on a study abroad trip, and this can be surprising.
As a counterpoint to the previous statement, it is possible to have a very affordable and fun weekend trip in Europe. Just remember that you need to plan ahead (places to stay, food, etc) and budget carefully. Tourist places charge tourist prices. Pack some food rather than eating the $3 hot dogs at the top, and then you'll be able to afford two of the $1 beers in the hostel later that evening as you meet some of the most interesting kids from around the world. Youth hostels can be great fun in the evening and should not be underestimated as potential sources of entertainment and fellowship with other travelers. On the same hand, you should try to experience the local culture too.

If you are going to Geogia Tech Lorraine, I highly recommend you read Polly Platt's French or Foe? : Getting the Most Out of Visiting, Living and Working in France. If you know someone going and want to give them a thoughtful gift (and they don't already have it), I would recommend it. If you can get past her writing style (which is a bit weird in some places), Polly Platt really provides a lot of useful information, and I feel that this book really helped make my experience better. On top of all that, it's a pretty amusing read.

Photography

Everyone seems to want to take pictures when they go abroad, and I was no exception. We sprung for a new digital camera, and I was completely happy with my experience. I took about 1648 pictures in all this summer. There are some situations where a better photographer really would have done better with an SLR and a few good lenses, but for the type of use I subjected mine to I was happy to have the digital. If I could have afforded it, I would have brought a nice SLR and several lenses, a compact APS, and about 68 rolls of slide film. I would have shot all of the film, and then payed to get it all dumped onto PhotoCDs when I got back. As it was, I spent nowhere near that amount of money and am almost as happy. You just have to look at how serious of a photographer you are. The shots I took which are most valuable to me are those of friends and situations, and I just didn't really need the depth of expression you can get with a nice film camera system. By the time summer 2001 comes around digital camera prices will have dropped so much that a camera similar to my DC280 can almost be brought along as an afterthought.

One of the problems with digital cameras these days is that they still require you to download the pictures to a computer or some other permanent storage. Sony makes a digital camera that writes to mini-CDRs, although this method has both good and bad points. Devices like "digital wallets" that download all the pictures off of a flash card and throw them onto a hard drive seem like a great idea, especially if you could take two and back one up. The best solution is probably to have camera-based storage commiserate with your picture-taking rate and then bring a laptop for downloading each week.

Disposable point-and-shoot cameras definitely have their place, especially on a study abroad trip. With a $10 disposable camera, you have almost no real investment in equipment to get stolen, lost or damaged. Obviously you'd lose any pictures you might have taken, but that's a small price to pay compared to the cost of replacing most other photo outfits. Disposables are great for amusement parks, clubs, dances, bars, runnings of the bulls, and other fine locations where you might not want to risk whatever other photo equipment you might have.

Note that this isn't complete. I'm open to suggestions or questions; just send me an email. -Peter