From the time I was a little girl, I have always wanted to see the world. For the first time, I left the continent of North America and ventured into Europe. The department of Agricultural & Applied Economics here at UW offers a wonderful experience to study abroad in France for a month during the summer. This experience was the trip of a lifetime for me. Not only was I able to travel to France and see all of the touristy sites, but I was also able to study French agriculture with a group of students from universities all across the United States and the world. I was one of about 46 students in this program. This was a perfect fit for me; it included the peace of mind that comes with being in a group with the independence and growth that comes with any study abroad experience.
We started out in Paris and spent a couple of days there. Even though we were only in Paris for a few days, we saw a lot of landmarks. We were able to climb the Eiffel Tower, and the view was remarkable!
My favorite place that we saw was probably the Louvre. I am not an art major, but it was still very impressive to see famous artwork, such as the Mona Lisa. After Paris, we visited Rungis, the largest fresh produce market in the world. It is one thing to read about trade agreements and issues revolving around trade, it is quite another to actually see the trade in action. The rest of the program entailed a mixture of classroom instruction and farm tours. We saw so many different kinds of businesses: an industrial bread factory, cattle farms, and a sea salt producer’s co-op.
Although there were distinct differences, it was very surprising to me how similar France is to the United States. We drove by McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chickens, and Domino’s restaurants. If you turned on the radio, you could hear songs that you could find on stations in the United States.
I feel very fortunate that I was able to take advantage of this opportunity, and I would encourage any student to at least look into studying abroad. It truly is an experience that will change your whole perspective on the world. Going into this experience, I knew essentially no French, I had almost no international experience, and limited travel experience. You get so much more from a study abroad experience than just a couple of credit hours. I now know how to read a map (Google maps doesn’t work if you don’t have an international cell phone plan!), I can order food in French, and I know how to travel by metro.
If you want to link to the program, visit this link.