Month: November 2022

Bon Anniversaire! (From Annecy)

Published on by taliafrankelLeave a comment

While the south of France has been filled with sunshine and warm weather up until November, over the past two weeks Aix has begun making the transition to winter, bringing with it cloudy skies and rapidly dropping temperatures. Instead of taking the weekend to escape the cold weather, my friends and I decided to embrace the incoming winter season with a trip up north to the beautiful town of Annecy! Fondly nicknamed “the French Venice,” Annecy is a beautiful and historic town situated on the edge of the French Alps and centered around a crystal blue lake, complete with no shortage of beautiful architecture and canals. This town is not just the perfect place for a weekend getaway, but also the perfect place to spend a birthday, which is exactly what we were going there to do!

We began our weekend/birthday festivities with a beautiful bus ride through the French countryside, which took us to our Airbnb that resembled nothing less than the home of a 19th century French noble. This Airbnb was selected by none less than the birthday girl herself, because what is a queen’s birthday without a castle? We spent our weekend enjoying our temporary home, exploring the cobblestone streets and beautiful lakeside, and eating as much as we could stuff ourselves with. As a Vermonter at heart, the Annecy landscape, complete with the mountain-surrounded lake and autumn foliage, reminded me of home… despite Vermont’s devastating lack of castles.

While every second in Annecy made me feel like I was living in a real-life fairytale, this trip for me was more importantly a reflection on the relationships I’ve built since coming abroad. Spending a weekend in a beautiful place, surrounded by people I didn’t know the names of just two months ago, and celebrating one of my best friends, I felt overwhelmed by love and appreciation. I went abroad for many reasons. For the culture, for the language, for the learning experience… but being able to share this experience with new people and learning how to form deep connections in different situations has only allowed for deeper personal growth.

So instead of this being a post to the town of Annecy (although its beauty should not be overlooked), this is a post for my friends. As we enter the last month of our abroad semester, I can already feel that the last few weeks are going to fly by. Instead of being sad about the end of this chapter I hope to cherish every moment of my time left here, in this beautiful place and surrounded by the amazing people I’ve met along the way. Starting a new life somewhere, even for just a few months, can be both terrifying and thrilling, but being rewarded by new experiences, new memories, and new life-long relationships could not be more fulfilling. These newfound friendships have helped me grow both as my own person and as a global citizen and only make me more excited for my future travels and what new people I may meet along the way.

Abroad Blues and Stress

Published on by annaevelinLeave a comment
Cloudy Days

There is a lot to love about being abroad and living a whole new life in another country. However, that does not mean there aren’t negatives. I am currently in the last few weeks of my program before I am to return to the U.S. and I have learned a lot. There are plenty of times where I got really homesick and needed to call my mom and have her send pictures of both herself and my dog. I will say that there is no real way to prepare yourself for the homesickness you feel when abroad because it can and will hit whenever and wherever. When those moments hit, it is important to put your mind on something else. For example, this current week there are a bunch of tests and quizzes going on for my classes and that is making me miss home quite a bit because normally whenever I have a stressful test or something I would go home for a bit and spend some time with my mom and dog. However, now that I cannot rely on them to help me, I am needing to learn how to deal with my stress in other ways. One way is that the program that I am in has scheduled things for us to do and things to go. I will get into this program more in another post but last night, there was a musical performance of The Sound of Music. This musical was based on the movie that was based off the real life events of the family that occured here in Austria. I decided to go to this performance even though it was right in the middle two of my bigger tests but I decided that taking a break would be for the best and when would I see this life performance again? I am very glad that I went because it did give me a break from studying. One thing that I have learned while being abroad is that while working hard is important, it’s not the only thing in life and that you just have to enjoy the time you have. I can’t believe that I only have four weeks left here in Austria before I will be making my way back to Denver.

It is completely normal to have moments of sadness and anxiety while being abroad I have had those moments and I know that my friends have had those moments as well. Stress plays a part in that aspect as well and yes it is normal but no it’s not normal for those feelings to take over your life. I think this image portrays what I am trying to say perfectly. There are grey skies covering the sky but down below, where you are there is still beauty to be seen and those grey rainy clouds shouldn’t be what you focus on. Just try to stay in the moment because in the end, it will all be worth it if you are truly able to engage in your life abroad and live with the locals and with your friends.