Salut tout le monde!
Four weeks. It has been four weeks since I squeezed all of my belongings into a few bags, said goodbye to the wonderful people that I met while abroad, and left the country that was my home for 11 months, making the 6394 km journey back to my hometown of Mississauga. While I sit in my family home, writing this final blog, I can’t help but reminisce about my time abroad and how it went by in a blink of an eye.
To tell the truth, in this moment I can’t help but feel some sadness. For the past year I had gotten used to life abroad, including a completely new culture, the relaxed attitude of the French people and the ability to travel and discover the world with such great ease. But most significantly, I have made close friendships with some of the most incredible people, coming from all around the globe. How could all of this be suddenly taken away from me?
Thankfully we live in a time where keeping in contact with people is quite easy, so I can text and video call these friends as much as I want, but it is not nearly the same as physically being in the same place. This was, and continues to be, a tough pill to swallow. Fellow students who have been abroad warned me that coming back to Canada is likely to be a more challenging transition than moving away, and it is only now that I can truly understand what they meant.
Now don’t get me wrong, I was really excited to return to Canada and see my friends and family, visit my favourite restaurants and get back into a steady routine. These past four weeks have been a blur of familiar faces, places and good times. In some ways it felt like I had never left, that my time spent abroad had never really happened. But of course, I know this isn’t true!
As for the future, I will be moving once again in two days, headed for Ottawa! I am so excited to start another year at Carleton and have set many goals that I plan to accomplish throughout the year. For example, I hope to meet several international and exchange students coming to Carleton, so I can try and help make their own experience abroad as memorable as mine was.
All in all, I am forever grateful to have been given the opportunity to live in France. The challenges that I faced, the lessons that I learned and the fantastic memories that were made have allowed me to see the world in a new light. I have made friendships that will last a lifetime and I can’t wait to see them again. Although I am excited to see what year four at Carleton has in store for me, I will never forget my time abroad and Montpellier will always have a piece of my heart.
-Marissa
Marissa is a third-year Bachelor of International Business (BIB) studying abroad in France.