Semester Exchanges Blog

Staying in Strasbourg for an entire month through has probably been the healthiest thing I’ve done for myself since arriving.

My view from the tram stop on the way to class at EM!

What I mean is, I’ve learned more about myself and this city in this one month than I have in the few weeks I’ve had here in September and October between traveling to other cities/countries.

While I’m in love with traveling and exploring every new place I have the opportunity to discover, it’s almost been restorative to stay in one place and truly make it your home. I know in my last blog I said I was homesick for most of October, and now since the start of November, I’ve come to feel as though I truly belong here in every respect. Whether it be with friends, school, or just making my way around Strasbourg, I genuinely feel at home.

With that said, November has definitely been busy: all of my classes have culminated with presentations and reports due one right after the other, some of my classes have ended completely (yay!!), I went to see Flume in concert with practically EVERYONE in Erasmus, I had 1000 questions thrown at me about my thoughts on the election results, we put together and celebrated our own Thanksgiving, the Christmas Markets have officially opened!!, I had an awful fever in the midst of my busiest week, my friend group has changed a bit, I’ve gone out almost every weekend to keep having as much fun possible with the little time I have left, and like I mentioned earlier, I’ve learned more about myself than ever before.

Us girls before Flume!!

ERASMUS Thanksgiving!!

FLUME

To talk about a few things specifically, let’s start with the election. Being American, obviously, my opinion was sought after by literalllllyyyy everyone. From professors to other European students, from the days leading up to the election to the moment I walked into class the day after the election results, I was met with the same concerned looks full of worry and pity. Like I mentioned in my last blog, Europeans are not very fond of Donald Trump. At all. So when they asked who I voted for and found out that I did not vote for him, they were more than relieved. So, in the days before the election, mostly everyone here was convinced that the majority of Americans would vote for Hillary Clinton. … How confident they were in their assumptions. Well, like we all know, things didn’t turn out the way I and most Europeans hoped they would and once I walked into my Experiential Marketing class after the elections results came out, all I heard all day was, “Carmen. I am so sorry. How could this happen?” Or other comments along those lines. Now, truthfully, I was disappointed and genuinely sad for my country and friends back home, so I was pretty down for most of that morning. “God Bless the USA” was on repeat for me all day, in fact. Because although I was disheartened by the results of the election, I still have faith in my country and the love that we have for it. I still have hope that things will be okay. Time will only tell, I guess.

On another note, now that most of my classes are over, I’ve comprised a list of tips to keep in mind for anyone who reads this and is interested in or preparing to study abroad:

1. Know how to manage your free time wisely. After speaking with friends who have studied abroad before, I came to France knowing that the courses offered to exchange students are much easier compared to what I’m used to at Texas A&M. And since classes are only for a few hours once a week with the entire course being graded on a few assignments or one exam and/or presentation, the weeks fly by in the blink of an eye, especially with all of the extra time you spend not studying every minute of every day for multiple rounds of tests, quizzes, essays, etc. So the general concept of this tip is pretty self explanatory. Fill your time enriching your life with friends, new experiences, getting to know the city you’re in, and a bit of Netflix from time to time if you’re feeling up to it. 😉 Which leads me to… 

2. Do as much as you can!! Do something new and crazy. Go explore and discover. Try new foods. Listen to other points of view and learn about everything possible! Dance and sing your heart out in the middle of a busy street. Go paragliding. Learn a new language. Travel anywhere and everywhere. Don’t just say or plan, DO. Which also brings us to…

3. If you have the monetary means and time, travel as much as you can (but don’t forget to explore your own city/region/country!) Self explanatory.

4. Meet people from EVERYWHERE! My closest friends are Scottish, Czech, British, French Canadian, German, Brazilian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Italian, Danish, and American. And you know, Americans are cool and all, but you’re here to make friends from all over the world and be exposed to their unique cultures, customs, and languages – take advantage, expand your horizons!!

And finally…

5. Everything is temporary. Now this one may sound like a downer, but it’s really not. Yes, your time abroad is limited, but keeping that in mind will only make you appreciate it that much more. Your time is precious with the incredible people you meet, so it’s important to make your time worthwhile with them. Get to know these people, get to know your city and truly make it yours, get to know what it feels like to change, get to know yourself, get to know what it’s like be okay with going out of your comfort zone. Just get to know everything and everyone you possibly can because this opportunity is worth every second you have abroad. This being said, also remember that the bad stuff is temporary too. While it’s important to work out grades, classes, issues back home, etc., dwelling on worry and fear is too time consuming to focus on. These things are temporary and will all turn out fine in the end, so spend your time doing things you love with the people you love and let go of that which is out of your control, holding you back, or distracting you from making the most of your time abroad.

Personally, in the face of confusion and conflict, especially in regards to friendships and working in group projects/presentations, I’ve noticed that I’m more resilient than ever before. Thinking back, in previous situations, I would have obsessed over “what I could’ve possibly done wrong” and “how do I fix this?” and “how do I make these people happy?” But being in Strasbourg and going through all of this, I’ve learned how to let things go. I’ve realized that the only person responsible for my happiness is me. And with this knowledge I’ve come to discover the most impactful things I’ve learned/gained from this experience:

A Sustainable Mindset

France’s measures to promote sustainability and a cleaner environment are remarkable. Now that I’ve become accustomed to taking reusable bags with me to the supermarket and recycling on a daily basis, it’s hard to imagine that I could ever go back to such a lax outlook on waste management and eco-friendliness. This is definitely something I intend to bring back with me to the states and hope to instill in my everyday life.

Overcoming Fear

I knew from the beginning that being so far away from home for the first time with essentially zero travel experience, this exchange would be the biggest challenge of my life. The unknown scared me, my lack of “worldly knowledge” scared me, not having familiar faces with me in a foreign place for 4 months scared me, failure scared me. But despite all of that, I knew that if I could overcome this, I could overcome anything. And I am immensely proud to say that I have.

I only have 2 weeks left in Strasbourg (3 weeks left in Europe) and now I am dreading leaving the unpredictable, exciting, new life I’ve found and the people that have come with it. I have conquered some of the biggest fears I’ve ever had here, so now, I feel secure in myself and ready to take on my next big challenge.

Confidence

I’ve lost friends and gained them. I’ve stumbled my way through a French conversation. I’ve figured out public transportation in multiple European cities. I’ve learned how to budget and save money in a responsible way. I’ve taken an 11 hour bus to and from Vienna on my own. I’ve given more presentations in one semester than I have in my entire college career. I’ve found my voice again just by singing “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz at a karaoke bar in front of a bunch of people I had never met before in my life.

If there’s anything that I’ve gained from being here, it’s definitely the confidence in myself to face whatever life throws at me. Even if I fail miserably, embarrass myself horribly, or fall completely flat on my face, I still manage to pick myself back up and find a way to succeed. This kind of confidence has taken me years to develop, and although I’m still nurturing it and learning from my mistakes, I am now more than sure that I am capable of confronting anything that comes my way.

Patience 

With everything that has not gone “according to plan” or “the way I wanted it to”, I’ve never had so much patience for the world and people around me. Of course, this is easier said than done, but I genuinely feel as though I am able to adjust to unfamiliar situations and perspectives much more easily than I have in the past. I am more understanding and empathetic. I am more capable of keeping a level head in frustrating circumstances. I have the power now to maintain my faith in the fact that what’s meant to happen will happen, and what is meant for me will eventually come and guide me in the right direction.

Long story short, the time I’ve spent in Strasbourg, France has been eye-opening and just being here has been one of the most courageous things I’ve ever done. And I regret nothing. 🙂

November was my last full month here. It’s sincerely starting to feel and look like Christmas since it’s gotten so cold (lows in the mid to high 20s, highs in the 30s) and the Christmas markets have drawn thousands of tourists and visitors every week. I have 2 weeks left in Strasbourg (I leave Wednesday December 14th to travel around the UK for a week) and I have every intention to do everything I still haven’t done here and spend each day appreciating my time with my incredible friends.

Tree lighting ceremony to officially start the Marche de Noel de Strasbourg (aka Christmas Market)!

I’m thrilled to see what these last few weeks in Strasbourg have in store for us!!

– Carmen Pilarte

For any questions about my time abroad, Strasbourg, or studying abroad in general:

FB: Carmen Carolina Pilarte

Email: carmenpilarte@tamu.edu

November 1- 30^th, 2014

I feel like each month that passes by goes quicker and quicker and this past month of November was no exception. Each month has held a new adventure and only gets better and better though!

My family left in the early hours of the morning of November 1^st and that is where I left my last blog post. It was a sad goodbye but I was still looking forward to my last trip of the semester to Switzerland. This was the trip that both Madison and I were most excited for! We had planned to take this trip the second weekend in November but had yet to book anything, and only had a week until our planned departure.

I was a slightly stressed out about this trip though because our first exam was scheduled be released on November 13^th so this would only be 3 days after we would get back from Switzerland. The exam was for a class Madison and I were taking together called Language of Negotiations, the equivalent of MGMT 439 at A&M. The exam would be a five-page essay that we would have a week to complete on an unknown prompt, and we would likely be missing the class prior to the last class, which stressed me out. Then on top of that I was also taking Web Interaction Design and Communication – New Forms of Interaction, Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration the equivalent of INFO 420 at A&M. I had a major presentation on November 18^th 5 days after our planned return. Normally presentations are not a big deal, but for this class we had to complete extensive data analysis and research as a group and I was the group leader. Then following this we had to individually write a 10-page essay on separate topics presenting a creative analysis of the data with new conclusions. In the presentation we had to present what we had chosen to research, our findings, and our individual areas of research for our final projects so as you might imagine I was very stressed about this.

All of this being said I was worried we might have to cancel the Switzerland trip or I would be studying the entire time! But in an inspired manner on November 1^st, as many of our friends were traveling and with nothing holding me back since my family had just left that Saturday, I decided it may be a better idea for us to go to just go to Switzerland on a whim that day, so I mentioned it to Madison and a plan was set in motion.

What started off as a completely normal day, with Madison and I planning on cleaning the room, and maybe doing some studying or going to the gym (side note: if you need a gym, I recommend Fitness DK, right by Solberg Plads building, it cost around $40 usd a month and you can cancel your subscription at anytime) turned into Madison and I booking a plane ticket, train, and a hostel then taking off to Switzerland!

Here is a little timeline of my day:

• 10:00am- wake up and checkout of my parents apartment with Madison, plan to go to Kathrine Kollegiet then the gym
• 10:30am – arrive back at Kathrine Kollegiet
• 11:00am – bring up going to Switzerland tomorrow instead of next weekend
• 12:00pm – decide it would be cheaper to just go today
• 1:15pm – book a plane ticket
• 2:30pm – leave Kathrine Kollegiet
• 5:00pm – take off from Copenhagen
• 6:25pm – arrive in Switzerland

This had to be one of the most amazing trips of my entire life and I don’t know if anything will ever be able top it! Everything seemed to fall in place so beautifully and we decided to keep the theme of the trip being spontaneous. We only booked our hostel in Interlaken, Switzerland for the first night so we could keep as many options open as possible! We arrived in Interlaken at night and it was AMAZING, I have seen stars but I have never seen such a beautiful sky in my entire life. When Madison and I were walking to the hostel from the train station we stumbled upon this field in the middle of the town where you could look up and see the snow capped mountains surrounding you and the most beautiful star filled sky. Madison and I just took a moment to sit down on the bench in the beauty and reflect on how truly blessed we were to be able to experience this.

Paragliding over Interlaken

The next morning I woke up and I was just feeling the need to do something out of the ordinary, spontaneous, and crazy so I told Madison that and being that Interlaken is well known for extreme sports we decided to sign up for paragliding! I was so scared being that my biggest fear is heights but nothing was going to stop me from conquering this fear and experiencing this. It was truly the high point of my entire life and one of the most incredible things I have ever done. We glided over Interlaken for twenty minutes and saw some of the most amazing views; it seemed as though you could see forever and the beauty was unreal!

After this we decided to move to a smaller town a little higher up in the mountain, Lauterbrunnen. This town has the most amazing hiking trails, countless waterfalls, and is a stop to get to towns even higher in the mountains. We had such a great time here and took full advantage of the hiking trails, visited many of the waterfalls, and took a day trip up even higher in the mountains to some other towns via the gondolas.

Switzerland was easily my favorite trip of the semester. The beauty of the country was unreal, and the spontaneity of the trip made it even better. I can only hope I get the opportunity to go back some day and visit again.

Once we returned to Copenhagen it was time to really get serious about my final exams. First was my Language of Negotiation exam, which as I stated early was a five-page essay, with a week to write it. I was originally very stressed about this but it ended up being a lot easier to write than I anticipated. Something to be sure to note is that CBS has very specific standards for their essays that took some getting used to. A typical page is considered 2,275 characters (including spaces) so you just multiply this by the total number of pages of the exam and that that is the maximum number of characters. The font is also a suppose to be Times New Roman and a minimum of 11, plus some minimum requirements on margins that aren’t that important as long as you are meeting (and not exceeding) character count. I would highly recommend paying attention to character count when writing because being this was my first exam I just wrote five normal pages and ended up having almost eleven pages by CBS standards and had to cut it way down in order for my paper to be graded.

I also had to work on my group presentation for my Web Interaction Design and Communication – New Forms of Interaction, Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration class while writing my Language of Negotiations essay which was slightly stressful but I had done much of the research data for the presentation already so it wasn’t too bad. The presentation was slightly scary at first since my professor was critiquing our research, and had been extremely tough on many groups but it seemed to go really well!

Something I would highly recommend for those on REEP at CBS during finals is to book study rooms and study seats in advance when you know your finals are coming. At CBS almost every seat in the library and all the study rooms require a reservation and these are in very high demand since they are very limited. You can book 10 hours worth of study rooms per person in any two rolling weeks and I think 40 hours of study seats per week. The reservations open up one week in advance and you book online at booking.cbs.dk. Often people will try and take your study room and study seat but if you just kindly tell them they have a reservation they completely understand!

As mentioned in Madison’s blog, there are various types of exam given at CBS such as:

• 24, 48, or 72 hour written papers anywhere from 5, 10, to 15 pages
• Essay research finals typically given towards start of the semester
• Group essays
• 20-minute oral exam over any class topic
• 20-minute oral exam over previously written product
• 20-minute oral exam in which students draw a topic from a bowl and speak over about it
• 4 hour written exam (typed on computer)
• Multiple choice exams (rare)
• Various other paper types determined by professor

Before we went straight to work on our next exam we went to see the new Hunger Games movie with a few of our friends! The movie theater cost about $20 USD which was a little hard to swallow after paying College Station movie prices for years but it was well worth it! The movie theater was so nice, you reserved a specific seat and they even had couches! We chose regular seats but they were basically recliners, it was incredible! Some of the large lectures at CBS are held in the movie theater because they have run out of rooms on campus and I had always heard how comfy the chairs were and how people always fell asleep but I had never been into the theater, it was amazing!

Now it was time to start my group essay due on December 1^st for Events and Festival Management the equivalent of RPTS 320 at A&M. The exam for this class was assigned at the start of the semester and we to suppose plan any event and write a proposal on it, then we would have a 20-minute oral exam over our essay later in December. The essay was written in a group of three people, was ten-pages detailing the entire event plus appendixes. Madison was in my group as well as a guy from Poland. This exam was relatively fun to write but the unknown of the oral exam hung over our heads, which was quite stressful. We worked until the last minute to pull this off and submitted it four minutes before it was due then had about a week and a half before our oral exam.

To celebrate Thanksgiving Madison and I hosted a potluck dinner in our room with all of our new friends! Being the hostesses we are we went all out and invited about fifteen people and had everyone bring food in addition the variety of food we cooked ourselves, and set up long white tables in our room! Everyone had such a great time enjoying each other’s company and hanging out! Colby from the A&M REEP Program was also able to come over and it was a blast! It is so sad to think we only have a month of nights like these left!

With November coming to a close it is becoming more and more real that my time here is truly limited! Everyone is becoming very busy with finals, which is sad, but it makes moments that I get to share with all my great friends in Copenhagen all the more valuable. I feel like I have already grown so much as a person from this experience and I cannot wait to see what to see what the next month holds. I know I am still going to be busy with more finals since I have two more upcoming finals and an oral exam but I am going to do my best to make the most of it all!