Hello! My name is Aiyanna Lowery, I'm a rising third year Economics and International Affairs Major at the Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as, Georgia Tech, Tech, GT, or GaTech. I spent the Spring 2019 semester studying abroad at GTL in Metz, France, as a participant in the newly created French-Sciences-Sustainability program.
There were lots of reasons why I chose this program in particular. I'd been studying French for two semesters and had decided that I wanted to become fluent in the language and to continue pursuing my French education. While I am not really a science kind of girl, the possibility of entering the French work force is something that I would love to look further into. I also have an interest in global development, and in making global development happen in a way that is sustainable and uses sustainable technologies and practices. There was also the fact that I had never been out of the country before. I knew that I desperately wanted to study abroad but I wasn't confident enough to attempt an exchange program, I didn't want to do a traditional faculty led study abroad program because they tend to be more structured than I would have liked, but this program offered the best of both worlds. I wouldn't be on my own dealing with a completely new university, and at the same time I would have enough freedom to take multiple trips on the weekends to other countries and explore the town of Metz in my down time during the week.
As a participant in this program I can confidently say that my expectations were well met.
I learned things about France, Metz, the French work force, and sustainability that I never knew before all while traveling throughout Europe and experiencing other cultures and environments at my own pace. In one of my French courses I learned about the process of building your CV and interviewing for a job position, it is quite similar to the process in the U.S.A. but with a few distinct differences that I never would have known if I had tried on my own. Alongside learning about employment in France we built our vocabulary for professional situations and how to be respectful in the work environment.
Students got hands on experience at a local bike repair shop as a large number of citizens in Metz and around France use bikes as their main vehicle instead of cars, and its much easier and more sustainable to repair a broken bike than to buy a new one. Our professor also took us on tours of local neighborhood to experience the way that everyday people practiced sustainability, from compost bins in backyards, to recycling bins, to vegetable gardens and drying their clothes by leaving them out to hang, you could see sustainable practices wherever you went. It was also amazing how lots of students began incorporating those practices into their own lives. By the end of the first month in France, I was hanging my clothes out to dry and recycling as much of my waste as I could.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time abroad and came back with an even bigger passion for sustainability and French culture! I have decided to pick up a minor in International Business, Language, and Culture with my language of choice being French, bien sur, and I will take FREN 2002 in Fall 2019 with Dr. Ippolito. I am so glad that I made the decision to go abroad and hope that those involved in the program in upcoming semesters will get as much out of the experience as I did!
