Obstacles Overcome; Lessons Learned; Now What? (RLN) Paris

• The most difficult and challenging thing that I have done while abroad has probably been missing the great community and group of friends that I have at Allegheny. Assimilating into the culture, improving my language skills and studying for classes or working at my internship were not very difficult to get used to except for the fact that the classes were part of an intensive program. So I'd say that creating another great friend group here and still staying in contact with those at home was a big obstacle that I've surpassed. 
• My greatest achievement while abroad was probably succeeding in the intensive BU program where an entire semester was studied in just two months. Though no single thing was that great of an obstacle, the way that it was piled on non-stop was quite rigorous. 
• The skills that helped me succeed abroad are my work ethic that I picked up through high school and Allegheny as well as my experience living in Europe. Through my work ethic I was able to succeed in all of my endeavors and through my experience in Europe the country was really not that different from what I had expected it to be.

• I would probably answer the first blog in a bout the same way at this point. Since when I wrote it I had already been Paris for a while I already had a pretty good idea of what my quotidien life was like here and what parts of Paris culture I was experiencing. 
• In regards to making the world your home, I believe that this is possible to an extent. The world is full of an unimaginable amount of different cultures and languages that can differ vastly within one country alone. So, when one studies abroad and travels and learns different languages well they can certainly make many parts of the world more or less their home but I believe that it is impossible to get even close to making the entire world your home. For example, say you've lived for a long period of time in Paris, Madrid, Tangiers and Cairo. You may be able to call those places home and be completely assimilated in each place but even if you just travel around each one of those cities respective countries you will notice that you are not even at home in that whole country, just in parts of it. 
• In regards to how will home be different, I believe that the hardest thing for me to get used to again will be the drastic differences between most large metropolitan cities and cities like Pittsburgh or especially so for towns like Meadville. The culture won't be that different for me to get used to but rather the style of life and amount of opportunities that are at your fingertips in Paris and how there are many less in Pittsburgh and Meadville.