So I’ve never studied abroad but I was born and raised in Bolivia, South America, until the age of 10. Although I know how to live in a different culture other than the U.S, such adapting to different climates, foods, people, etc. I still want to live in yet another country and be able to adopt another culture. However, this time around I don’t think I will be able to do it. As a kid, I lived in Bolivia but nobody remembers much of their childhood as they do from their teenage years and up. So spending my transitional stages in the U.S has made me very comfortable and settled into my own ways.

After I graduate, I would like to travel and live in another country for about a year. In particular, I would like to live in France long enough to know the language and settle down for a bit. But where do I start? And here come all the questions:

Do i learn the language before I go there or just wing it and hope I run into english-speaking people? Where will I live? Will I need roommates? How much will rent be? Can I have a job waiting for me over there? How will I transport all my belongings accross the sea? Is there a specific group of people who help incoming people like me to settle down and get to know the area? So the main question is: HOW DO I MOVE TO FRANCE?

I will answer all these questions in my next blog after having done some research. If you want to know how to move not only to France, but any other country… stay tuned!

As I sit here thinking of a new topic to write about, I can’t help but to write about the most relevant topic in my everyday life…STRESS

Why is it that the longer we stay in school, the more stressful it gets?! One would think that about 15 years of knowledge would be suffice to handle the last year of college. I mean, by now we should all know how to apporach different types of classes, how to study for them, how much effort is needed for each and basically how to multi task…right? NO. You would be surprised how many seniors there are who still don’t know how to study for particular classes. There are seniors out there who still donn’t have a full grasp on their own studying regime. Some people need to put in hours and hours of library time (me) and others can just sit at home, with TV in the background and read through the notes once and be just as prepared for the same test I would take.

In particular, there are seniors in college who still have a hard time multi tasking after years and years of training.  I will be graduating this December and  am having by far, the most stressful semester I’ve ever had. Not to mention the quick hospital pit stop I made for about a week…but regardless of that situation, I still find myself having a hard time devoting chunks of my time to several activities. I am currently working on four projects, I am responsible for hading in two lab reports every week, not to mention homeworks/case studies and exams. Eevrything has a pertinent group of people whom I have to work with and meet with to comply with all these requirements.

I know this blog may sound whiny, but c’mon! It’s even more frustrating that some professors swear that their class is above all others, and so they take it upon themselves to pile on all this work…due next week. I don’t know if there is some way that schools like Penn State can quantify the amount of time a student should put into school work while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I mean, sometimes I seriously forget that I haven’t eaten anything literally all day! If Penn State can come up with an allotted amount of school work time (including weekends) and somehow base the curriculum off of that optimal time, it would give professors and students a clear idea of how much students can handle and what is expected from new, incoming students into Penn State.

Any takers?