A Year in Review - Sara

Sara looks back on the year and highlights her main takeaways, how the diversity of Sciences Po has shaped her worldview, and the three pieces of advice she would offer to incoming Reims students.

Going into the school year, I was terrified. Afterall, I was, as a minor, moving back to a country I hadn’t lived in in a decade. My French was very rusty, I had no family in France, and it was to Reims, not Paris where I had lived, that I was planning on spending the next nine months. I kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking I was crazy and pondering on all of my life decisions. I now feel that these sentiments, while dramatic, weren't exactly unfounded. Yet, I don’t regret anything as the past year has been the most enlightening one of my life. 

For the past ten years, I had lived in Redondo Beach, California which, although pleasant, cannot make up for the richness of thought I have found via the diversity within Sciences Po. Here, I am surrounded by students from countries I had never been to and sometimes only read about. Through even brief conversations, I gained insight into lives I had never imagined, which has been very enriching. Coming to Sciences Po truly provides you with an opportunity to get a global experience and I have tried to take advantage of this as much as possible.

This expansion of horizons doesn’t just apply to the international world but to my former, and again current, home country France as my very understanding of la République has forever changed. When I thought of France, I previously only considered the narrow boundaries of my Parisian experience. But, by traveling to other French cities and conversing with people from French places I had never heard of (I was ultimately educated in the American public school system), and I found a France I had both never considered and never gotten to see.

With these new ideas taken into account, I have undergone great introspection. Like I said, I had been in the United States for ten years and clung onto an American identity. But now, in a setting emphasizing the relationship between North America and Europe, I can further recognize how French and American culture have shaped me. As cheesy as it sounds, I now better understand who I truly am.

Beyond the more “deep” aspects, I have gotten to appreciate the simple things in my new life. I have learned to cook better, find the best baguettes and pain aux chocolats, and find the best deals at the last minute. Unbelievably, solo traveling has not only become something I enjoy doing but a constant in my life. Barring an SNF strike or ridiculously expensive prices, I can go to Paris at any time I please with the rest of Europe being right at my fingertips. Even living in Reims itself is a privilege as taking the five minute walk to the Reims cathedral means taking in the richness of different centuries’ art and regularly seeing one of France’s most important sites. 

Now, I don’t feel that this program is for everyone. It is filled with challenges that you wouldn’t otherwise experience at a normal American university and I acknowledge that not everyone may want that for their first year. From basic communication to learning the French grading system, small inconveniences and frustrations are ubiquitous here. Furthermore, bigger problems such as confusion with French bureaucracy, Sciences Po’s national scandals, and the complexities within student activism – to name a few – marred some of my 1A year. But, in a way, I feel that it was essential that all this happened since all of this has changed me for the better. My imperfect and, at times, stressful first year gave me a much-needed understanding of the reality of the world away from California. 

So, if you have decided to come to Reims this fall, I have some advice (or advices as the French would say).

1. Have fun! There are so many activities from traveling to eating new food that can appease all sorts of people.

2. Be prepared to learn not just formal French, but also French slang and about French people themselves.

3. Never be afraid to ask for help because you may just discover something extraordinary!