Au revoir school. Hello [real] world!
This blog post has been sitting in my Drafts since July 2009. Hopefully it will get published today.
If you got directed to this blog because you are looking at Georgia Tech Lorraine for undergrad or grad school, hopefully it’ll provide a little insight on all that GT has to offer. 
Or you can see it as just the babblings of a college student who loved her program and playing around in Atlanta, San Francisco, and France for a little while.
This is to say good bye to school, since this blog has technically been a school blog. It also really is a way for me to look back in a few months or years and remember some of the fun times I’ve had. When I reflect, I realize that being a nerd has taken me to so many cool places.
Oh before I get into my reminiscing, some exciting news about Imagine Cup. Marc and I placed first in the MashUp competition in Cairo. Sooo, think about doing Imagine Cup!
Ok, reminisicing time. One of my best friends gave me something that sums up the ending of this chapter of my life pretty well. It reads:
“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay a while, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same.”
My time in GTL has been filled with footprints. I have met many wonderful people who have pushed and challenged me to grow on so many different levels. I definitely recommend studying abroad, or simply going to some place new. It puts you out of your comfort zone and oftentimes forges friendships between people who would not otherwise be friends.
It is the end of my 6 year journey at GT for undergrad and grad. Some of my undergrad highlights can been seen by reading through my older posts. I figured I’ll write a general recap of the past 1.5 years of my life as I remember them. I’ve had people email me about how this blog has helped them learn a bit more about GTL so hopefully this final post will be a good summary. At least of my travels. I came to GTL in January 2008 not really knowing what to expect. By the time I graduated in May 2009, it became one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself, the French lifestyle, the French higher education system, and made friends that I know I’ll meet again in different parts of the world. It has definitely made the world feel like a smaller place and what a wonderful feeling it is to know that such strong friendships with people from such different backgrounds. So now for the recap.
Travels and Exploration
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January 2008: Skiing in the Swiss Alps in Zermatt. This was definitely a beautiful ski resort. We stayed in a cabin located pretty close to the train station and lifts, so that was convenient. Skiing was more fun at Les 3 Vallees, but more on that later. We had a great view of Matterhorn, one of the highet peaks in the Alps.
Early February 2008: Skiing near Grenoble and day trip to Cologne, Germany. We took a weekend trip to Grenoble and took a bus up to Alpe d’Huez. The trip up to Alpe d’Huez is part of the Tour de France itinerary! The following weekend, we left for Cologne, Germany. The highlights here were the bratwurst and seeing the Cologne Cathedral, one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe.
End of February 2008: We went on a one week Spring Break tour of seven European capitals: Vienna, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Amsterdam, Brussels. We slept on night trains, couch surfed and had a whirlwind tour of some European capitals by train. It was definitely an interesting experience. I have been lucky enough to visit again (Amsterdam and Brussels) and others I’d love to see in the Summer (Oslo!) It was quite a contrast to my later travels which included hostels and roadtrips. Some cities
March 2008: We drove with a group of GTL students to Vosges. We stayed in a cabin, went skiing for half a day, wine tasted, had delicious French meals and visited Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg. I definitely recommend this area for anyone looking for a short trip near Metz. A car is required, but there are also buses that take frequent trips to this area. Skiing was nothing like Zermatt, considering we really only had 2 slopes, but it was a fun half day nonetheless.
April 2008: The first week of April I spent in San Francisco at the Anita Borg Scholarship Retreat. It was a fun break (and very long flight) from France to hang out with some tech girls! And the end of the semester (end of April) we took a trip to England and Ireland. I visited London, Heathrow, Stonehenge, Wimborne, Pembroke, Wexford, Kilkenny, and Dublin. We took the train from Paris to Dublin and flew from Dublin back to Paris. From Paris, I took the train to Rennes to start my internship in Rennes at INRIA, a computer science research institute. This was where I picked up most of my French and had a relaxing summer enjoying the cool summer weather and sunshine (with occasional Seattle-like outbursts of rain).
May 2008-August 2008: Internship in Rennes France. I had the opportunity to explore the city pretty well and spend some weekends exploring neighboring cities. I discovered the wonders of crepes here. They originated in Brittany, the region in which Rennes is the capital.
May 2008: During the first week of work, I was told we had vacation (the French like vacation in the summer) so I took a quick trip to Grenoble! Also, I visited St. Malo a couple of times with some of my French friends. St. Malo is a port city and currently is the arrival point for ferries coming from England.
June 2008: My friend was studying abroad in Barcelona and decided to visit me. We met up in Paris and then took a train to Rennes. It was a fun time of museums, crepes, baguettes and the Eiffel Tower. She later visited me again during GT Atlanta’s Spring break… but more on that later.
July 2008: We spent the weekend of Bastille Day in Paris. We met up with GTL friends and got to see the Parade for France’s Independence day. It was very much focused on the military.
August 2008: My internship ended August 8th. I moved from Rennes to Metz and spent a week in Grenoble. This marked the beginning of an awesome school year. :) I took a day trip to Strasbourg with a Professor’s wife and had some escargot and sauerkraut. I became the president of Georgia Tech Lorraine’s BDE which led to planning many integration events, trips, and fun times on campus and in the city.
Fall 2008
For space purposes, I’ll just group the following categories by semester, highlighting some of my favorite activities. Also, most of these experiences have already been detailed in previous posts.
Belgian Beer Festival: I don’t even like beer. However, here, I discovered some fruity beers that basically tasted like Fanta. This was one of the first trips I took with my GTL friends from the new semester. I had a great time visiting Mini Europe and stopping by Brugges on the way home.
Shopping trip in Germany: We hopped on a train from Metz, France to Saarbrucken, Germany to go shopping for new clothes for the new year. I do miss being able to hop on a train and end up in a region that speaks a completely different language!
Supelec Parties: The students at my French University hosted parties at the beginning of the year. These were themed and allowed us to mingle with the French students and meet lots of people.
Renting out Clubs: One of the common fundraisers for student groups in France was to rent out clubs. We managed the coat room and collected the Cover charge kept that our our group. Great idea right? Fun times and raising funds for future club events!
Supelec Gala: Supelec is one of the largest Engineering schools in France. They have three campuses and each year, host one large Gala at the campus in Paris.
Supelec trip to Amsterdam: We went on a school trip to Amsterdam! One of the perks of being an American student jointly enrolled at a French university is the ability to participate in fun trips like this one. We all piled in a bus in the middle of the night and were dropped off in Amsterdam at 7am for the weekend. When most people think of Amsterdam, they think of special brownies and girls in windows. Well, I remember a gorgeous city completely intersected by canals. There were bikers everywhere and everyone was so friendly. I am fascinated by Amsterdam’s history and culture.
GTL Thanksgiving and Christmas: As seem in previous posts, since the GTL community is small, we have our own Thanksgiving and Christmas party. This meant planning Thanksgiving dinner for 200 people and having a Dirty Santa (White Elephant) gift exchange. This is one reason why I called it my GTL Family.
Spring 2008
Tet in Paris: The Lunar New Year has always been a big deal in our family. It is the time to reflect, forget and forgive. It is also the time with young-ins get red envelopes filled with money.
Ski Trip in Les Menuires: This trip is detailed in a previous post. A week of sunshine and powder! Woo Hoo!
Dublin, Galway, Paris: Two of my favorite people came to visit- Valerie and David. It was wonderful to share my European experience with them, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, driving to Galway to the Cliffs of Moher and then ended up in Paris.
Starkbierfest in Munich: This was the unofficial GTL trip to Munich for Starkbierfest! We carpooled and all stayed at a hostel. It was fun to see so many people piled in a beerhall, singing and dancing on benches!
Dresden, Prague, Neuschwanstein: My good friends and I hopped in a car and took a little road trip to the east. We stopped by Dresden, Germany (BEAUTIFUL city) and then went on to Prague and stopped by Neuschwanstein on the way home. I got the see the castle that the Disney World Cinderella castle is modeled after!
Interlaken: A friend and I took a train from Metz to Interlaken for a beautiful weekend of biking and hiking. Interlaken is probably one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. I felt so incredibly relaxed here. Though the city is known for it’s extreme sports, we just had a relaxing weekend enjoying the beauty of the city.
Paris and Rome with the Phams: What a way to end my 1.5 years journey. My mom and brother came to Metz to help me move home. They each came with an empty suitcase and helped me take back the things I accumulated over the years. We made a stop south in Rome seeing the Vatican and other ancient sites. David made a stop in Florence to see the statue of… David! We ended the trip in Paris then hopped on the train home to Georgia!
It was wonderful to have friends and family the entire way– while I was in France and then on my journey back home from France. I have been incredibly blessed and loved and feel so lucky to have the experiences that I was able to recount in this post.
I may or may not end up back in school. My life has been a crazy unplanned, planned adventure. How does that make sense? Well, I think of all these things I want to do and then my life takes crazy unexpected turns and things always turn out so much better.
For now, I am in the “real world”, working, seeing how my schooling has lead me to an awesome job doing Healthcare IT Solutions, living by the beach and building my new home and community. I put real world in quotes because most of the time I feel like I am on vacation. I love my job and look forward to seeing my co-workers each morning. After work, I come home to great roommates and sometimes hop in a game of beach volleyball, work out at the free gym, or meet a friend for a quick dinner.
I’ve always believed that if I keep doing what I love, what excites me and what I am passionate about, things just kinda fall into place. And right now, they have.