How I did it: I tried to get to France so many different ways. Student programs, study abroad, language programs - I researched just about everything. I definitely learned that God's plan is so much better than my own. I came into contact with missionaries in France that my church supports. They offered to let a friend and me come and stay with them. I went April - May of my senior year of high school. I stayed in the Rhone Alps, but visited Paris for a weekend. All expenses included I think I paid about $1000. The trip was one of the best and most life changing events of my life. I now plan on moving to France after I finish college. I cannot wait to return and bask in the simplicity and loveliness that is France.

Lessons & tips: Stay with people who have lived there if at all possible. You will learn so much more about the culture and the area. Also, it helps with the language barrier if you cannot speak perfect french. I could speak some when I went but I had a bit of a miscommunication about eating alligators...another story...luckily I was saved by my hostess.

Jan 16, 2009, 08:34PM PST | 0 comments | 8 cheers