The French Revolution played a major role in the destruction and restoration of France. Students of Dr. Gary Smith’s Modern Civilization course were given the opportunity to experience the unfolding of European history right before their eyes.
During my time in France, we visited the beautiful commune of Clisson. Located in Pays de la Loire in western France, Clisson’s historical sites and monuments originate back to the 13thcentury. On the day we arrived, the town was holding a festival. In honor of the festivities, the Église Notre Dame’s tower was open to tour (this tower is open only one day out of the entire year). We had perfect timing!
The view from the 115-step tower was breathtaking! From this unbelievable sight, you could see theChâteau de Clissonas well as the river and downtown area. As you can see in the picture above, the town houses have red roofs which reflect Italian influence and style. The significance of the Italian culture is reflected in the history of Clisson during the time of the French Revolution. Clisson was on the losing side of the Counter Revolution and lost up to 100,000 lives fighting for the unity of France. Unfortunately, the city was destroyed and replaced with 19thcentury Italian-style villages. The Italian culture is most notably found in flat red roofs, garden pine trees, red brick arches, theChâteau de Clissonand the Romanesque-styledÉglise Notre Dame.
What is left of theChâteau de Clisson, is the outlining of the castle remains. The Counter Revolution brought the castle to ground, thus grass and foliage have made their way into the floor of the castle which now stands as a remarkable ancient ruin. My favorite part of Clisson was the beautiful family estate that is now open to the public and features beautiful works of art. Surrounded by Roman sculptures, patches of the greenest grass and elegant passage ways, the estate offers an exceptionally classy experience that was once part of the nobility’s lifestyle in the 1200’s.
In GCC’s ESC Program, students are not only tested on France’s incredible history, but also provided the opportunity to be immersed in the culture’s recreation. Fútbol, France’s national sport, is the country’s most popular pastime, which I was able to experience twice at the Stade de la Beaujoire. Located 30 minutes by public transportation, the stadium provided us with an ambience that reflected France’s true passion and sense of culture.
While in Nantes, I experienced my very first European Football Match. In order to show my game day pride for FC Nantes, I purchased a yellow and green jersey. The match took place at Stade de la Beaujoire, located just outside the downtown city of Nantes. Between the waving of yellow and green towels to the singing of the team’s anthem, Allez Nantais, I felt totally immersed in the competitive side of the French culture.
Nantes faced Reims in a long and tough match, with the first goal being scored in the second half. Unfortunately, Nantes, after receiving two yellow cards as well as two evictions, lost to Reims 0 to 2. After the stunning victory of Reims, the fans of Reims acted out of complete insanity, setting off red flares and running towards the field. Although Nantes lost, I truly enjoyed experiencing such a thrilling event where I felt as though I was a true citizen of France, specifically the region of Nantes. It was a communal experience I will never forget.
For Grove City College students, studying abroad is far from a foreign concept. Earlier this semester the Office of International Education hosted its biannual Study Abroad Fair in the Hall of Arts and Letters, where recruiters from various programs spent the morning selling their exotic wares to students pining for a good adventure.
Although an entire semester away may seem daunting when it comes to meeting academic requirements, graduation still rolls around on time for those who study abroad, and the value of the experience will often boost those grads’ chances of landing great jobs. And although it may be tough for engineers to take time away from their hover crafts and thermodynamics for foreign excursions, especially compared to those in the fields of, say, international business, communications, foreign languages and the like, Grove City engineers have equal opportunity to take part in the study abroad experience—a rarity at many other schools.
Meet Austin Eckhardt—a junior Mechanical Engineering major at the Grove. This past fall, Eckhardt ventured to France. Aside from getting his fill of crepes, baguettes and Brie, Eckhardt took advantage of the opportunity to travel and explore Europe, hitting Spain, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and the Netherlands and made more memories than he could count.
Eckhardt was also grateful that Grove City only charged him $300 on top of tuition to go abroad, the fee of which covered the entirety of the trip, including airfare.
After having such a formative experience during what he considered a worthwhile investment of a semester, Eckhardt would highly encourage all students to take advantage of the study abroad program. Eckhardt is already getting his passport ready for more stamps. Could your passport be talking to you?
To get a glimpse of Eckhardt’s life as a Frenchman, check out his video below that captures the multifaceted beauty of Europe and the essence of the study abroad experience.
Last semester, I studied abroad in Nantes, France as part of Grove City College’s study abroad program. Below I talk about some of the French towns I visited.
During the first six weeks, GCC’s ESC Program requires students to attend field trips to local cities and towns located in France’s Bretagne area as well as France’s capital, Paris. The first six field trips are mandatory as a participation grade for Engineering Management and Cross-Cultural Communication (an academic course that both GCC and ONIRIS students participate in, over the course of the semester) and costs are completely covered by Grove City College. I could write endless pages about each city, but I will give the top highlights of two French towns, Pornic and Anger.
Located on the Northwestern coast of France, Pornic is primarily known for its quaint shipping port and historic castle. The town is filled with bright colored buildings, seafood restaurants and cute shopping boutiques. The people of the sea are inviting and friendly, expressing the relaxed and genuine vibe the region gives off. Although Pornic appears peaceful, the tide hides a hidden terror. During the daylight hours, the tide is far out to sea, causing the shore land to be dried out. As the day turns into night, the tide swiftly comes into shore, causing the marina to fill up. If not careful, the tide can easily sweep away uninformed individuals.
Pornic’s marina
Once we stepped off the TGV (France’s high speed bullet train that reaches up to 200 mph), we headed to the beach where the air was cool, the sand soft and the water very clear. I found numerous pieces of sea glass on the water’s edge as I walked the shoreline. Some of the guys on our trip had courage enough to brave the freezing cold waves and dive in. After leaving the beach we headed to one of the best gelato/sorbet shops I have ever been to. Pornic is specifically praised for their chocolate pears as well as strawberries, so I enjoyed a beautiful assortment of these flavors in a delicious waffle cone.
Delicious gelato from Pornic
Anger, southwest of Paris, is the third most populous region in Northwestern France. As I stepped off the TGV I felt as though I was a princess entering a magical kingdom. From the cobblestone passage ways, to the half-timbered buildings, Anger exemplifies France’s historic Gothic and Romanesque style and history. We first visited the St. Maurice Cathedral which is preceded by an enormous stone stairway. The cathedral stands tall with large stained glass windows, flying buttresses and vibrant towers. The pulpit is carved out of wood and dates to the 19thcentury, representing the Word of God from the Old and New Testaments. The relics of Christian martyrs are also found at this cathedral, located behind the High Altar. Anger’s incredible castle, Chateau d’Angers, is home to the Revelation Tapestry, also known as the Apocalypse Tapestry, which depicts Jesus’ and St. John’s intimate experiences in the book of Revelation. The tapestry stretches for a yards and includes the original 90 scenes.
Last semester, I studied abroad in Nantes, France as part of Grove City College’s study abroad program. In my last post, I talked about why I chose to study abroad, you should check it out! Below I describe what a regular “day in the life” of a student abroad in Nantes looks like.
Grove City College has a European Study Center (ESC) located in Nantes. Not only was the ESC our classroom but it also provided us with food and lodging for the semester. There are three separate facilities: the girl’s house with a fully functioning café, classroom, kitchen and bedrooms; the guy’s house which can house up to 16 individuals; and the director’s house which facilitates a lounge with comfy couches, a flat screen TV and delicious jars of bonbons.
The girls of ESC
With three houses and 30 individuals, there is a lot of housework. Deb Reuber, co-director of ESC, organizes students into five groups of six who exchange tasks weekly in order to get the job done. Some of our weekly tasks included: preparing meals, cleaning up after dinner, unloading and loading the dishwasher, taking out the garbage, etc. Every Monday, the designated meal team will go toE.Leclerc, the local supermarket, to pick up food for all three houses for that one week. Food shopping normally took a good two and a half hours.
Wednesdays marked mandatory cleanup day which all students participated in with different tasks. Some students were on bathroom duty while others were on household cleanup. Every two weeks, our beds were stripped and Deb took our sheets to the laundromat. Although the cleaning tasks can be tiring and overwhelming, the ESC looked its best on Wednesday afternoons.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays all students were required to attend French class at 10 a.m. On Monday nights we had our Engineering Management and Cultural Communications class at ONIRIS, a local French engineering university. At the university, GCC and ONIRIS students are paired up and given team building and self-assessment activities to complete. Through my experience I found that the Americans and French will approach problems differently. Americans tend to be more practical while the French are more meticulous and logical. Following every class, students from both schools enjoyed a nice time of food and fellowship at Crescendo Restauration.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we attended GCC courses via simulcast. Because of the six hour time difference, our classes took place in the late afternoon. According to GCC policy, we are required to take 12 credits: two GCC courses, one engineering management course and one language course.
Just like GCC, the ESC has a chapel program where students are obligated to attend church eight times during the semester. We attended a Baptist church in the heart of Boissiere. Following the service, the Reubers took us out to a different restaurant each week to taste different French specialties. My favorite restaurant in Nantes is Amour de Pomme de Terre which means “For the Love of Potatoes.” Every entrée is served with a different combination of potatoes; some are baked, others fried and some are served in a casserole.
Saturdays and Sundays were free days when numerous students will head to the centre ville, the downtown area, for music festivals, creperies and shopping. Nantes’s nightlife takes place throughout the whole city and incorporates French cafes, Irish pubs and live music. The Island of Machines features wonderful nightlife activity with their famous lit up rings along the water’s edge. The best panoramic view of Nantes is found a hundred stories above the ground, at the rooftop bar, The Nest.
I hope after reading this blog post you get a sense of what our daily lives were like in GCC’s study abroad program in Nantes, France.
Currently, I’m a junior at Grove City College studying Communications and Business, and last semester I attended GCC’s European Study Center (ESC) in Nantes, France.
As a Communications major, I have always been encouraged to study abroad. Professors insisted that such an experience would be a great resume booster. Being the homebody that I am, I never pictured myself living in a different country nonetheless adapting to a completely different culture. Yet God had a different plan!
During the course of my sophomore year, God truly groomed and matured my heart. I became more accepting of others and myself and took bigger risks that required immense amounts of faith. I felt as though God was preparing me for a season that I had never experienced before, a season that would require great personal independence as well as total dependence on Him. Little did I know, that I would be experiencing this season in a different country.
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson
As I ponder this quote, my mind traces back to the program interview I had with Mark and Deb Reuber, the directors of GCC’s ESC. Three nights before my interview, I was rapidly scrolling through my Outlook when I came across an email reading, “GCC’s European Study Center Offers Students a Semester Abroad in France.” Feeling a little adventurous, I read the brochure and filled out the application. To my surprise my application passed the first round of acceptance and I was requested to interview.
During my interview I was asked a series of questions ranging from my academic success to recreation as well as past travel experience. As the interview concluded, Deb and Mark asked me on a scale from one to 10 (with 10 being the greatest) how badly did I want to be accepted into GCC’s ESC program. Nonchalantly, I responded with a six. At this point, my parents had no idea what I was getting myself into nor did I know if this was God’s plan for me. I left the interview feeling confident yet incomplete. I remember telling God that if I was accepted into the study abroad program, then I would go because I knew this was the plan He had intended for me.
Little time had passed before I received the acceptance email I had been anticipating. For one of the very first times, I experienced God taking complete authority and control out of my hands, while I surrendered total faith and dependence to Him.
Through my experience with a different culture with new friends, language and traditions, I constantly saw more of God than I had ever seen before. I’m continually reminded of how blessed I am to have received such an awesome opportunity to experience a country full of divine beauty and history for four months.
In front of telephone booth in LondonLast spring semester, current senior Alyssa Brossman had the chance to study abroad in Seville, Spain. The experience proved to be one of the most memorable and fulfilling opportunities she’s had.
Alyssa’s love of travel and her desire to explore outside the country mixed with her major requirement to study abroad pushed her to make the experience happen. As an International Business major with a focus in Accounting and Spanish, she knew Spain was the perfect place to go.
The dates of her study abroad excursion spanned from January 25th to May 2nd with an extra week of traveling to various places extending her trip to May 9th. She stayed with a host family in a city in southwest Spain called Seville, and lived with her host mom, two host sisters and an American roommate. She took classes at a local university, Universidad Internacional Mendez-Pelayo, within a 20 minute walk of her apartment with other students from her program, International Studies Abroad (ISA).
Looking back, Alyssa notes that some of the best parts of the experience were making friends from around the U.S. that were similarly studying abroad, getting to know the locals, experiencing new cultures and being able to easily travel to different places.
In the Garden of the Alcazar in SevilleFrom traveling around cities within Spain such as Madrid, Toledo, Malaga, Granada, Cordoba and Cadiz with her program to visiting other countries on her own like Portugal, Germany, France, Morocco, the Netherlands, England, Ireland and Italy, Alyssa’s few months abroad were filled with unique and exciting adventures.
Of all the places she traveled, London, England and Dublin, Ireland, proved to be her favorites. She traveled to these cities by herself during her seven-day spring break. She was able to walk a giant loop around the city of London, ride the London Eye and watch “The Changing of The Guards” at Buckingham Palace and to tour the Wicklow Mountains and see the bridge from the movie P.S. I Love You while in Dublin. The trip was a little scary for her since she traveled alone, but it was nonetheless exciting and unforgettable.
On top of “Las Setas” overlooking SevilleThe study abroad experience as a whole really helped Alyssa become more independent as a person and stretched her out of her comfort zone. Although it was nerve-wracking to travel to new and different places and deal with language barriers and unknown customs, the experience really helped her grow.
She sums up her time abroad by saying, “It was an incredible experience. I learned so much about myself and grew as an independent individual. It also gave me a glance into other cultures and a chance to see how other people live.” She describes the city of Seville as historic, welcoming and homey, and she could not have imagined a better place to live during her study abroad experience or a more fulfilling time exploring the world.
To learn more about study abroad opportunities at Grove City College, visit this link.
According to the Institute of International Education, over 300,000 American college students study abroad every year. Of those 300,000, only a small percentage are engineering majors. Of those few engineers lucky enough to study abroad, most will not graduate in four years due to scheduling complications. However, at Grove City College, engineers can (and are encouraged to) study abroad—and still graduate on time!
For engineering students with an appetite for adventure, the value of an immersive experience in a new culture or language is clear. What often seems somewhat fuzzy at the start of the process, however, is the actual day-to-day life of a student abroad. What are classes like? How’s the food? Who will be hosting? How frequent are the opportunities to travel? A couple years ago I was asking these same questions. But now, as a mechanical engineering student who got to call Nantes, France, “home” for a semester back in the fall of my junior year, I can offer some insight into Grove City’s truly unique engineering study abroad program.
1. Where can I study abroad?
The engineering study abroad program is located at Grove City’s European Study Center (ESC) in Nantes, France. Nantes is a beautiful city about two hours from Paris by train. It has everything you could want in a French city—sidewalk cafés, creperies, cathedrals and its very own castle. This European gem is located in the Loire Valley, which is known for its historic castles and picturesque landscapes.
Map of Nantes, France
2. What classes will I take?
All of the students are required to take French 101 and a field trip/cultural class called Engineering Management—more on those classes later. Mechanical engineers study abroad during the fall semester of their junior year. They take Fluid Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials and an Instrumentation Laboratory. Electrical engineers study abroad during the fall semester of their senior year. They take Control Theory and conduct the first part of their senior project.
All of the engineering classes are video-cast from Grove City, which means you’ll take the same classes as your classmates back home with professors who simultaneously teach students in Pennsylvania and Nantes (but no 8 AMs for you, thanks to the time difference… another perk of life abroad). This allows you to stay on track with required courses so that upon returning to Grove City for the spring semester, you won’t fall behind and will be able to jump into the next round of classes with your peers.
Hanging out at the Château des ducs de Bretagne (the castle in Nantes)
3. Do I have to know French?
No! This was something I was really worried about heading into the program. I took Spanish during high school and literally couldn’t even tell you what baguette meant. But no need to fear—you’ll take French 101 while you’re there and learn the basics. Between the ‘survival French’ and the friendly native speakers who wanted to practice their English, I was fine! If you do happen to know French before you go, you can test out of French 101 and take a higher level course to pursue greater fluency.
Using my French knowledge to translate café menus
4. How much does it cost?
This is the best part of the whole program! It costs the normal tuition plus $300 (which is less than what I’ve paid for books some semesters). This price includes airfare, housing, food, classes, some field trip programs and more for the entire four months you’re there. At that price, why not go?
You will need some money for souvenirs and your own independent travel. If you decide to take advantage of the many opportunities to tour Europe on weekends and breaks, expect to spend somewhere between $1,000-2,000 for extra expenses.
I used some of that spending money to buy legit gelato in Italy
5. Where and when can I travel?
Nantes’s location in Europe couldn’t be better, as you can easily navigate to most of Europe’s major cities. For the first six weeks, you’ll take the field trip portion of Engineering Management, which involves a variety of excursions to cities around Nantes that are all completely covered in the total cost. You would only be responsible for souvenirs and that occasional Nutella crêpe. We got to travel to Paris, Normandy, La Baule (a famous French beach), Fougères and other French towns around the Loire Valley. While in Paris with the help of student passes, we got to visit the Arc de Triomphe as well as the Louvre, where our Civilization & Arts humanity course came to life. In general, these excursions were a great way to learn more about French history and culture.
During your Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break, you’ll get five days and 10 days, respectively, to travel around Europe, and you can take long weekend trips too. For example, I was able to go to Dublin and London during Fall Break and travel around Italy (Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice) during Thanksgiving. It’s really cheap and easy to travel around Europe, and after getting the hang of it, you’ll become a pro at planning trips and booking those plane tickets!
Our weekend field trip to ParisMy Thanksgiving break trip to Florence, Italy
6. Where will I live?
Grove City rents three townhouses just outside the center of Nantes where you’ll live, eat and take most of your classes. Guys live in one house and girls live in the other. The wonderful program directors, Mark and Deb Reuber, live in townhouse number three.
The neighborhood where the ESC is located
7. What about food?
Part of the program’s cost goes toward food, so you certainly won’t go hungry. You’ll be responsible for making your own breakfast and lunch, but there’s always plenty of food in the house. For dinner, student meal teams take turns cooking dinner for all of the students. It’s a lot of fun trying to recreate some of your favorite recipes using French food, and an added challenge trying to cook for upwards of 25 people!
A kitchen in one of the townhouses
Weekly Shopping TripMark and Deb Reuber
8. Who will be in charge?
Mark and Deb Reuber are the program directors. They have been involved in this program for over a decade, from the very start. Mark facilitates the labs and Engineering Management course, while Deb teaches French. They know all about Europe and are great resources for students staying. They also help address any issues that may arise throughout the semester. For example, I dropped my laptop while I was there, splitting it wide open. But Mark came to the rescue and helped me ship it back to Grove City and got me a loaner computer. If I was in Europe on my own, I honestly don’t know what I would have done.
9. How much will I interact with French people?
The second part of the Engineering Course is a class with students from a local French university, with whom you’ll learn about French culture and international business. After classes you’ll get to dine and unwind with the local students, which always makes for a fun and memorable time. They’ll get to practice their English, and you’ll get to practice your French (if you’re feeling brave, that is).
Every Sunday, you’ll attend a French church where you’ll get to meet some truly lovely French people. Back when I went, some of the students studying abroad made some unique connections by getting involved in the worship team. Opportunities abound to make meaningful connections if you keep an open mind. Who knows what French friends and adventures await?
Hopefully this answered some questions you may have had and gave you some insight into a typical student’s day-to-day life at the ESC. For more information on the engineering study abroad program, click here. For another engineer’s perspective on studying abroad, check out this post.
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