{"id":768,"date":"2016-05-06T10:18:56","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T14:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.gcc.edu\/insider\/?p=768"},"modified":"2016-05-07T13:07:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T17:07:17","slug":"768","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gcc.edu\/insider\/2016\/05\/06\/768\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Nantes: Why I Chose To Study Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Profile<\/a>Currently, I\u2019m a junior at Grove City College studying Communications and Business, and last semester I attended GCC\u2019s European Study Center (ESC) in Nantes, France.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo 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.\u201d –\u00a0Bill Bryson<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I ponder this quote, my mind traces back to the program interview I had with Mark and Deb Reuber, the directors of GCC\u2019s ESC. Three nights before my interview, I was rapidly scrolling through my Outlook when I came across an email reading, \u201cGCC\u2019s European Study Center Offers Students a Semester Abroad in France.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n

To read more about my study abroad experience in France, check out my post about a day in the life of an ESC student<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Grove City College’s Nantes study abroad program,\u00a0check out the ESC program’s page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Currently, I\u2019m a junior at Grove City College studying Communications and Business, and last semester I attended GCC\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication-studies","category-student-stories","category-study-abroad"],"yoast_head":"\r\nAdventures in Nantes: Why I Chose To Study Abroad -<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gcc.edu\/insider\/2016\/05\/06\/768\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adventures in Nantes: Why I Chose To Study Abroad -\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Currently, I\u2019m a junior at Grove City College studying Communications and Business, and last semester I attended GCC\u2019s European Study Center (ESC) in Nantes, France. 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