1. Total disorientation when you first arrive
2. Not being able to buy anything because you forgot to tell your bank you were going to France
3. Coping with the fact that you’re missing some essential French vocabulary
4. Meeting your host family
5. Figuring out how to greet/say goodbye to people without hugging
6. Trying to get your French university’s administration to help you with literally anything
7. Seeing your French university for the first time…
8. There’s no quad or student union
9. No school spirit
10. No frat/social house parties
11. But wine is cheap
12. And so is cheese, so you at least you’ve got that
13. You stand out when you’re dressed like an American, so you adapt
14. And your French peers think you’re fun and adopt you as “our American”
15. Your professor lectures for the entire 2 hours of class
16. No one checks that you did you homework, or takes attendance
17. And you realize that school will be easy
18. So you go to monuments and museums
19. You drink lots of wine
20. You shop
21. You go out to bars and clubs
22. And you miss the last metro at least twice because it closes at approximately 1 a.m.
23. You realize why it’s so easy for Europeans to travel to other countries: cheap airfare and train tickets (let the weekend country-hopping begin!)
24. You feel super cultured
25. You live your best social life
26. Though you definitely have some lonely moments, because your friends don’t live in a dorm with you
27. But you still present your best life ever on social media
28. And you spend all your money
29. During finals, you have several five-hour exams
30. Then it’s time to go home, and you realize you didn’t do everything you wanted to
31. So you look for graduate programs in France and cry, because you can’t wait to come back
