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