Zakhar Paulousky, CIEE Open Campus Block in Paris, Fall 2025
As for many people, my time studying abroad has been one of the best experiences of my life. With that status, it has definitely shifted and changed me as well. Personally, academically, and professionally, I feel like I have grown a significant amount over the past 4 months in Paris. In this post, I will try to better explain how I feel I have changed, as well as why I think that happened.
I think the biggest change that studying abroad has caused in me is showing me just how much I love exploring and discovering new cultures. I definitely knew that I was interested before, but it is quite different to actually go and interact with the languages, the foods, and the people from different cultures than just watching videos or reading books about them. I think that the amount of traveling and interaction that I got has revived that interest in me, and being curious about different cultures is something that I will definitely keep doing in the future.
More specifically to me, my study abroad reaffirmed my choice to have French as one of my majors. Though France itself might not be growing too much, the language is still growing globally, especially as a lingua franca for many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, knowing this skill is very important to better being able to communicate with and understand those regions. This is on top of just genuinely finding the language to be beautiful and not that hard to learn with a base of English.
Another way that studying abroad impacted my future is by showing me what is possible to do in terms of urban fabric. As a future urban planner, I need to have all the inspiration and experience I can get of how cities are built around the world. Paris is undoubtedly one of the world leaders in urban sustainability and urban planning, and thus, through studying abroad, I have gained quite a lot more knowledge in local affairs and how that impacts local residents.
Though those are some of the specific ways that I have been impacted by studying abroad, there are so many more that are not as obvious or may not have affected me as much as others. Hopefully the lessons that I’ve learned and experiences that I have had on this trip will help me be a better person overall, and I hope that everyone has an experience as moving as mine has been.
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