Orientation, Day 1

What a day! Today was our first day of orientation and it’s been a long and tiring day, but exciting nonetheless. I was really excited to meet people from across the globe and was definitely able to do so today. While those of us from the USA and Canada definitely sought each other out to find out where each other were from and whatnot, I was still able to get to know other international students pretty well over the course of the day. It’s definitely nice to have some familiar faces on my program, as well though. Andrew, Molly, and Jay are the three others in the IESEG School of Management with me that are from Santa Clara and it’s nice to be able to make references to school or the Bay Area, or even just the US in general – makes it easier to not get as home sick in a way. The day was packed with information and halfway through I thought how funny it was that earlier this summer, I was on the other side of this organizing orientation for incoming students and trying to tell them that while we knew they were tired, they need to pay attention because it’s important information we’re giving them! And now here I am, jet lagged (but getting a lot better, thankfully), tired, and constantly hungry (definitely haven’t gotten used to the eating times yet, but also I’m always hungry normally of course) and finding it kind of hard to pay attention. I tried my best though and took good notes.

It’s been interesting coming in as an American. My friend from SCU Molly and I discussed a bit how interesting it is that the orientation is being run in English as it is the one common language amongst the students (there are some students here who have no knowledge of French). For us, we’re just processing information and not thinking much of it. For the majority of the students, though, they have to pay attention so much more closely as English is their second, if not their third or fourth language! I definitely felt thankful for that. I also felt thankful to be of US citizenship because for many other non-European students they are not allowed to leave the country until they get a stamp on their VISA which they can’t get for about another month from now. Overall, I was thankful to be American but honestly, it was kind of hard to be proud. When we asked a few students about their perception of Americans (knowing exactly what the perception is, however), most people first reactions were simply laughing. We asked two guys that are Portuguese and also a girl who is Scottish and a girl who is Korean. Luckily, we haven’t fit the stereo-types yet. One of our sessions, however, was discussing stereo-types and the woman who was facilitating the discussion introduced herself and at one point mentioned that she was “married until recently to an American.” People cheered. People that weren’t American. At that point I put my name tag that had a large American flag under my name in my pocket.

Everyone has still been very nice to us and the program has really been phenomenal. It’s always great to finally get to where you’ve been trying to go and not only that, but get complete reassurance that you are exactly where you want to be. Right now, I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else! Orientation has just begun, though, and tomorrow we’ve got a pretty full agenda, too, including registration for classes followed by a party at a bar with the Club International! Can’t wait!!!