First Impressions of America: Insight from a French Native
Just before flying, I was terrified I thought in my head,“what are you doing Antoine, you leave everything for one year?” I had not even taken off yet and I already wanted to come back to my house. A few minutes later, I took a deep breath and told myself a hundred times that I had no choice and that it would be a wonderful experience.
Once I arrived, my stress had subsided and the little ball in my stomach had disappeared. I finally met my host family, and they were very nice. When we left the airport, I immediately noticed a big temperature difference. It was not just hot air was very humid and that is the first difference I found between North Carolina and France .
The first week was very great, I discovered my american house and american food and I loved it. But I knew I was not going to stay home for one year, I had to go to high school…
The day before I started school, I was very stressed. I was asking myself a lot of questions; How was I going to understand the classes when I do not speak English? How are the other students going to behave with me?
It was a day I will never forget and I saw a vast difference here as compared to France. The students were very nice to me, they helped me find my classes and understand my schedule. The teachers helped me to understand their classes better, they spoke softer, and they came to see if I had understood the instructions well. It was really nice to feel helped.
It has now been one month and two weeks since I arrived and I feel very good. I have made friends and I can understand better, but I know I still have a lot of things to improve.