Study Abroad in Dijon with Me! Study Abroad Packing List and Travel Adventure

Yesterday I traveled from JFK to Dijon, France to begin my semester abroad!

I will be studying abroad in Dijon, France for the next four months. I am studying with Wake Forest University in Dijon. I will be taking 15 credits of classes while living with a host family after spending two weeks in a hotel.
From the end of August to October I will be taking French 350 with a French professor from Wake Forest. Every week we will be traveling to a different region of France to learn about the history of France before we start at the University of Burgundy in October.
I will be traveling to other parts of Europe this fall as well!
I am so excited for this crazy adventure!

Here is how my travel went:

I am generally not an anxious person, but I was very anxious for my travel and my semester abroad before arriving in Dijon.

I cried all day waiting for my flight. I was sad to be leaving my family behind for the whole semester.

I was also anxious to see the new city where I would be spending my whole semester of junior year.

I’ve been dreaming about studying abroad in France for literally my whole life, and now that I’m actually here in France, is beyond my wildest dreams. This is probably why I was also so emotional about this trip.

Yesterday was really rough, but once I met up with my “French Friends” at the airport all was well!

I traveled with three other girls, Kate, Victoria and Torrie from JFK to Dijon! We would later meet up with our group of 14 and our professor for dinner.

My bag was not overweight or if it was I was not charged extra. I was so nervous about my bag being overweight because after all, I needed to fit five months of outfits and accessories into one suitcase. (Even though I did pack a pair of boots, two pairs of flip flops, a scarf and sweatshirt in my Vera Bradley duffel bag, which I used as my carry-on.)

Here is what I ended up packing in my HUGE suitcase! (Dedicated to Michelle, Emily, Zoë, Lauren and all my other friends who are anxiously awaiting their departure from the states for their various semesters in Europe.)

Black boots

Camera

Jack Rogers

Flip flops

Cheetah flats

Black flats

Sperrys

Sneakers

One turtleneck

One wool sweater

One cotton sweater

Trench coat

Wool sweater

Puffer vest

White button down

Chambray shirt

Blue button down

2 knit shirts

Satin pjs

2 leggings

3 J Crew shorts

Navy blue t-shirt

Striped t-shirt

White and black t-shirt

White tee

White lace top

Navy blue tank

Gray tank

Dark wash jeans

Regular jeans

Black jeans

White jeans

Maroon pants

Denim dress

Gingham dress

Striped dress

Blue dress

Multicolored dress

4 going out shirts

One bathing suit

Belts

3 sports bras

2 workout shorts

3 tee shirts

Baseball cap

Fuzzy socks

Cross body bag

Longchamp

All of my underwear

5 pairs of socks

Sweatshirt

Wool scarf

Winter hat

Hotel slippers

I think that is all… I will obviously have to do some major shopping because all those clothes are just basics and will definitely not meet up to T&P’s very fashionable standards!

After getting though security, I boarded the biggest plane I have ever been on in my entire life- an Airbus 308, a.k.a. a double decker plane. I was amazed that the plane got into the sky so fast and so peacefully! The plane had over 500 passengers on it!

I flew AirFrance, and was very impressed with the service and the food.

The food was pretty yummy: Quinoa salad, chicken, of course cheese and a little bottle of white wine for dinner!

I would highly recommend sitting in front of a wall if you can, when you pick your seats. There is usually a wall in between each new section of seats. With no one in front of you except a wall, there is extra leg room, without the extra cost!

I would also highly recommend this Amazon neck pillow with memory foam and the matching eye mask for your flight.

On the flight, I sat next to very nice man who reminded me a lot of my dad. He was very sweet, and we talked about planes and our large families and it was nice to have a friend on the long flight. Proof, that there are nice people everywhere!

After a delayed take off and delayed landing, we took a bus to Gare de Lyon from Charles de Gaul airport. The bus only comes every 30 minutes, so we waited for a while.

The bus line 4, which would take us to Paris and our train station, took an hour to get to the station.

We cut it very close, even though our train wasn’t until 12:30 pm.

We easily found our train in a nicer, bigger Grand Central Station or a wayyyyy nicer Penn Station!

The SNCF train was a high-speed train that took us past cows, corn and fields until we got to Dijon.

While on the train, we bumped into our friend Alex who was also headed to Dijon.

After making it to our petit hôtel, moving in with our roommates, for me, Kate and Victoria (for the next two weeks), we all took quick showers, and we went out to dinner with the whole group for our welcome dinner!

I have to say it is very hard to speak French when your exhausted and overwhelmed by a new city, but I know it will get better and I will be fluent in no time!

Get ready for some amazing pictures from places I am going to travel while I am abroad for the semester!!!

À bientôt!