The Beginning of My University Journey (The Georgia State Experience)
This article briefly deconstructs classroom and social experiences during my period in undergraduate studies. I will take you on a photographic journey of my study abroad experience, my global ambassador experience as well as include all of the tangible lessons I learned and show you step-by-step how to do what I learned. Using this article in conjunction with my University of Tampa Article, you will have knowledge of how to navigate a full 120-credit course undergraduate (Bachelor’s) degree experience.
Share this article with anyone who is interested in pursuing an undergraduate college degree and needs a transcript for how an entire experience was: https://medium.com/@jonathanthescholar/the-beginning-of-my-university-journey-the-georgia-state-experience-b910f53b7b6c
Arriving On-Campus to Move In:
I remember arriving on campus in the afternoon at Piedmont North, the furthest student housing dormitory from what would be the “center of campus”. Piedmont North (Piedmont as students would call it) was designated largely for first-year students; and would be the dorm that I was assigned to for my first year. Everybody came with me to move-in: My mother, father, brother, “sister” (cousin by blood; but she lived with the family for so long that we just call her our sister) and her daughter.
The residence hall was once a hotel, and when I unlocked the door of the hotel-styled door, I would run into my first roommate Faiyaz Khimani. Faiyaz was from the North part of Atlanta and his family had immigrated from India, and he was a very approachable person. Our families briefly spoke to one another and Faiyaz and I spoke on the excitement (and partial anxiety) for the first few months of university. Moving in, we both forgot a shower curtain to the room, so we had to take quick showers so that we wouldn’t flood the floor.
If I had to suggest a list of necessities (this is not a full list) to bring to an unfurnished dorm room, it would include:
>Bathroom Items:
- Shower curtain (as explained above)
- 3 towels and 3 washcloths
- Any toiletries (lotion, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, toilet paper, etc.) you need to survive for at least 4 months if you plan on returning home for Winter break; 8 months if you are staying for the full year
- Shower shoes/flip flops (look, I’m not saying everyone pees in the shower; I’m just saying to come prepared.)
>Bedding Items:
- Bed covers (most colleges and universities use Twin XL size beds), blankets, pillows
- A mattress pad (Your back will thank you; college beds can be unrelenting)
>Room Items:
- Multi-outlet power strip (the plugs given are never enough, trust me.)
- Headphones, if you have a roommate (you and your roommate may or may not agree on noise in the room)
- A rolling laundry basket (I cannot stress enough how heavy your laundry loads will be; especially with your…….limited laundry budget), 2 cases of full-sized laundry detergent and 2 cases of fabric softener.
>Classroom Items:
- A water-resistant or waterproof backpack (your papers, notes and laptop will thank you)
- 2 packs of pencils (at least 30+ pencils; preferably pre-sharpened) and a pencil sharpener
- 1 pack of pens (I had a mixture of writing-intensive and math-intensive courses, and did not find myself using pens often)
- A laptop (at least Intel i3 processor and 4GB RAM or above)
For a full checklist, use the College Board’s recommended list, this is pretty comprehensive: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/making-a-decision/off-to-college-checklist
I had roughly 50 other people on the floor with me, and three resident assistants (also called RAs) named Haley Love, Brandon McKinnie and Josh (I forgot Josh’s last name). I made sure to built an intentional bond with the RAs because they were required by the Residence Life Department to have taken at least a year of schoolwork and knew the campus building locations and nearby things to do.
I chose the academic track of the Business Economics major.
My first semester classes:
My first semester course started with an 100+ person auditorium for an introduction to computer systems course. There was one professor for the course and one teaching assistant that walked around the room to flag the professor or to quietly answer questions; while the professor taught from material displayed on a massive, almost theater-like projector. To control the immense class size of this course, we had a lab in another building with a much smaller (20–30 student) class on Thursday mornings. Fortunately, an RA in Piedmont North by the name of Jake Durham had this class with me (I was introduced to him by hanging out with the RAs). I remember waking up for this large class at around 6:30am, going to breakfast in the dining hall (which was fortunately connected to Piedmont North) and walking 3 to 4 blocks around Downtown Atlanta to get to class by 7:30am.
Although I had created a website when I was 16 and was somewhat familiar with computer systems because of certain aspects of the site, I still had to study quite a bit to perform well in this course (I would usually spend 2–3 hours the two days before each class studying material for the next class meeting). Assignments were split between the lab and this course; and most of the weight of the grade was based on the tests that were administered in this class. I saw quite a few students cheat on these tests by having their books wide open; and they could do this simply because of the sheer size of this course. I was too fearful to cheat; I was unsure of my abilities to juggle my attention span of watching the teaching assistant and professor while also concentrating on the content of the test. The lab was a more traditional classroom experience; with the teaching assistant reviewing the content from that week’s course, asking if students had any questions and doing class exercises on the computer based on the material.
My next class was Principles of Microeconomics, which I do not remember vividly. Most of my economics courses seemed like a trick; I had always been shown films of Wall Street by my father and teachers, and had hoped that these classes would reflect would I saw. Unfortunately, instead of talking about the successes and failures of businesses, I was presented with graphs, charts and equations with letters in them.
My third course was one of my most memorable and enjoyable: titled Music, Society and Culture, taught by Tania Maxwell Clements. Her class pretty much deconstructed where most of my childhood show soundtracks came from. Looney Tunes and many “classic” cartoons used Beethoven, Mozart and Frédéric Chopin pieces. While I learned quite a bit about the musical eras, my childhood soundtracks being deconstructed was my biggest takeaway.
My fourth and final course for my first semester was title Introduction to Sociology. While I forgot the name of the professor, I remember that he was a thin, pale, high-pitched voice man that self-identified as metrosexual. As a not-so-sure-which-one LGBT individual (self-assuming as a homosexual male at the time), I had to immediately look up what that meant. But metrosexual referred more to his style and personality than his sexual tendencies.
This sociology course spoke on critical elements about personal identity and how people interact with each aspect of their identity. There were a host of different identities: different sexualities, different ethnicities and different gender identities. And we talked about it all. How people of color are systematically trapped in a cycle of having very few local financial role models by being trapped in low-income housing that largely prevents families from getting out because they must work to make ends meet for children. How non-heterosexual individuals are so explicitly discriminated against in the public. How women are not afforded the same positions and opportunities as men. How above all (class, ethnicity, sexuality), White people hold the majority of systematic power in controlling companies, property and money. Lighter people (close to White) are also the standard of beauty both in the U.S. and in Non-U.S. cultures. I learned in this class that many of the same problems related to colorism occurs in pretty much every corner of the world.
Social aspects during the first semester: I felt this odd need of independence and the desire to buy anything I wanted. Now that I lived on campus, I started to see the outfits and styles of other people; as well as look on Ebay far more than I should have. To impress who, I am not sure, but to keep up with my expensive thoughts, I sought out a job in the city.
Tangible Lesson #1: Looking for and Applying for a Part-Time Job in College
I did not have a car on campus for the first year of university, so any job that I would end up searching for and getting needed to be within walking or accessible distance from my dormitory. Fortunately, since I was in Downtown Atlanta, there were plenty of nearby establishments that I could apply to. There are usually also a set of establishments near a college campus to cater to the student population. To start, construct an availability schedule for yourself before searching or applying for any jobs. For myself, I knew that I could work evenings for around 5–6 hours for a maximum of 3 days during the Monday-Friday week and could be relatively flexible on weekends (although I have a personal preference of not working weekends because I enjoy my relaxation time and being available to go out with my friends in college). After constructing your availability schedule, stick to that viciously.
Step 1-Survey your area: This is a basic Google or search engine search of your campus and nearby establishments that you could work part-time.
Step 2-Start searching for actual positions in your area: Now that you are familiar with establishments in your area, they will be familiar to you when they appear in job listings. During my search at this time, I used Indeed.com to search for local, part-time positions. I searched for positions based on the zip code; as cities and towns can be quite large with multiple zip codes, so I can get the geographically-closest job I can. After typing the zip code, click “Find Jobs”.
After the results appear, refine the search based on part-time jobs.
Refine the search additionally by distance (I put within 5 miles).
Search through the first few pages and make a note of at least 5 positions that you feel are attainable. If, during your high school or secondary school, you worked for a family business, volunteered somewhere or worked a part-time job during the school year or summers, add those positions to the search bar at the time. To use myself as an example, I worked in insurance in high school and volunteered with our FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) high school cafe. I searched for restaurant positions such as a server, busser, host or attendant and similar customer service experiences since these can be jobs with flexible schedules.
My 5 choices were the following positions:
- Retail Customer Service Associate-FedEx (Downtown Area)
- Retail Customer Service Associate-FedEx (Midtown Area; there was a train station down the street from my dorm that I could take an exit up to this location)
- Guest Host/Front Desk Agent-Hyatt Regency Atlanta (Downtown; This position simply means checking people into their hotel rooms)
- Server Assistant-Hyatt Regency Atlanta (Downtown)
- Apple At-Home Technical Service Assistant (A job that I could do in my dorm)
Next, I had to make individual resumes for each of these positions since they required different skill sets.
Step 3-Carving Your Skills into a Resume: A resume is a tool that communicates your abilities to people. I will use the resume for the server assistant position at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta as an example.
- Start with the heading; which should include your name, an address or zip code (to communicate to an employer how close you are), a phone number for the employer to call you for an interview
2. You may choose whether or not to follow up with an objective. If you choose to list one, make it directly applicable to the skills that the job is asking for.
3. Education: List the current college you are attending. Speak on which program you are completing and add your expected graduation date. This communicates to the employer that you are currently in school so that they can schedule your work hours appropriately as well as be on the look out for any managerial promotions upon the completion of your degree program.
You can also complete relevant online courses (there are free and paid options) that may be applicable to the job and list them under your education. This articulates to an employer that you have taken additional steps to learn the industry; especially if you articulate knowledge you learned from the course underneath this section. To do this, simply create an EdX account for free (https://www.edx.org/) In the top-right corner of the webpage, click the blue “Register” button.
Complete the required information, and click the blue “Create Account” button. You will be led to a dashboard.
Most courses are free to view. You will simply view and complete a course and write down significant teachings you learned from the course such as industry terminology, practices, etc. For the server assistant position, I would search either “server” or “food” since the position is in the food industry.
Click the “Explore Courses” button in the center of the dashboard (webpage).
Search for the respective industry you are looking for and see the course results.
Since the server assistant position states that I will be assisting servers in serving guests, knowing nutrition and health to fully serve guests would be a beneficial trait.
There is a course provided through EdX on Nutrition and Health. To view and participate in the course is free; while getting a verified, printable certificate costs $49. You can simply print your completed course to show a future employer that you completed all parts of the course, however. While the course states that it takes 6–8 hours per week to complete, the course is self-paced and I have completed entire video lectures (with their accompanying assessments/quizzes) in a day.
Click “Enroll Now”, and you will be asked if you want the verified certificate or to “audit” the course (which simply means to view and participate in the course without a final certificate). You can change this option at any time throughout the course if you change your mind.
After clicking one of the two options, you will be taken to the course synopsis before the start of the course.
Find the relevant, tangible lesson from the course in the synopsis; this is the first piece you will add to your education in your resume.
To start the course, scroll to the bottom of the page. The course modules are divided into sections; start with the order of the first section and work your way down chronologically.
This course starts with “Week 0” and section 0.1-Introduction to Nutrition and Health. This class features some brief reading and a video. The video has a text transcript on the right-hand side, which you can copy relevant content to include in the education section of your resume.
How you would add this to your education section would be to list the accompanying university for the course or certificate program you took and what you learned from it. For example, with this course I would put:
Wageningen University
Nutrition and Health Course
- Taught by Dr. Ivonne Rietjens (full professor in Toxicology), I learned and practiced the effects of food processing, the shared responsibility in the food chain and the prevention of food poisoning/intoxication.
- Learned about microorganisms in food such as salmonella.
4. Work Experience: Work experience includes any informal or formal experience that has given you a skill set. Yes, this includes your volunteering experience and “small” (I put that word in parenthesis because there is no such thing as irrelevant experience) community projects, cutting grass/doing hair, etc.
The main objective is to transfer all of the work experience you have gained throughout your lifetime to your resume. You do this by articulating (expressing logically and consistently) what skill set you gained from each experience. I will use the resume that I used to apply for the server assistant position as an example.
The objective when articulating your work experience is to:
i. Identify the experience
ii. Quantify the impact of the skill set you gained, and
iii. List how the experience helped progress your knowledge of that industry.
For the server assistant position; I had worked with Morrow High School’s cafe, which was sponsored by our school’s FBLA chapter. With a partnership with the local Truett’s Grill (Chick-Fil-A), we sold chicken biscuits as well as drinks that our program obtained by going to the local Sam’s Club (a warehouse club) to buy in bulk. This experience provided:
a. Inventory Management Experience: With the help of our FBLA director Ms. Hamm-Tate, we ensured that we always had enough products (supply) to satisfy the demand (number) of students.
b. Customer Service Experience: Through interacting with students (who are customers in this case because they buy the products that we are selling), I gained the skill set of learning a how to communicate with customers through specific terminology and actions such as greeting customers. I also learned how to answer any questions customers may have regarding where our products (supply) was sourced from (Chick-Fil-A and Sam’s Club).
c. Financial Experience: I, personally, was elected by the FBLA director to be the treasurer for the store. This means that I gained experience on how to properly organize and store financial (cash) funds that came from the store. Since most business models (profit or non-profit) revolve around their financial capacity, this is an invaluable (critical) skill that can be used in any context.
I would translate this experience in my resume accordingly:
Morrow Café Morrow, Georgia
Customer Service Associate and Treasurer
Month and year you began-Month and year that you ended [or put present if you are still currently there]
(These three sections above[i. identify the experience])
- The cafe was located in Morrow High School, an institution with 1,500 students. (If you are unsure of the number of people you served, you can put approximately and ask a co-worker or manager how many people you serve on average per day. This communicates the level of traffic of the business.)
- Ensured inventory to serve approximately 100 students during the cafe’s morning shift operation. The cafe served products in partnership with Chick-Fil-A and bulk purchasing from retail warehouse Sam’s Club.
- Handled financial transactions in excess of $300 per morning shift during our Monday-Friday hours of operation. Used a register as a point-of-sale (POS) system. (A POS is a unit that is used to accept payment.)
- As treasurer of the cafe, I handled the cafe’s annual financial sales of approximately $54,000 ($300 per morning shift*180 school days in a year).
(These four bullet points above [ii. Quantify the impact of the skill set you gained and iii. List how the experience helped progress your knowledge of that industry.])
While the experience may have seen as “only a high school job”, all of the skills that I acquired from the position (once I fully articulate them) are more than sufficient to have me work in most entry-level food industry positions.
5. Volunteer Experiences: You may choose to include this in your work experience as opposed to making it into its own separate section. The only reason you would choose to separate the experience is because you may have gained skills from volunteering that may be irrelevant to the position that you are applying for, however you want to communicate to an employer your community service dedication.
6. Awards and Certificates: This is a section that is listed at the bottom of your resume because it sums up the recognition and culmination of all of your experiences. You may choose whether or not to fully articulate why you were recognized for the awards.
Step 4-Applying for the Position(s)
After fully articulating your skills through a resume, understanding the schedule that you can work on, surveying your area and identifying the positions you want to work at, you can start applying to positions.
(Since the server assistant position was no longer available, I will detail the process)
From the Indeed.com search results (or whatever job site you use), click on “Apply on Company Site”. You will be directed to the company’s page, which will ask you to create an account and submit a formal application. In most scenarios, you will be asked to provide your name, address, date of birth, social security or identification number (for collecting taxes and receiving potential tax refunds) and to list your previous experiences. You will also be given an option to either upload your resume or input each experience individually (in which you will just “copy” or Ctrl+C from your resume and “paste” Ctrl+V into the section). You may be asked to upload a resume and individually input each section; simply copy and paste everything from your resume to ensure consistency. You may then be asked to provide references: select family friends that can speak on your experience, previous managers at work or volunteering experiences as well as professors or teachers. Finally, you may be asked to take a company’s customer service test, which are a series of questions that seem frivolous and pointless but are designed to gauge consistency. Many of the questions in the sometimes 20+ minute tests ask you identical questions with different wording and verbiage, so answer honestly to your expectations. Finally, submit your application.
After I submit my application, I have a tendency to print my application and go to the human resources center (or manager of a smaller business) and drop off my resume directly to that person or group of people. Wear business casual clothing, briefly introduce yourself with your name and how excited you are to hear from them.
Social Aspects During the First Semester continued:
About a week after I submitted my applications, I was called in to interviews. About a week later, I was offered a job as a server assistant at the Sway restaurant in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Downtown Atlanta (I was offered positions at all of the positions with the exception of the Apple listing, their responses just came later than the Hyatt). I didn’t know that this position, where I would mainly clean dishes and tables between 5pm and 11pm, would transform into such a learning experience.
My coworkers all had incredible stories to their odd ascension to the Hyatt. One of my trainers and a fellow server was from Bosnia, and had escaped the war going on there for a chance to have a family and stable life in the U.S. Yemane, a server and bartender, came from Ethiopia. Yemane was a comical and “respectable” guy, and was always fun to be around because of his down-to-earth nature and funny jokes. Antoinette came from Burundi, a landlocked Central-African country. She always had a vibrant personality and did not take any nonsense from managers or other servers that made comments on her eccentric ways. I would come to learn that the server life can be brutal, because servers always fight over customers, and it is usually a sad microcosm of societal stereotypes. Servers usually wanted families, the large tables, and any and all White customers because they assumed that these people had money and were willing to tip.
While the serving crew were mostly people of color, our managers and intern managers were all White. The intern managers were Austin Todd, Ryan (something) and Kyle Daniel. Austin was a very tall and friendly guy, who was so oblivious at some of the subtle or subliminal things that were said that it was kind of cute. Austin was on his way to playing professional baseball until a knee injury ended his career. He somehow pivoted into business and landed a management position. Kyle was a very tall and thin guy that had studied at the University of Georgia for his undergrad. He would tell me about his many partying experiences there. Ryan was also a party guy, and had a tendency to always speak to the lady customers in a wooing fashion, and would tell me many times about how many of them looked good. I just took his word for it. The Hyatt also had a tendency to attract a celebrity clientele.
One evening, I was watching the front desk for the host that had left for a water break, and all of a sudden I see Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson looking for a table. I asked “are you…” and before I could finish my sentence he said “I am. Good job son. Now I need to find a table.” This was my first time seeing a celebrity up close, so I was a bit overwhelmed at the experience. I asked to take a picture with him afterwards in the lobby, and at the time I had a phone with a late-model processor and only 1 GB of RAM (also known as a phone that takes a little while to start up), and he loudly told me to hurry up, and I remember being a little disheartened that he was upset. But I loved the experience nonetheless, and I still have that picture of he and I.
As we were wrapping up our shift one late evening, one of my coworkers Yemane came into the kitchen and said “Chris Tucker is outside”. I quickly put the dishes down and paced into the floor, but I did not see anyone. I noticed one lady in a beautiful white gown was in the restaurant despite us closing. I walked up to her and said “You look beautiful!” She smiled and we made a few jokes and laughed. Then there was this towering presence that came behind me and in a lively voice said, “Ain’t this man smooth!!” I could have recognized that voice from anywhere. Chris Tucker sat down beside the lady and we briefly started conversing. I don’t remember everything that was said, but I did tell him how much I enjoyed his roles.
Another evening, early in my shift, I was asked to go to the Hotel’s small shop to watch while the attendant went on a bathroom break. I quickly learned that being a server assistant really meant that “you go where you are needed”. When I walked back to the kitchen I ran into Tracie Ellen Ross, who had the brightest smile when I recognized her. I could not recall her name at the time, but she would be premiering in a highly-marketed ABC show known as Black-ish soon. I also met many high-profile executives at companies such as Arby’s Restaurants and Microsoft, who shared some of their time and stories with me.
At GSU outside of classes, I spent most of my time trying to make friends. A good amount of my friend group came from my roommate Faiyaz, who introduced me to his group of friends whom also had Indian descent, and it was incredible hearing their stories growing up. Although many of them were far wealthier than my family in terms of financial resources, many of their families had to climb up to attain the wealth. Most of their parents owned storefronts such as gas stations and small retail stores. Faiyaz also shared about how colorism and the ignorance of other people plagued him as well; such as how many of his White classmates told him to go back home after the 9/11 incident, despite the fact that he was of Indian descent and not middle eastern.
I also spent a good amount of my free time eating with the RAs of Piedmont North, hearing these wild stories and encounters that they had with students and how they handled the situation. What I did not realize in the moment of these conversations was that these roundtable discussions were similar to a panel and training session; showing me how I could become a successful resident assistant or adviser.
My anxiety was still dormant, but was having a decreasing level of prevalence and power as I was walking around the Atlanta campus. Seeing all different kinds of cultures, hearing about other’s experiences, interacting with people that I had never interacted with before were all contributing to healthy distractions.
My Second Semester Classes:
My second semester kicked off with my roommate announcing that he was transferring to Georgia Tech and was leaving in a week. For a good two weeks, I did not have a roommate; but was warned by my RAs that I could have a new one at any given time.
My first class of my second semester was a late-night accounting level 1 course. I chose the late night professor because of my previous positive experiences at Atlanta Metropolitan College with selecting odd-time professors and them being more lenient on students. That was not the case in this class. I sat in the front of the class to make sure that I could hear everything the professor said, and still felt confused a good amount of the class. For someone that had a bank account and a job since age 14, I thought that I would have been able to understand debits and credits just fine. But this class spoke on having multiple accounts; multiple payments from multiple departments and centralizing all of those credits and debits to ensure the company “balances out” or its payments out did not exceed the funds coming in.
My second class was another late night class (began at 7pm and ended at around 9:30pm) titled Legal Environment of Business, taught by an attorney named Charlie Hamby. He was a stocky, bald and rather unforgiving professor. He stuck to the text of the law as his moral base for arguments. I was very fortunate that he took a “liking” to me (he appreciated my work ethic and dedication to pass the course). Most of this class involved reading actual legal cases and interpreting them based on laws that we read in a textbook.
(P.S. If I had a question on how difficult the professor was, or what to expect in terms of personality of the professor, I would always use RatemyProfessor website to look up previous student reviews of the professor.)
My third class (and arguably my most difficult in GSU and undergrad) of second semester was Survey of Chemistry II. This class took place in a beautiful all-glass building facing the sun’s direction as it set in the afternoon, meaning that the class was always very bright. But that is about the end of the beauty, the rest of the class got ugly. This class might as well have been taught in another language. Chemical compounds started to transform into shapes and as you added more stems to the shape, a different effect (and sometimes name) took place. The saving grace for this class was an accompanying lab, which counted for approximately 20% of the grade, which transformed my otherwise D to a C-. What I will thank this class for is opening my eyes on what I consume, in terms of food and products that I use for my body. The professor deconstructed what toothpaste, fatty foods and other things I consumed were made of and how, specifically, they destroy my body. I immediately shifted my diet to include salads, greens and less fatty foods after some of the class meetings.
My fourth and final course of the second semester was taught by one of the most prolific and eccentric professors I have ever had. The class was titled Global Issues, and was taught by Dr. Greg Hodgin. He was loud and openly…..not cynical, but questioning of every structural and systematic construct. I loved it, he was a champion of global issues, especially those that plagued countries with predominantly people of color (non-White people). Which was a paradox to me, because he, too, was a White male. A pale, White Male at that. But I thoroughly enjoyed his perspective and his liveliness.
Dr. Hodgin would give us a pop quiz at the beginning of every class, mostly centered around us having to identify an issue with a particular set of countries based on readings he gave us prior to class. My most memorable assignment was one in which he required us to label every country on a blank map. He would not give us a grade for the course unless we completed it, and the test was administered in class and was not open book. If you failed it, you had to retake it from scratch, with a blank map. Dr. Hodgin spoke about how some students were still awaiting grades because they did not complete the test correctly, but that is was not ideal for us to because he was doing a service mission and would not return. I failed the first time by a few countries, but I retook it and passed the course!
Social Aspects During the Second Semester: I got a new roommate 2 weeks after the beginning of the semester. My new roommate was a shock to me; there is an odd feeling coming in one night and finding a new person in your room. I’m not quite sure what it was, but I did not enjoy the living arrangement. He was a 26-year old (while I was only 18; he was far older than any student in the residence halls, including the RAs) and he chewed tobacco. He was very much an alpha male, but was willing to compromise. But I think I had already had a taste of what a single room was like, so I walked up to the Residence Life office and demanded a single room elsewhere. I was placed in a single in the University Commons dorms, which is across the street from Piedmont North dorms.
I had my own room in a 4-person occupied suite with a living room, kitchen, fridge and my own bathroom that I shared with a suitemate on the right side of the room. My roommates were named Jonathan, Austin and another suitemate whose name I cannot recall. All of my suitemates were some of the most down-to-earth, kind people I had ever met. Austin often had his girlfriend at the time over named Khadijah Powell, who I also would become close friends with.
In a random text message while I was on the university-sponsored bus back to my apartment from my Chemistry course, one of my friends and classmates from Atlanta Metropolitan College named Elijah Lee (from my math course) texted me and told me that he had a crush on me. This caught me by surprise for a few reasons; I never knew of his sexuality, and we had known each other for roughly 2 and a half years and he had never told me. This was a major step in terms of my sexuality; I seriously considered his offer. I was not fully “out” and did not yet fully come to terms with my sexuality in other aspects of my life such as family, friends or how I would handle my open non-heterosexual relationship in public yet. I was not overly transparent at the time, and he was rather impatient. The relationship did not end up materializing.
The First Summer of Undergrad: Students were required to move out of the dorms after our last class. Nothing is like that first summer. I came home and acted like I was a changed person. To me, I was back home only as a guest; and had no expectations of a bedtime or doing dishes, or anything else that was not…guestly. I continued working my job at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.
Year Two; Fall Semester
My first course of the semester was Microeconomics, which was taught by Professor Muhammad; a short, kind man that was very appreciative of me sitting relatively near the front of the classroom and answering his questions at times that would otherwise be awkward pauses. I don’t feel as though I grasped the material like I should have in that course, but fortunately I had that bond with the professor to help out.
I honestly do not remember my professor or the course for the second course of the semester Business Writing, despite my perfect score (A+) in the course.
My third course for year two was History of Motion Pictures. The class consisted of showing silent and historical films based on the U.S. and mainly Hollywood timeline of films. While I do not remember the professor, I do remember having an odd situation with grading in this course. I initially thought that I was performing well in the course; I turned my papers in on time and wrote them accurate to my contextual reaction to the films. The teacher did not grade our assignments until past the middle of the term, in which I realized that I was getting C’s on assignments that I felt I performed well in. I went to every one of the teacher’s office hours until the end of the semester to contest my papers and try to find common ground on how he wanted the papers written. I concluded that class with an A, but I had to do some tedious following-up to get it.
On an unrelated note, seeing the professor for this motion pictures course somewhat inspired me to want to become a professor. I thought to myself, I could definitely see myself teaching in a room full of college students about something I like for the rest of my life! I imagined myself walking up the marble-lined stairway on the side of this particular GSU building and teaching courses. I Google-searched the average pay for a professor as well (not based on the discipline that a professor teaches in), and thought I could definitely live on that salary!
(P.S. What I didn’t know at the time was that there were “ranks” of professors. The professor rank starts at lecturers or adjunct faculty; with tenure-track faculty starting at associate professor, then going up to assistant professor before becoming full professor. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a portal that will break down the salary of professors at different universities based on discipline and professor ranking.)
My fourth and final course for the first semester of year two was one of the most enigmatic, energetic professors that I had ever encountered. The course was an Elementary Spanish I course, taught by a short White man named William Lake. He was like out of a movie: he would wear these multi-colored (yet somehow conservative) suits, had a vibrant personality and would act out his language teaching. When we read aloud in the course, he would instruct us to add personality in our speaking; which always made each class meeting fun.
Social Aspects of Year Two Fall Semester:
At the end of my fall semester, my former RA Brandon McKinnie (who had graduated and worked as an assistant in the study abroad office) reached out to me about a scholarship that was available to students from low to lower-middle class backgrounds that had never traveled abroad to take an all-expenses-paid trip to a GSU-hosted study abroad trip of my choice and was called the Global Experience Scholarship. I was so excited; I had always dreamed of studying abroad, but never thought that I could afford it or drum up the confidence to do it on my own. If I applied and received the scholarship, I would definitely be willing to take that leap of faith.
I had grown tired of the rather micro-managing that occurred during my tenure at the Hyatt Regency. While I enjoyed the decent pay in both tips and base payment that I was receiving relative to my 5–6 hours of work per night, I am not a big fan of being micromanaged. My hiring manager Andrew had left; and the interim managers Ryan and Austin, although notably kind to me and receptive of my positive (if not rapturous) attitude, would hound me for missing a table cloth during closing time or another minuscule task relative to the work I was putting in. When my manager Ryan surprised me with a write-up for one of the small tasks, that is when I decided to put my two-week notice in. I remember the sadness in Austin’s face when I gave him my notice in hand, and almost half-regretted doing it; but I was also confident in my personality in work ethic that I could find somewhere else that wanted me.
And find somewhere else I did. Within less than a month or so later, I was employed as a gifts officer/call center representative for Georgia State University; another evening, night-time position right across the street from the University Commons dorm that I lived in. I sat on a computer and was provided phone numbers of alumni and previous donors and had to call each one to request donations for scholarship programs and university initiatives. The calling center was facilitated with a partnership with a company by the name of RuffaloCody; and my manager’s name was Rachel Sturdivant.
I was relatively competitive at this position, as Rachel would write the names of the highest-grossing financial commitments on the board. Initially, my name was on the bottom. But within a month or two of working, I was the highest-grossing gifts officer (with over $30,000 in commitments). Many Georgia State students worked here as well; some I had seen walking by in my time in the dorms, in the cafeteria or in some of my classes.
Year Two; Spring Semester Courses
Macroeconomics was the first course of the semester and was another challenging economics course taught by Felix Rioja, Ph.D. What I remember vividly from this course are the friendships that I made in this class. I created a study group with these two guys named Daniel Crabtree and Andrew Jung. Both of these guys had high expectations of me and encouraged me, if albeit roughly, to perform well in the course. I always raised my hand and answered the professor’s questions the most frequently in the course, and Professor Rioja also had high and public expectations of me. He would always expect me to have the answer to his question, and most of the time I kept up. The tests required quite a bit of studying; I would find myself studying for 5–6 hours every day the week before a test. (Click here for documents from the class I was able to retrieve.)
I do not remember Health Economics much, the most I remember was a guy that I made friends with in that class named Matthew Clark. He was a pretty upbeat guy, and I would end up meeting up with him in a crazy circumstance almost 4 years later. (Click here for documents from the class I was able to retrieve.)
Marketing Management was a class held in a mini-auditorium with at least 70–80 people in the course. I found this course interesting as it spoke about how to bring company products to life. It was more in line with the Wall Street films that inspired me to do a major in business. (Click here for documents from the class I was able to retrieve.)
Elementary Spanish II was my final course for Spring Semester of year two, and was taught by the same charismatic professor (William Lake) and classmates as before, with almost the same fun experience. (Click here for documents from the class I was able to retrieve.)
Social Aspects of Year Two Spring Semester:
As I was walking back to my dorms one afternoon, thinking heavily about my social and academic life, I ran into a large crowd of people walking in the same direction. While a large crowd in Downtown Atlanta is no oddity, I noticed an odd unity and excitement amongst the people. I asked someone what was going on, and one of the crowd members excitedly stated, “President Obama is going to be driving by Andrew Young Boulevard in a few minutes!” I was so shocked I could not believe it. I followed the crowd because I had never seen any president outside of a television news clip or textbook. Sure enough, as soon as I arrived a police escort began and people began screaming. In on of the armored Cadillacs, you could clearly see the President as he waved to us.
Around February or March of this semester, I had a “mid-college?” crisis, feeling as though I wasn’t going out many weekends and having what is commonly known as “college fun”, which was a expectation of my father, uncle, other family members and a personal expectation (if albeit implicit). I wanted to continue to live in a city; and Atlanta was the only large city in Georgia (besides Savannah, which did not appeal to me for some reason). I began searching for schools out-of-state. I also thought that since I was searching for schools elsewhere, I wanted to be somewhere where it would be warm year-round, and a smaller school where I would not get lost in a huge student population like I did at Georgia State University. I ended up narrowing the city down that I wanted to be to Tampa, Florida; I thought it was a large enough city, close enough to home yet far enough away to get a different experience, near a beach with plenty of surrounding cities in the event that I got bored. Orlando was only an hour away, and the Tampa metro area was comprised of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater; which were all decent sized cities in their own respect. Miami was also only a 4-hour drive away. In March of this semester, I packed a backpack, told my parents I was thinking about transferring and drove the 7-hour drive from Atlanta to Tampa to visit the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Tampa (UT).
My mom was a bit hesitant about my expressed discontent with my Georgia State social life and my want to move somewhere else. She was always a “control mom” and wanted to select or have a decent amount of control of where I went. But I was firm in my feelings and the validity of them; I just felt as though I was not getting much of a social experience and that this was an important part of college.
The drive to Tampa was relatively calm and was almost a straight line down the highway. The only true turns I had to make were when I arrived to the city. My first tour was with the University of South Florida. Although it had a student body size comparable to Georgia State, the main campus had its own property (as opposed to being buildings spread across the city). The campus was very spacious, and I just remember how warm it was despite being March; which in Atlanta can be an inconsistent bitter cold or a moderately sub-warm day. The air was fresh and the campus just seemed….relaxing. Nobody was running to class on the weekday that I visited the campus (I intentionally wanted to visit on a weekday so that I could see the campus in its “natural” state). The tour met in this 4-story building with a tour group size of about 16 people. I tried to interact with as many students in the tour group as I could so that I could make potential friends. There were many, many restaurant options on campus, and too many Starbucks to count (at least one on every corner of the wide campus). What made me a bit hesitant, honestly, was the tour guide trying to explain her experience. She was a Black girl that came from out-of-state, which I was very appreciative of because I felt I could get a contextual review of the school talking to her personally. But when she was explaining USF, it sounded almost as if she was holding back something, carefully choosing her words that did not beam anything about excitement. When I spoke to her in private after the tour, she stated that coursework can be difficult and that professors can be difficult to work with. She did not go into depth, but I feel as though she had experienced very uncomfortable things with faculty members here. It was a small part of my tour here, but I kept this in the back of my mind.
When I arrived at the University of Tampa, I was at a loss of words. There was a pinkish hue in the sky because of the orange-ness of the sun, and the campus was so jaw-droppingly beautiful that I could not even describe it. Palm trees lined the campus in symmetrical form, almost like a personal and celebratory entrance just for you. My tour guide for the school was a guy by the name of Joshua Drisko. He was also an economics major, and told me about how relaxed the campus was, how friendly people were and the many events that they have on-campus.
Joshua explained that UT’s school of business was AACSB-accredited; which was one of the most prestigious accrediting bodies, responsible for Harvard, Georgia Tech and Wharton’s business school accreditation as well.
When I went back to the hotel room in Tampa the first night, I remember telling my parents for so long about the aesthetic beauty of the campuses, how calm both schools seemed to be and how excited I would be to move here.
On my second and final night in Tampa, I received a call from Stephen Murray (the director of Study Abroad Programs at GSU) stating that I had been awarded the GES Study Abroad Scholarship! I was so excited and in a state of positive disbelief that I could not even explain it. I immediately began looking up programs since I wanted to do a summer semester program.
Georgia State’s study abroad portal was largely online-based; I was told by the front desk associate that I had to apply online on their portal to a program.
I was able to simplify the search by the term I wanted to study abroad, the city, the country or the geographic region.
I ended up finalizing between two programs: A program based in Havana, Cuba and a program that went to multiple European countries including Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, etc.
I ended up not selecting the Cuba program because the program participants looked largely like graduate students and the U.S. was planning to begin opening travel to Cuba for U.S. citizens soon (from the program listing). So I reached out to the European program director, Dr. Gregory Streib. After expressing my intent to join the program to Dr. Streib in an email, he called me on my personal number about a day later on a Wednesday evening for an “interview” (simply a set of questions asking about my interests in the program and what I hope to learn or see while I am abroad). Dr. Streib was quite a talker, I remember that phone call lasting at least an hour or two. I learned about his family, his daughter that would be coming on the trip and many other things throughout his daily and previous life that had very little to no relation of the purpose of this interview. I had played this game many times before, though, at my family gatherings; where the older members of the family fondly shared stories and I would have to wait patiently and listen because I knew my parents would hound me if I dare tried to end the conversation before its due time.
Toward the end of this phone call, he ended our interview by saying, “You sound like an upstanding and intelligent guy, a white guy I imagine, with a good head on your shoulders.” My mouth literally dropped. I did not correct him over the phone call, as I was a bit lost on what my next strategic move should be. I did not quite understand the purpose of him mentioning race, and I felt a bit insulted that me in the skin that I am in would not be perceived as that same upstanding and intelligent guy he was referring to. I reached out to Stephen Murray (the study abroad director) and Brandon (my former RA that told me about the scholarship) to tell them how I felt and ask them for suggestions on a strategic next move. I did not want to be halfway across the world for the first time with a guy that might not feel comfortable with me. Stephen Murray and Brandon agreed, and instructed me to find another program. Stephen suggested a program that goes to Paris and Montpellier, France, and the airfare was included in the cost of the program. The GSU program director for this was a lady by the name of Dr. Gholnecsar Muhammad.
I emailed Dr. Muhammad later that week and fully explained everything that had happened (from me getting the scholarship to the comments of Dr. Streib) as the program deadline was approaching in only a few weeks. Her response was warm and welcoming; she was appalled about that situation and said that she would gladly like me to join the program. Dr. Muhammad went out of her way to ensure I would have all of my materials ready for the program.
Funny enough, my friend Lynesia Denson (who went to Morrow High School with me) ended up getting accepted in Dr. Streib’s program and going in it in my place. She said that her interactions with him throughout the program (while a fun trip overall) mirrored my worries of him being condescending and unpredictable.
I ended up getting all of my materials for the Paris and Montpellier program and was excited to start my journey in France!
Summer Year 2 (Study Abroad in Paris and Montpellier, France as well as a Global Ambassador for Georgia State University):
The study abroad course was a writing course with a co-teaching component that was a cooperation between Georgia State University and Clayton State University (we would be serving as teaching assistants). Our professors were Dr. Gholnescar Muhammad (Georgia State University), Erica Dotson (Clayton State University) and Alyssa Dunn (Georgia State University).
We had a set of required physical meetings at Georgia State and Clayton State before the plane trip to France. It was there that I had an opportunity to meet my classmates that would come on the trip. There were 17 students, plus the 3 professors. The majority of the class was female. Viltsu (We called him Will), was a tall soccer player from Finland that attended Clayton State. He and I were the only male students in the class. In terms of ethnic composition, 11 students were Black; there were 4 White students, one Asian-American student and one student that I was unsure of her ethnic identity but she proudly identified as Muslim. In terms of our professors, they were all females: Dr. Muhammad identified as a Black, Muslim American, Dr. Dotson identified as Black and Dr. Dunn identified as White.
In these initial class meetings, the professors would give us a preview of the culture and expectations, as well as a “crash course” in essential French terms to navigate items that we may need. Dr. Dotson unveiled an eye-opening statement during one of the courses stating to our class that the majority of study abroad trips are mostly White students, and that some individuals may be “confused” at a majority class of color. I appreciated her giving me this warning; because I would be confused if someone started staring at us.
When it came time to pack for France, I chose to live life a little on the wild side. I had already bought most of the items on the checklist given to us by our professors the previous week at Wal-Mart and other similar stores. But I chose to pack for the trip the two nights before the trip; and did not have a single piece of anxiety about it.
Checklist for my trip to France (In addition to what you would bring to a traditional classroom; I only packed one carry-on suitcase and a sturdy backpack):
- Apply for a Passport: In order to travel abroad, you will have to apply for a passport. I completed the process by going to a physical location (Atlanta Passport Agency: 230 Peachtree St #1000, Atlanta, GA 30303) Here is the process:
Tangible Lesson #2: How to Apply for a U.S. Passport
- Google or search on a search engine “How to apply for a passport”.
2. Click your country’s respective passport link (U.S. will be used for this example)
3. Gather all of the materials that are required. For U.S. residents, this includes the Form DS-11 (which is simply the application), a birth certificate, a government issued ID such as a photo ID or driver’s license, a color passport photo (I took my passport photo at a local Walgreens store; simply search online for “Where to Get a Passport Photo Taken”) and the fee payment ($110 for the application fee and a $35 execution/acceptance fee as of 2019 ages 16 and older)
4. You can complete the entire application at the passport office or complete the form online and print it out to take to an office (but you have to physically take it to an office). To start the application online, click on the “Passport Application Wizard”. The online application takes roughly 10 minutes to complete.
5. You will be directed to the site below. Click “Submit” under the “Complete Online and Print” option. I will use myself as an example for this application.
You will be directed to a portal that will ask you to list your personal information as requested.
After completing the information, click “Next >>”.
This next page will ask for your address and methods of communication (phone number and email address). I would recommend using your main email address as some of your verification correspondence may come to this email. After completing the information, click “Next >>”.
This following page will ask for your travel plans (the dates of your trip and countries you plan to visit). After completing the information, click “Next >>”.
This next page will ask you who to contact in the case of an emergency. I would list a family member that you know would answer the phone if called. After completing the information, click “Next >>”.
You will be led to a page that will ask you if you have been issued any passport. If this is your first time receiving a passport, simply click “None” and “Next >>”.
As if the emergency contact was not enough, this next page asks you to complete parental/spouse information. If you do not have both parent’s present, you can simply click “Unknown” and the field will no longer ask you for the information. After completing the information, click “Next >>”.
The final page, before receiving the document printout, asks if you go by any other names. You can simply click “Next >>” is there are no other names.
After completing this, the passport wizard will give you a full review of all information you inputted. Check to make sure there are no spelling errors or number errors. Spelling errors in your name might delay your application because your records may not match their database; and your application could be completed and you not know if your personal contact information is misspelled. Click “Next >>” after verifying everything.
Finally, you will be given the option for a passport card or passport book. If you are flying abroad on plane, you MUST SELECT THE BOOK! The book is normally all that you need.
If you need your passport expedited (if your trip is within two weeks), select the expedited option.
After completing the application, print the form. You must submit the form in person at a acceptance facility or passport agency. The site will give you an option to locate one near you. (Or you can visit the following link: https://iafdb.travel.state.gov/)
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen after viewing and completing this.
This section (shown below) will tell you what you need in addition to your form. To print the form, in the bottom-left corner, click the blue “Create Form” button. The form will save as a PDF file that you can print out. Make sure to select this and save the application; as the website will not save your information.
The saved application will appear like this:
6. Print this form out, take it to a passport agency or acceptance facility with the other required materials!
Other Checklist Items for Trip to France:
- Cell Phone and Charger: The professors recommended that I download the mobile apps Whatsapp and Viber to text and make phone calls respectively. I had to tell my family members to download the app so that they could call and text me as well. As long as I was around a Wi-Fi signal, I could call and text them for free.
- Electrical Adapter and Converter: I initially thought that these two items were the same. A travel power adapter or European converter adapter fits the plug into the wall socket, while travel converters change the electrical current from 120V to 220V or vice versa. I would recommend getting both in the event that your device(s) cannot handle the increase in voltage.
- Any toiletries (toothpaste, hair gel, shampoo, etc.) that you feel you need to make yourself look and feel comfortable. You will want to look and feel comfortable because you will be interacting with an entirely different culture of people and want to socialize while you are feeling your best. REMEMBER that if you have a carry-on bag, the current TSA limit on certain substances and liquids is 3.4 ounces (100 mL).
- Clothes and a pair of comfortable walking shoes: I only packed about 3–4 outfits. I did not want to lose clothes on the trip, and I would also be shopping for a ton of clothes. Dr. Dotson taught the class how to fold your clothes in a roll to maximize the space in your luggage. Here is a link to a video where it shows you how to roll (not fold) your clothes: https://youtu.be/17smmlESBls My teacher told us how we may envision everyone in Paris wearing the latest fashion; but in reality it is the same streetwear that you would expect in Western countries. Also bring a coat with a hood.
- Laptop: You will have assignments that may need a larger screen size and keyboard to complete.
- Currency from that respective country: If you have a major U.S. Bank account (I used J.P. Morgan Chase), these banks will give you the option to exchange your funds for foreign currency. I went to a bank teller for Chase, who was able to get Euros (the currency for France) in under a week.
P.S. I selected a study abroad program with airfare included, so that I did not have to purchase my ticket.
The Journey to Paris, France
After packing my bags, I printed my ticket and had my family take me to the airport. Everyone came: My mom, dad and brother were all there to send me off. No crying and no telling me to be careful a million times, thank goodness. I had my ticket in my hand and arrived 2 hours earlier than the boarding time for my flight as recommended by TSA. I waited in the lobby for the rest of my class to arrive. Since airfare was included in this package, we all got the chance to board the same flight together (which I was very thankful for; it definitely reduces any potential worry). Once all of the teachers and students arrived, we went through TSA with no problems. We did not all sit together on the flight, but I did have the opportunity to sit beside one of my classmates Amira. We sat on a row of 3 seats, and the 3rd girl was also a study abroad student, but she was meeting her group in Morocco, located in Northern Africa. This made the flight fun because all we did was talk about how excited we were and what we had learned from our briefings with our teachers. Our program would begin in Paris, with classes going on as we toured relevant parts of the city, and each night a written report was due that summarized our contextual experience as well as its relation to the textbooks that we had to read for the course.
About mid-flight, there was quite a bit of turbulence on the plane. I remember making jokes (kinda) saying “oh, heck no!” and my classmates in nearby aisles chuckling. But it was so much fun, I soaked up every moment of this. When we landed, I almost couldn’t believe that I was landing in Paris, I was so excited and open-minded on what was to come. There was a rabbit near the runway as we were landing, and it made me laugh just because it was the first animal or thing I had seen somewhere else. Although we had left in the evening in the U.S., it was just the beginning of the next day in Paris when we landed.
When we left the airport, there was this weird station that looked like a carnival admissions center that took my passport, stamped it, and we went out to the airport lobby. We landed in Charles De Gaulle Airport, and the airport was roughly 30 minutes away from the city. Dr. Dotson arranged a personal tour guide and set of personal buses to be chauffeured to the city. There was the tall, thin guy that walked up to us. He and I made eye contact and we did this funny smile, one of those moments when you bond with someone without even speaking. The guy ended up being our tour guide and his name was Thierry Ash. Thierry and Dr. Dotson had done similar programs years prior, and they hugged and talked like old friends. This made me feel really safe because I trusted Dr. Dotson, so my trust (in addition to Thierry and I’s energetic meeting) set the stage for the trip.
It was interesting driving to Paris, seeing the car models and brands that were slightly different than what you saw in the U.S. I saw plenty of Renaults, Citroens and Peugeots. There were also Mercedes, Fords, Nissans, Toyotas and other brands commonly seen in the U.S.
When we arrived at the hotel, our classmate Will arrived at the exact same time (he chose to fly from Finland since that is where his family is from). Because he and I were the only males, we were automatic roommates, which was great because he was a really fun guy to hang out and talk to. We did not even have time to spend long in our hotel rooms, dropping our stuff off and immediately meeting the professors downstairs to start our first day of class. We were in the Cadet area of the city, and it was a relatively quiet area. We were surrounded with European-style buildings and, despite having a decent amount of car traffic, the noise level was quiet; it was actually very strange. Our personal van service stopped, and we would continue the remainder of our journey on foot.
Our day trip began with a journey through Passage Verdeau, which was a narrow row of personal shops.
Our next journey would be a boat trip that would show us a different view of the city. On the way there, we passed by the Love lock bridge, which was going to be taken down soon. Thierry stated that the locks were weighing down the bridge beyond safe standards. I remember being a bit skeptical when we were getting on the boat; despite the fact that it was a medium-sized boat, when I stepped up, it began rocking. I’m not a fan of rocking. But once I sat down, that all changed. It was a perfectly sunny day and the view was stunning.
The buildings we passed by were classic European-style; and I enjoyed the boat-view.
In the distance, I could see one of the most distinguishable landmarks on the planet. In the distance, I saw the Eiffel Tower! I was so excited to see it up close.
I had to get a picture with it as soon as I arrived to it.
After the Eiffel, I noticed graffiti on the side and it reminded me of Philadelphia or any major American city. People express their concerns, their desires and their thoughts all the same.
Our next stop was to the Louvre Art Museum. Dr. Dotson warned us that it was “almost impossible” to see all exhibits of the museum in one day, and that this served to see some of the most commercially-recurring artifacts of the museum.
The museum was aesthetically modern while classic. The hallways were intentionally painted with Ancient European-styled designs leading up to small and massive paintings alike.
The museum truly was a spectacle. I was taken aback, but not overly infatuated with the designs. There was this odd lack of feeling or emotion with the paintings, and I could not contextualize with or imagine any of the wild stories the paintings were trying to tell.
Of course, one of the most memorable photos was the Mona Lisa painting. I was rather surprised by how small the painting actually was. Years of Mission Impossible clips and other Hollywood Euro-focused blockbusters made it seem almost like a colossal classic.
After the walk, we stopped to get lunch. the restaurant was very condense in size; the tables were close together and if we weren’t comfortable with each other yet, we certainly were now. I don’t remember what I got to eat, but when I try hard to jog my memory, I believe I ordered a sandwich.
With Thierry as our tour guide, he gave us a full informative description of the history of landmarks. I felt almost like a native after his deconstructed explanations.
I just remember thinking that I was in a movie and how incredibly unreal this all seemed. The unreal-ness continued as we approached the well-known Notre Dame Cathedral. We did not take pictures of the inside because people were practicing their religion.
There was another cathedral nearby, however, that was not practicing and did allow us to take photos in areas where it did not state otherwise.
After a bit of walking, we came across the College de France and a campus for La Sorbonne, the premier colleges in Paris.
As the sun began to set, Dr. Dotson told us that we were walking towards the Eiffel Tower and will have the opportunity to climb it.
The Eiffel Tower lit up at night, with a reoccuring light pattern.
I thought the journey to the top of the Eiffel Tower was a free trip or included in our program fee, however Dr. Dotson stated that we would have to purchase our own tickets. Will was a bit disheartened because he did not have the funds transferred yet for him to go, but I told him he could not miss a chance like this and I got his ticket. With that, everyone in the class had an opportunity to travel up the Eiffel.
It was quite a view at the top of the Eiffel; there was a futbol game being played below (I had been drilled by now to call what I had very little exposure to as soccer as futbol).
After this, we took the metro back to our hotel in Cadet, Paris. I probably talked Will’s head off about how excited and amazing the trip was so far.
The next day began bright and early. Our mornings started off in a nearby bakery. I enjoyed their handmade hot chocolate, topped with creme. After our morning breakfast, we began walking. Today, we walked well outside of the tourist attractions. I was beginning to realize where the “soul” of Paris lived; the non-bourgeoisie. Paris was a city like any other, which made it seem like a home to me.
For an early-morning lunch, we stopped at a bakery (under the recommendation of Dr. Dotson) for an authentic crepe. A crepe is a thin breaded and cooked dough (similar to a pancake) that is wrapped in whatever the customer wants. I decided to fill my crepe with ham, cheese and a few extras. I decided to forgo the Nutella recommendation by Dr. Dotson (Nutella is a European staple and is a sweet cocoa spread).
After we finished our crepes, we continued our Paris journey until we were stopped at a painting titled “Au Negre Joyeux”, which Dr. Dotson said translated to “The Joyful Negro; or joyful Black”. Dr. Dotson stated how the imagery depicts that a Black person’s joy should be the servitude of the White people (with an emphasis on the White Man). The mural caused me to pause and feel slightly uncomfortable with some of the French citizens around me. I hoped in my mind that they didn’t see me as just a servant, because I sure wouldn’t give it to them and would much rather like for us to live in decent harmony with one another, at least during my trip here.
While we were walking, we passed by a set of train tracks, and Thierry explained that these trains go from everywhere including different parts of France to Spain, parts of the UK, etc. I remembered imagining going to one of those places via the train.
As we continued to walk through, I noticed how some parts of town reminded me of American cities. I joked with Nia (another student in the cohort) that it reminded me of “the hood”. This was an endearing term for me, it truly made the city feel like a dynamic and homey place.
Storefronts lined up this part of town.
We were heading for the Parisian market. This was an open market concept similar to ones I had seen in Atlanta, and I was excited to look at (affordable) items that I could buy. Dr. Dotson and Dr. Muhammad stated that the class was free to separate, but to meet back together in roughly an hour. I separated with the group with Will and Natasha, who was a Clayton State student that also knew Will. The market was pretty crowded, which made it exciting. There was a host of items; shoes, jewelry, fruit and food stands.
After meeting back up with the professors and students, our next walk was to Jardin des Plantes. The surrounding area had a zoo and a museum of natural history. I thought about going to the zoo whenever the teacher gave us free time to roam, and added that to my list of things to do. The Jardin was aesthetically beautiful, systematically trimmed and the flowers looked fresh and full of color.
Our next trip was to the Mosque known as Grande Mosquée de Paris. the building was aesthetically beautiful, with neatly aligned brown brick as the foundation on what felt like smooth concrete as the structure.
We had to walk in through the side door to enter (I forget why). The side door had a beautiful and unique entrance gate design.
The inside was gorgeous; it was quiet, with a birdbath and nicely-trimmed garden on the inside. We walked to the side for a brief snack at the inside Mosquée’s restaurant.
Inside the cafe, Thierry shared stories about some of the discrimination and threats to the Mosquée in recent times. Dr. Muhammad and Safia shared their experiences of being Muslim, what their proud identity meant to them and how they cope with the ignorance of others. I was so appreciative to hear this perspective and narrative.
Dr. Dotson wanted to share one final cultural identity experience in Paris for the day; a trip to a Caribbean restaurant in different part of the city. The owner was a tall, Black man; and he and I clicked instantly. He enjoyed my presence as the only Black male in the group and shared his personal recommendations, stories of his family’s journey and how he has big expectations of me.
The food at the Caribbean Restaurant was unbelievable. I believe that this was actually my first time having authentic Caribbean food.
After this, our class was done and our professors said that we were free to leave. The class had a paper due the next morning, so many of us did not venture far. Will, Nia, Safia, Natasha, Ashley (who was a Georgia State student that commuted) and I all chose to go to an Italian Restaurant for dinner (despite eating more times than we could count today). The pizza was excellent and fresh, I could taste every fiber of the flavor and I am usually not a big fan of pizza (I am scarred from my family constantly ordering Little Ceasar’s $5 pizza and other traumatic big-chain pizza shops).
When we finally returned to the hotel room, when I opened the door, I noticed how much Will and I lacked making the bed.
The following day, I chose to indulge myself at the bakery by ordering a genuine croissant in addition to my hot chocolate.
For some reason, one of the most memorable things I saw was the Louis Vuitton store. For years, I had seen Americans rave and drool over Louis Vuitton. And yet, this store was so unimpressive. I was not, in the slightest bit, interested in even walking in; especially compared to everything else I had seen so far on my journey.
The remainder of the day was spent delving even deeper into the culture of Paris, and its many sides.
One of the most memorable parts of the trip was running into a Black-oriented hairstore and pharmacy. Dr. Dotson stressed the importance of contextual stores to get products for hair and other things that may not be available elsewhere. Thierry was surprised to see the store there; he said this was his first time seeing it.
During our walk, we passed by the well-known Arc de Triomphe. Commissioned by then-emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the arc holds the the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. A flame in the center of the arc known as the “eternal flame” burns in memory of the dead who were never identified in both world wars.
Amidst the classic architecture of Paris, in the distance as we were walking, I noticed some very modern looking skyscrapers. Thierry and Dr. Dotson stated that section of the city was a more modern and recent design of the city, and held many business offices.
Our next destination was a private tour of the Theater of Champs-Elysees. The seating arrangement allowed the audience to see the entire auditorium. I am not a big fan of heights, but I also love views; so there was a love-hate relationship with this seating.
After this tour, Dr. Dotson stated that the day was over and we were to meet back here tonight for a required class assignment that included watching a performance. I was so excited that we basically had a full day to explore!
My first stop was to go see where Disneyland Paris was. I was not going to go today, but I wanted to survey where it was. It was roughly 30–45 minutes through multiple metro connections to get there, and was outside of the city limits.
I looked at an online pamphlet of “most awesome things to do in Paris” and stumbled across a 99 Euro (roughly $110 at the time) deal through a company called DriveMe that would allow me to drive an exotic car. The location was in Champs-Elysees. When I arrived via metro, it took a second for me to find the location. I was looking for a building but could not see one. Then, out of nowhere, I saw a Ferrari convertible drive by that was heavily-marked and knew that is where I needed to be. Lined up were Ferrari California and Lamborghini Gallardo Convertibles. While the cost to rent was only 99 Euros, there was an additional insurance protection program that I purchased so that if I crashed the car, all I needed to do was pay a minimal deposit, hand the keys over and say I’m sorry.
The drive was unreal. The car sat very low, and while I could see in front of me clearly, I would have prefer if the seat had the ability to rise more than it was. The initial ride was relatively bumpy, and I am not sure if this was because of the road or the handling of the car. I had a chance to floor it under a tunnel. As I expected, the car propelled forward and was incredibly loud! I even had a chance to drive the car around the Eiffel Tower.
By the time I visited the theme park, returned and ate lunch, it was time to meet for the evening production. We did not meet prior, so some students got lost trying to locate where the Theater was relative to where they explored.
I did not bring any dress clothes with me (it was not on the list), so Will let me borrow one of his business casual suit jackets to wear to the performance. Naturally, we sat up high. I enjoyed the view and was far enough back that the height problem did not bother me.
The performance was a comedy. Dr. Dotson had very specifically selected this play because it made jokes about the U.S. and Western European relationships, their paradoxes and inconsistencies. I found myself laughing at how accurate some of his statements of “basic” (White) Americans were and their tendency to ignore or fail to contextualize the plights of the “other” (Any Non-White and Non-U.S. people). This was my first comedy show, and truly was a platform to challenge long-held beliefs on the stereotypical White-Male dominated society.
Meeting with French Students
Our next day was to be teaching assistants for French students at Lycee Henri Wallon Secondary School (Middle and High School). We would come in and help the students prepare for the “Bac” or the Baccalauréat. The Bac is a test that determines whether students will attend university, and French students are required to take this test to graduate high school. The students we would work with would be honors students, and these students had an English portion to their Bac exam.
I thought the school was beautiful. It reminded me of my high school with a little more art (which my high school definitely needed). The school was not extravagant, it had this homey feel to it. I imagined myself growing up and going to school here.
When we arrived in the French class, our cohort was separated to sit with a certain section of students. I had students by the name of Pooja and Terry.
The head teacher had a British accent and spoke the “Queen’s English” and was a very stern, but seemingly caring, teacher. The teacher stated that all of the students, in clockwise order, share their name and either an academic or career ambition. Many of the students had a flawless command of the language, and I was so excited to hear every single one of their dreams. My face would literally light up after hearing each story. One student named Sarah told me that her main goal was just to finish the Bac, and she and I laughed; and that laugh sort of sparked a friendship connection.
Throughout the course period, we mainly worked on the student’s paper submissions and focused on grammar, how these sentences would be structured on a collegiate level in English, and provide any recommendations. I enjoyed Terry’s and Pooja’s personality. Terry was a confident, self-assured student that loved popular U.S. culture, and we joked a lot about U.S.-based celebrities. Pooja was very calm and analytical, thinking about the full scenario of things before speaking.
After the class period, we were dismissed for a short recess in which Pooja, Sarah and Terry joined Will, Natasha, Nia and myself in the courtyard of the school.
During the Bac sessions, Sarah was paired with Chancy, a student from our cohort that attended Georgia State University. Chancy enjoyed travelling abroad and collecting cultural pieces. Sarah spoke about how Chancy’s criticism of her paper made her so anxious that she had to take her medication. I reassured her that we did not share her sentiments and that her speaking, writing and communication in English was strong, proficient and valid.
The school was connected to an elementary school, and little kids were running up to us (as we were obviously new faces). Many of the students of color walked up to Will and looked at him in astonishment. Will offered for the kids to sit on his lap. Nia made a note to Will that he was a tall, White male (we joked before and called him Thor), the commonly projected image of beauty, and the students were enticed by that.
After that, Sarah, Terry and the other girls wanted to go eat in the cafeteria. Will and I joined Pooja as she gave us a mini-tour of the school from her lens. She showed us the library and the different resources available to students such as tablets, books, etc.
After we left the school, we exchanged Instagram handles and phone numbers with Sarah, Pooja and Terry and told them they could contact us at any time.
Our next walk after the first Bac session was to a local restaurant. While this walk was not inherently different than any other walk, when we arrived, Nia broke down and started crying. Dr. Muhammad and Dr. Dotson comforted her and asked her what was wrong. Nia expressed how it made her so angry that Sarah felt that she had to take medication because of the comments Chancy had made to her paper. Nia wanted to confront Chancy and tell her how comments that are not holistic to the entire person is simply criticism and regressive. While I shared Nia’s feelings, I remember being a bit drawn away from her emotions. During this time period in my life, I was a bit adverse to people’s emotions of pain and anguish, as I was still trying to fight off my hyperanxiety (and arguably depression; though I believe I mis-self-diagnosed myself initially on this).
Our next trip saw us return briefly to the plaza of Notre Dame, where citizens were out performing a show for spectators.
I enjoyed the multiple shows because they were culturally contextual to me. Although I saw a multitude of ethnicities and colors during my journey in Paris, this was one of the few times where I saw stilled Black performers in a public space. Many of the performances reminded me of the performances I saw in the U.S.
This time, we were able to go into Notre Dame because there was not a main service going on. The cathedral was massive and the architecture used was mainly aged stone.
After Notre Dame, we headed to the Opera House. As we walked, I noticed the mall known as Galeries Lafayette, and was convinced that I would shop there before the end of my trip.
The Opera House was filled with European 17th-19th Century (Old European Kings and Queens) clothing behind cases. I remembered making quite a few jokes at the continued preservation of these pieces.
After the Opera House, our teachers once again gave us the rest of the day off to explore. This time, some of my classmates and I decided to go to Disneyland Paris. I went to the theme park with classmates Anslee (she was a Clayton State student that aspired to be a teacher), Megan (she was a very calm, analytical Clayton State student) and Will. Along the way on the metro, I befriended a person on the train. We shared our stories of being from the U.S. and stated that we would soon be departing to Montpellier. She was very kind and offered to show us parts of Montpellier as well. This was actually a comforting feeling as we prepped to transition into an entirely new city and environment.
My most memorable experience at Disneyland Paris was a Finding Nemo ride that was a bit of false advertising. I assumed this was a kids ride, and when I got on I screamed a bit more than I wanted to. There was also a hot air balloon that gave you the view of the city from a distance. My fear of heights was nonexistent on this ride, I felt completely calm (maybe because I wasn’t also going 40–50 mph while I was up that high).
After the theme park, there was a small shopping center nearby that also had a mini aquarium. The bluish hues of the unlit aquarium were beautiful.
The Trip to Montpellier, France
Following the completion of our Bac sessions with our secondary school students, it came time to bid farewell to Paris and travel to Montpellier. We would travel to Montpellier via a speed rail (train) directly from Paris. Montpellier was located in the South of France, and was roughly a 2-and-a-half to 3 hour train ride. When the sign said speed rail, they meant speed. Initially, I held onto my side rails for dear life, but after about 30 minutes, I got used to the speed.
The train passed by long country roads that Dr. Dotson said had literally no internet connection in some areas. We also passed by massive castles that she said hosted some of the most extravagant weddings. I was just taking it all in; it was incredible for me to see how people elsewhere, in all cities and town types, lived their lives.
When we arrived at the Montpellier station, we were almost immediately in the city, as opposed to our Charles De Gaulle airport trip to Paris. The climate was unbelievably warm; it felt almost like a warm Florida day.
Montpellier was medium-sized in terms of population and geographic size. The architecture was a European classic style similar to Paris, but a bit more condensed. We started by seeing the “city square” of Montpellier.
There was a “trolley” in the city that would also take people to different parts of the city.
After becoming familiar with the town, Thierry would gather us all up to take a bus across the south of France to see its many spectacles (These were spanned out for a few days; I will explain our teaching element of the Montpellier trip towards the end).
Our first stop was this fortress which I believe was called the Citadel of Montpellier.
What I remember most about this citadel (besides the incredibly narrow and high walls that would surely end you if you were to somehow fall), was this chocolate shop in the plaza inside the fortress. I did not order any chocolate from my memory, but the store’s color-arranged chocolates reminded me of a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory store setup.
The next stop were the beaches of South France. I was so excited to finally experience the beaches of South France that I had been told about via television shows and movies. During our walk, I noticed that many residents gave us funny looks and were grunting, as if they were displeased that we were there. I felt secure enough in our group to not feel threatened, but I certainly took that mental note. During our walk to the beach, I remember Will joking with me when he put his hat on my head and said that I look like Bruno Mars, and I have not been able to stop thinking about some of the celebrity and I’s subtle similarities in hair texture and smile since then.
The sand certainly was a bit hard, not the softest I had ever felt. But I was so excited to be on the beach (especially with classmates) that I just enjoyed the time.
Our next stop was the house of Napolean. As a French figure, Napolean carried a great amount of war history amongst the French. What I did not know about Napoleon, at the time, was that he had a Black general leading his army by the name of Alexandre Dumas.
The surrounding gardens were aesthetically beautiful, with neatly trimmed grass and statues.
The interior of the house had been converted into a museum, and featured art and original pieces from the house. Some of the shadows of the lighting within the artifacts created this grim appeal.
A bit of a walk past the Napoleon house was the large, open garden that was incredibly picturesque, with a birdbath that was perfectly placed in the center of the water. It created an almost spiritual feeling; as though a figure would appear there in the fog or some other odd fantasy.
We would get on the bus and come across a small town that looked like something out of a coloring book.
On our final adventure, we would go into a hiking trail to the top of a mountain. I asked if the forest had any bears, which Thierry joked and said “they rarely come out” and I was almost convinced to not go in.
Meeting with the French Students in Montpellier
While our Paris students were secondary school, these children were young, elementary school age. Our cohort was split up to speak to different grades. I was in a classroom with Kindergarten-Grade 2 students. Many of the students were just learning English alongside French sentence structure. The overwhelming reception of the students to us and their cuteness was truly a joy to work with.
After our Montpellier trip, we boarded the speed rail back to Paris and prepared to board the plane back to Atlanta. Our trip concluded with one final fancy dinner. I had a chance to try duck and escargot (snail) during this dinner; both were actually pretty delicious. I left Thierry with a final handwritten letter thanking him for everything.
Some students chose to stay in France a bit longer to visit other parts of Europe and places in Northern Africa.
Upon my return in Atlanta, I was told by Stephen Murray that one of the service requirements for receiving the GES Scholarship was to complete a minimum number of service hours that could be completed in a semester-long program that involved visiting classrooms and speaking on study abroad experiences. Since I was planning to leave Georgia State, I would not be able to do the program. Fortunately, I was able to fulfill these service hours through a relatively new Global Ambassador program hosted through Georgia State University.
My Global Ambassador Experience
The Global Ambassador Experience was a partnership between the countries of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India. Georgia State would house these students at the University Commons dormitory, and we as Global Ambassadors would share our U.S. experiences, take them out on trips and help them navigate their courses. While I was only assigned 2 students from Mainland China by the names of Jianwen and Jingfei, I ended up creating a bond with many of the students.
Throughout the month-and-a-half period, the students would take classes, and I would usually drive to visit them. Whenever I visited, we either went out on a local trip, talked about how professors were treating these students and how they felt about the city of Atlanta.
Fortunately, between GSU and Atlanta, there were more than enough things to do. We went to the university’s olympic-sized pool, went out to restaurants such as Waffle House (the students had seen the restaurant in popular U.S. sitcoms and wanted to eat there), the aquarium, the Coca-Cola Museum and even an Atlanta Braves game.
I noticed at some events where I brought students from Taiwan from, my Mainland China boys would be apprehensive to come along. One day, Jianwen and I were walking and explained the history between Mainland China and Taiwan. Jianwen stated that many people on Mainland China did not recognize Taiwan as the independent state that it claimed to be, and that there was quite a brutal political disagreement between the two nations. I enjoyed hearing his perspective of the story and then asking my Taiwanese students (who did not seem too bothered by the presence of the Mainland China students) their perspective. It opened my eyes to Global Affairs; the rich history that each person and their respective geographic area have and how they must co-exist.
After my Global Ambassador experience, I bid farewell to GSU and began my new, exciting journey at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida!
One of my biggest takeaways from my experience at Georgia State was the concept of persistence: Continuing to push forward in difficult subjects and situations despite the challenge. Anyone and everyone has the capacity to go to and complete college. You just have to take that first step. Acknowledge that there are going to be changes; you change things often anyway. You change jobs, you change your clothes, you even change your mind on food that you want. Open yourself to the concept of change, and you will progress healthily. And as I have continued to say: Always believe in the validity of your experiences. You and your experiences are valid and have a place everywhere, and someone will recognize it.
(Article on my University of Tampa experience coming soon!)
Citations and Additional Information:
- Georgia State B.B.A. in Business Economics Course Catalog: https://catalog.gsu.edu/undergraduate20132014/course_curriculum/b-b-a-in-business-economics/ or the Google Drive link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eYT7uUvcDkVQtH-2iCzJZNzKr0zE0YKE/view?usp=sharing
- My Georgia State University Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MfMPqYrp0tomXYANWLXYiLQcS-4bM9so/view?usp=sharing
- College Board Dorm Room Item Recommendations: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/making-a-decision/off-to-college-checklist
- Professor Tania Maxwell Clements Professor Page: https://music.gsu.edu/profile/tania-maxwell-clements/
- Indeed Job Search Engine: https://www.indeed.com/
- My Resume for Seeking a Part-Time Restaurant or Service-Industry position in undergrad: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gncf4BnPoxCiArGx-VPwX56ANZQeBxbx/view?usp=sharing (server), https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qWm7uxfU0e7tIFU2MqJ2kv8QjJb8riXh/view?usp=sharing (FedEx)
- EdX website: https://www.edx.org/
- Educational Addition Example Resume: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18_hsPsT7kaBewyvWtKJwFfaqTG1bseKubAT6NhYmujE/edit?usp=sharing
- Rate My Professor-Student Testimonials and Reviews of Professors: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/
- Greg Hodgin, Ph.D. Quora Page: https://www.quora.com/profile/Greg-Hodgin
- Glassdoor average salary of a professor: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/professor-salary-SRCH_KO0,9.htm
- Chronicle of Higher Education data on individual university professoriate salaries: https://data.chronicle.com/139940/Georgia-State-University/faculty-salaries/
- RuffaloCody-About Us: https://jobapp.ruffalocody.com/companyinfo/aboutus/index.php
- Georgia State University Calling Center: https://gsu.thecallingcenter.com/home.php?site=73
- Felix Rioja Website: http://www2.gsu.edu/~ecofkr/
- William Lake Faculty Page GSU: http://gsu.academia.edu/WilliamMichaelLake
- Macroeconomics Course Retrieved Files: https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArGGU03Z_eNrggyJV7cmYvElSHSI
- Health Economics Course Retrieved Files: https://1drv.ms/w/s!ArGGU03Z_eNrglX2kou5Sjwakhgu
- Marketing Management Course Retrieved Files: https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArGGU03Z_eNrgg0bnJMFFgoeeIv3
- Elementary Spanish II Course Retrieved Files: https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArGGU03Z_eNrggvwqC26Kk2a2z01
- Link to GSU study abroad scholarships: https://sfs.gsu.edu/files/2015/10/Scholarships-for-Study-Abroad.pdf or https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w3xkdDJAF6LJWQXleKm4ECBRAYSslFHa/view?usp=sharing
- Photo of Tampa, Florida retrieved from: https://www.zumper.com/blog/2019/01/living-in-tampa-8-pros-and-cons/ -with source cited as iStock.com/SeanPavonePhoto
- Photo of St. Petersburg, Florida retrieved from: https://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/cities/st-petersburg.html
- Photo of Clearwater, Florida retrieved from: https://www.sandandorsnow.com/2018/07/the-best-free-things-to-do-in-clearwater-fl/
- University of Tampa photos: https://www.pinterest.com/uoftampa/snapchat-submissions-uoftampa/?lp=true
- AACSB Accreditation Process Overview: https://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/journey/process-overview
- AACSB Accreditation Full Accreditation Standards: https://www.aacsb.edu/-/media/aacsb/docs/accreditation/business/standards-and-tables/2018-business-standards-track-changes.ashx?la=en&hash=9C191B7B3A3A2E3E1DDC51A5C5275457092DADBB or https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CNZoP02tEsJQj5HX_ZEm2QAQID0KXiZF/view?usp=sharing
- Stephen Murray, Director of Study Abroad Programs: https://mystudyabroad.gsu.edu/profile/stephen-murray/
- Study Abroad Program Search at Georgia State University: https://www.studyabroad.gsu.edu/
- Gregory Streib, Ph.D. faculty page: https://aysps.gsu.edu/profile/gregory-streib/ or https://drive.google.com/file/d/17rqke6sp61VeZKBisTYisrxX_yGci7Vz/view?usp=sharing
- Gholnecsar Muhammad, Ph.D. faculty page: https://education.gsu.edu/profile/gholnecsar-muhammad/
- Erica Dotson, Ph.D. faculty page: http://www.clayton.edu/teachered/dotson and http://www.clayton.edu/teachered/faculty-highlights
- Alyssa Dunn, Ph.D. faculty page: https://education.msu.edu/search/Formview.aspx?email=ahdunn%40msu.edu
- StudyAbroad.com recommendations for U.S. travelers traveling abroad: https://www.studyabroad.com/student-guide-study-abroad-packing
- Getting or Renewing a Passport: https://www.usa.gov/passport
- Atlanta Passport Agency Address and website link: 230 Peachtree St #1000, Atlanta, GA 30303 and https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/where-to-apply/passport-agencies/atlanta.html
- Where to Get a Passport Photo Taken: https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/where-to-get-a-passport-photo.html
- Passport Fees: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/passports/forms-fees/Passport%20Fees%20Chart_TSG_FEB%202018.pdf
- Passport Acceptance Facility or Agency Near Me (location needed to submit passport application in person): https://iafdb.travel.state.gov/
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security What I can Bring on a Plane: https://www.dhs.gov/how-do-i/learn-what-i-can-bring-plane
- Whatsapp Messenger (other users also need to have Whatsapp to text and call): Android-https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp&hl=en_US Apple- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whatsapp-messenger/id310633997?mt=8
- Viber Messenger (If you use the free option, other users also need to have Viber to text and call): Android- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.viber.voip&hl=en_US Apple- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/viber-messenger-chats-calls/id382617920?mt=8
- How to roll your clothes (0:58–1:22 in the video): https://youtu.be/17smmlESBls
- Link to All France Photos Part 1: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BnN5N9DAsfurptT36
- Link to All France Photos Part 2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KiA1bXfM5hoRFnGLA
- OneDrive Link to some of my study abroad photos in France: https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArGGU03Z_eNrgmMABIO4Dyx0Tn8_
- Megan Hein France Trip Blog: http://www.megansparistrip.tumblr.com/?fbclid=IwAR3uSkw0jTvGYK-h16XHR4fOg7EBnwu6eoq8yJXPPzITjJ6b2mYdrcO3bSs
- Eiffel Tower Lighting up video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/isxKrT5JtSNfNPzZ9
- Climbing the Eiffel Tower by Elevator: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kEEJdFCahzj1EyC49
- Futbol game from the top of the Eiffel Tower video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fexSBrFL6tn7mg4q7
- Map of Montpellier relative to Paris: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Montpellier,+France/@46.2823779,-0.0042938,6.65z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x12b6af0725dd9db1:0xad8756742894e802!8m2!3d43.610769!4d3.876716
- Global Ambassador Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RZCvGh1jCGhAe9be9
- Citation for Your Experiences are Valid… quote (McMillan, 2019): https://medium.com/@jonathanthescholar/my-doctorate-application-cv-statement-of-purpose-and-goals-550914a93919
- Despite being in Paris starting in May, the climate was still relatively chilly most days. Please bring coats where appropriate.
- The Hyatt also provided an annual $1,000 tuition assistance program that came as a direct check to my account (after my first 3 months after the first day of work). The Hyatt also had an underground cafeteria that served…..decent food (nothing like what they were serving in Sway).
