New Places
Hello,
and welcome to today’s post. As I said last week, my theme of new is going to
be continuing throughout February. Today, I’m going to be giving you a post all
about new places. Hope you enjoy!
MOVING
TO FRANCE
Nearly
a month ago now, I began my time in France as part of my university course. It is
fair to say that in this time, I have already learnt so much, not just about France,
but about myself as well. Being immersed in the culture has given a lot more
awareness about just what a marvellous country and people France has. I am
already feeling an increase in my self-confidence, my independence, and in my
ability to speak French in a practical context. Without a doubt, this has so
far been one of the best things I have ever done, and it got me thinking about
the benefits of experiencing new places.
INTERNATIONAL
TRAVEL
In
my life, I had only been abroad (left the UK) once prior to coming to France. In
truth, the idea of even doing any sort of international travel at all terrified
me. Now, however, I have the buzz for it and want to do it a lot more in the
future. I have realised that there is just so much of the world to explore,
with 200 countries, around 6,000 languages, and thousands of places to visit,
and I now have what we call in English a “wanderlust”, meaning I have a strong
desire to travel and explore the world.
As
a speaker of three languages (English, French and German) so far, I know that
if necessary, I could definitely use these skills to my advantage if I decided
to go exploring. Not only that, but this also means it might be easy to acquire
new languages if necessary, due to a) the fact that I have knowledge of three
core languages already, and b) I have both the ability and commitment to be
able to learn new languages. If you are multi-lingual on any level, it seems a waste
not to at least try and go somewhere so that you can put them into practice, so
I absolutely recommend travelling to gain experience in speaking those
languages if you can.
A
word which seems to be thrown around a lot when discussing other countries is “culture”.
There is so much that can be put under this term, including history, geography,
and of course, food! The Loire region of France, where I am living is rich in cultural
heritage, full of beautiful geography and the stunning châteaux where the kings and politicians of the ancien régime once resided. Not only
that, but I’m getting the chance to explore some of the culinary delights that
France has to offer, including crepes, baguettes, and the famous gallette des rois (which I arrived at
just the right time for)! All of these things (and of course many others) are
providing me with a deeper understanding of all of the traditions, heritage,
and beauty of this truly wonderful and unique country. Even if history and
visiting museums and art galleries isn’t your thing, there is plenty of other
culture to immerse yourself in, so I would say that it is definitely worth
giving it a go. If you are the type of person who does like those things, then
brilliant, there will be plenty of places for you to visit. Culture is another
reason to go and see the world a bit more, and is definitely something to enjoy
and treasure along the way.
LOCAL
TRAVEL
Of
course, there can be many problems with international travel, such as time,
language barriers, and cost. That is why I recommend travelling in your home
country as a potential alternative.
In
my opinion, you don’t always need to go abroad to find cultural treasures. From
my own experience of living in the UK, there are plenty of places you can go to
which are far easier, quicker, and cheaper than travelling to other countries. It
can teach you so much about the history and culture of your own country that
you never knew before. And, as the theme of this post is new places, I encourage
you to visit towns/cities that you’ve never been to before, and learn a bit
about them if you can. Again, if history isn’t really your thing, you can visit
plenty of places just to go shopping, or find somewhere coastal and spend a day
on the beach. Doing this sort of thing can give you independence and
confidence, in addition to helping you find some real gems of places that you wouldn’t
necessarily get by staying in your hometown, or even by going abroad in some
cases.
For
those of you who are interested in learning a bit more about the UK, I am
planning on a month of UK-themed posts when I return in June, where I will be
exploring lots of different things about my home country, from food to history
to stereotypes and cultural quirks. So, that should give you something to look forward
to!
And
that is all I have to say for today. If you have any thoughts on anything I’ve
said in this post, or just want to get in touch, you can do so in the comments
below, or via my social media links in the table at the end of this post. My
next post will be up this Wednesday, so stay tuned for that, and until then,
keep active, keep smiling, and above all else, keep believing!
TRENT
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SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
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