Hello everyone! My name is Natalie and I am a Drury alumnus from the class of 2008. In September of 2008, I moved to France to teach English abroad for a year. In the posts that follow, I'll tell you about living in a foreign country, teaching English as a second language, and traveling throughout Europe. First, though, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself.
I graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield, MO in 2004 and entered Drury as a freshman that same year. I'd known for a long time that I wanted to go to Drury. For six years as a middle and high-school student, I had participated in Summerscape and Drury Leadership Academy, which were summer programs on Drury campus. I loved the look and feel of the campus and had always felt very comfortable there. I knew when I started at Drury that I wanted to be an English major, but I didn't know that I would find many more interests during my time there.
While at Drury I took classes in many different subject areas, and while I continued to pursue my English major I also added a French major and Women's Studies minor, in addition to the Global Studies minor every student receives from the GP21 program. I very nearly got a Religion/Philosophy bridge minor as well, but just didn't have time to finish it! I worked on The Mirror, Drury's official student-staffed newspaper my freshman year, and in The Writing Center my sophomore through senior years. I also wrote for and helped publish "Currents," a student-produced literary magazine, from my sophomore to senior year; my senior year I became editor.
I spent the spring semester of my junior year studying abroad in London at Regent's College. I absolutely loved living in London, and it is still my favorite city in the world (of those I've visited so far, of course)! I also really enjoyed studying at Regent's. My professors and classmates there were really interesting and came from several different countries. In some of my classes, there were students from 10 different countries, in a class of only 20 people. My experience at Regent's added a whole new dimension to my education and I highly recommend studying abroad to everyone. Studying abroad also gave me my first experience with traveling internationally; before I left I'd had plenty of doubts and wasn't sure if I'd like being away from home, but by the time I got back I had real thirst to see the world.
That thirst for travel and experience helped me make my decision to move to France and teach English. I've always loved to teach, so the Language Assistant program sponsored by the French government was a perfect fit. I was excited to live abroad again, this time completely on my own. Still, there was plenty to be nervous about. When I lived in London, I'd been on Regent's campus, so all of my living expenses had been taken care of in one payment when I'd paid for room and board. Also, I was around other American students (many of them from Drury) all the time, and had my professors or Regent's staff to turn to in case of a problem. Plus, (almost) everyone in London spoke English. This time it was going to be different. I'd studied French throughout high school and college, but anyone who's studied a foreign language in the classroom knows that it never really prepares you for daily conversation with native speakers. Living in France was going to be an adventure, and maybe more adventure than I bargained for. No dorms, no free cafeteria food, no anglophones, no safety net. Still, I had no idea what to expect.
I'll tell you what was waiting for me... in my next post. ;)
