Chloe Wallace

Introduction

Bonjour tout le monde!

My name is Chloe and I’m delighted to present my experience of going on exchange this semester!

I am leaving for Lyon, France on the first of January to study at Jean Moulin 3. I have just finished my first year of a Bachelor of Global Studies, majoring in Global Politics and Human Rights, and New Zealand and Te Reo Māori. It’s a bit of a dream of mine to be able to speak more than one language, which is why I chose to go to France to hopefully gain a bit of fluency in French, which I’ve been learning since I was about 11. Fluency is so fluid though, you can be somewhat ‘fluent’ in one situation, and completely lost at other times. However I think this is true even in English, which is my mother tongue, so I guess I’m aiming more for another rung on the ladder of language learning, a lingual ladder if you will.

Other than the language side of things, I’m most excited (and nervous!) for an experience away from home. I’ll be leaving family, (and Auckland <3) for the first time to live in another city and be relying on myself for pretty much everything. My first year at uni has felt like a reasonably smooth transition and I feel like I’m chucking a spanner in the works by moving to another city. I’m excited to see how I’m going to grow and struggle during this period and how much I’m going to change in these six months.