Happy New Year!

Bonne année mes amis! I hope everyone has an amazing time celebrating new year's with their friends and family. Thank you so much for all the love and support these past few years. Can you believe that 2 years ago I was celebrating NYE in Paris? Neither can I. Time has honestly flown by since returning from Paris.

Thank you so much once again and I will see you all very soon!

The Most Beautiful Cities to Visit in the South of France

Credit: Erin Silversmith

The south of France is considered by many to be one of the most interesting areas in the whole of Europe due to a combination of different factors. First off, this remarkable region is renowned for its wonderful climate, elegant beach resorts, divine cuisine and fascinating ancient history, so there really is something for everybody! The splendid south of France is also home to a number of beautiful cities worthy of a visit, so read on this guide to the top cities in this wonderful French region.

Joyeux Noël

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Thank you for all your support over the years. To those who are at home, I hope you have a great time with your family. To those of you who are studying or living abroad, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your friends or au pair family. Wishing you all the very best.

10th Annual French and Francophone Film Festival in San Diego

If you live in San Diego then you know that we don't get the best selection of French movies here because quite frankly this city isn't very francophone friendly. We get about French movies a year at Landmark theatres if we're lucky but fortunately SDSU French department organizes a wonderful French and Francophone film festival each year. If you've followed my blog the past two years then you might know that I'm not very fond of alma mater because of how little they care about the language programs but since this event is organized by the department and French Club you can assure that it is good. I've attended the film festival 4 out of my 5 years I was at SDSU and I'm looking forward to attending once again this year. This year the festival will take place from November 21st to the 23rd at SDSU's Little Theater located behind the iconic Hepner Hall. For more information about the film festival including which films will be shown just keep reading.

Student Discounts in Paris

Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Paris is also known for their amazing student discounts. There's so many ways that you can enjoy the city for free and I'll be sharing some of the ways that you can get to experience what Paris has to offer by taking advantage of the student discounts available.

Ryanair Tips

Salut à tous ! I know, I know long time no see. It's been getting harder and harder to write about studying abroad as the time passes and my experiences aren't fresh in my mind. I've been trying to get on top of creating more study abroad-friendly content over at the YouTube channel so I can continue to help those who are currently abroad or are going abroad in the near future. Today I have a video about an airline company that is very popular among study abroad students but infamous for their fees. If you're interested in learning a few tips and tricks then this is the video for you!

5 Things I Learned While Studying Abroad + YouTube Channel

Hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I last posted a blog post on here and to be honest with you, I've been having a case of writer's block. Since it's been two years since I went to France things aren't as fresh in my head which is contributing to me having a hard time coming up with new blog posts. For that reason I've decided to come up with a YouTube channel! I will be creating short 5 minute videos about various subjects pertaining to study abroad.

MICEFA the movie

You all know by now that both Orlando and I went through MICEFA. We both really happy with MICEFA and their staff so I've decided to share their video with you today. It was crazy to see Melissa and Dr. Prodeau in the video, just seeing them interact with the students in the video made me remember the first month in Paris so vividly. Let's just say this video should make anyone who studied abroad in Paris miss it like crazy, but if you'll be leaving to Paris soon then this should pump you up (or at least make you giddy).

Packing for Studying Abroad

Credit: Travel Confidently

Packing for a week long trip can be challenging, so you can imagine how daunting it is to event think about packing for a semester or year. Let me tell you, it's not easy to pack for 10 months when you have no idea what you should take, but consider yourselves lucky because I am here to share my tips! You'll be learning from all my packing mistakes. I'll be sharing my tips for year long students but if you're only going for a semester feel free to use this as a rough guide.

La Fête Nationale | Bastille Day

I hope everyone enjoys the Bastille Day festivities! And before I forget.... VIVE LA FRANCE!

2 year bloggerversary!

It's officially 2 years since I started De San Diego à Paris. When I started this blog I had no idea if anyone would read it, all I wanted to do was able to share my tips and advice for future study abroad students. When I was getting prepared to leave to Paris I quickly realized that there was a lack of resources for students planning to go to Paris so I decided to take the plunge and start my own website. I never expected to get the kind of support that I've received these past two years.

Traveling the World: Travel Tips for College Students

Krakow, Poland

As a general rule, college students experience a lot of stress. On breaks from school, it’s important to take time to blow off a little steam. Since most of us are still young, traveling the world makes for a great way to unwind. Of course, we also seldom have much money, but that won’t get in the way of traveling as long as we are careful. Here are a few tips I've found useful when globetrotting during breaks.

A Girl's Survival Guide: Dating in France

Credit: Joanna Kitchener

What's more romantic than falling in love in the city of love? Almost every girl that goes studying abroad dreams about falling in love in Paris, even I went through that phase. But before you venture out into the world of dating French men there's a couple things you must know.

Coming back home from studying abroad

I honestly cannot believe that it has been one year since I came back from Paris. I know I say this all the time but it's honestly crazy how fast time has flown by since I started blogging. Going back home after a year or even a semester abroad can be tricky, but here are some of my tips to make navigating around the airport a bit easier for you.

Wanderlust Tag

When I saw this tag on YouTube I KNEW I had to do it because you all know that I love traveling! I just wish I was back in France so traveling from country to country would be easier and cheaper. I would love to tag all you study abroad students that also got the travel bug during your semester or year abroad. If you film a video make sure to add it as a video response, I would love to hear your responses to the questions. If you don't fee comfortable filming a video then just leave your answers as a comment.

Questions
1. Your most treasured passport stamp?
2. Can you recite your passport # from memory if asked?
3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or automobiles?
4. Top 3 travel items?
5. Hostel or hotel?
6. Are you a repeat visitor or do you explore new places?
7. Do you read up on your destination (culture,history,safety) or do you wing it?
8. Favorite travel website?
9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit? Name city & why.
10. You're leaving tomorrow, money is no option, where are you going?

Have a great day everyone!

 

Changes to De San Diego à Paris + Upcoming Blog Posts

I hope everyone is having a great day so far. As you can see the blog got a little makeover. Well actually it got a full facelift. I've gone back in time and edited all 115 blog posts just to make sure that everything is cohesive. I spent a good day and a half working on the blog so I hope you all enjoy the changes.

Life as a French and Francophone Studies Major

I'm extremely sorry about the long hiatus. I explained the reason why I was gone on the Facebook fan page but long story short this was my last semester as an undergraduate and I was forced to drop my distractions and focus on finishing strong. I had so many essays to write during the past month alone. I probably wrote about 50+ pages in the course of 3 weeks so as you can imagine, I am exhausted and don't feel like writing an academic paper for quite some time but I do feel like reflecting on the five past years studying French.

If you would like to read what I have to say about majoring in French just click on read more because this is going to be a long blog post.

Quick update- Google Reader and Bloglovin link

With the whole Google Reader shutting down and everything, I just wanted to share that the blog is on Bloglovin if you're into the whole "reading multiple blogs from a reader" thing. If you want to read more about what's going on with Google Reader I suggest you read this article.

Here's the link: Follow De San Diego à Paris with Bloglovin

If you want another recommendation for a decent reader, I personally recommend Feedly on the iPad.

I'll see you guys very soon with a decent blog post.

French food memory lane

If you have followed me for a while on Twitter or on my blog you will know that I miss French food ridiculously. I miss everything from the cheese to the cheap wine at Carrefour. Baguettes and saucisson were things that I would just snack on like if my life depended on it back in Paris. And you know what the sad thing is? You can't find half of those things in Southern California! I know you can buy baguettes and brie here but come on, you know they suck!

Now before I go on, I must sadly report that the things that will be mentioned in the blog post were all sent from France (trust me, I'm also crying on the inside) but I hope that you still enjoy reading about me almost crying after tasting real French saucisson and paté for the first time in almost 8 months.

Study Abroad Horror Stories

I know I usually don't focus on the bad things that could happen when you go study abroad but it is important for me to acknowledge that things do happen. Today in my Commercial French class we were talking about cultural differences and some study abroad horror stories. Most of the people in my class are international business major and my professor was the head of the IB study abroad program for 9 years so he has a fair share of problems that he's had to resolve.

Daily vlogs! Day 9 Disneyland Paris!

Salut !

The footage for this video had been sitting in my memory card since May with the intention of being turned into a vlog and I finally found the time (and patience) to sit down and turn the footage into a vlog. This was the last day I filmed before my food poisoning got bad, my laptop died, I injured my knee, and did everything before going back to San Diego. I was very sad that I couldn't finish the daily vlogs as I had intended to do but hopefully in the future when I go back to France I'll be able to vlog everyday to show you the life of an expat. 

I'm not going to go into much detail about Disneyland Paris since I wrote a little more about it on this blog post when I went in February but all I can say is YOU NEED TO GO! Disneyland Paris actually has strong rides unlike the ones in the U.S. which is great for those adrenaline junkies. Another thing I need to point out is that it's not too expensive to go even for study abroad students. If you're a year long study abroad student you qualify for the Billet Francilien which is meant for French citizens and residents. You will need to bring your passport to show your visa though. I had to show my visa the first time I went but the second time they didn't make me show it but bring it just in case. Prices range from 35 for one day, one park to 53 euros to go to both parks on a weekend.

Hope you guys enjoy the video as much as I did!

Who's Studying Abroad in the U.S.

Today I would like to share with you an infograph about who's exactly studying abroad in the United States. Most of the study abroad infographs I've seen deal with studying abroad in terms of Americans going to other countries but in this case the people at OnlineDegrees.org decided to look at the 765,000 foreign students who came to study abroad in America in the 2011/2012 school year.

Thank you to http://muhammadsaleem.com/ for sharing the infographic.

A Girl's Survival Guide: How to Protect Yourself in Paris

I'm going to start a new series of posts directed at girls because I feel girls encounter so many problems when they're going to go study abroad from packing to dating in a new city. But the first post will be about how to protect yourself because if you're anything like me when you mention that you'll be studying in Paris people immediately bring up the movie Taken (which I haven't seen). What if I can tell you that you can go a semester or school year in Paris and have NOTHING bad happen to you? There will be no horrific, uncomfortable, or embarrassing stories to tell. Well, let me tell you that it can definitely be done but you need to be real careful and observe how French girls behave.

Social Networking for Study Abroad Students

Many people know that social networking can work in your advantage when used correctly. Sites like LinkedIn can help people get a job, but when it comes to study abroad students the social networking sites that you probably all use can become your best friend. I'm going to run down the social network websites that helped me and post some helpful links.

De San Diego à Paris is back!

First of all I would like to apologize for now having a post up since November. Finals came up, then my birthday, Christmas, and a 40 hour work week but its now the beginning of the new semester so I have a lot more free time (I also happened to quit my job a couple of weeks ago). I've made it a goal of mine to post one blog post a week in 2013, also since I now have an iPad I can start doing simple vlogs once again so be on the lookout for new videos popping up soon on De San Diego à Paris.

I hope everyone had a great Holiday season. New blog post tomorrow.

À demain !