Sofia Falzoni, Sciences Po Exchange, Fall 2012
Tomorrow marks the end of week 7 in the Sciences Po academic calendar, which means that I will be officially more than halfway done with the second semester at Sciences Po (each semester is 12 weeks long). I can’t believe how quickly time goes by here! Fortunately, I am making every minute of my experience abroad count, as I continue to sign up for new experiences and adventures and continue to meet new people from all over the world.
Just a few days ago I got back from a week-long trip to the French Alps. It was our Spring Break at Sciences Po, and international and French students alike headed for all different parts of Europe and the world— some popular destinations included Italy, Germany, Morocco, and Amsterdam.
I decided to join Sciences Po’s Association Sportive in their annual Ski Trip to a resort in the Alps called Les Arcs. All the information I knew about the trip was what was posted on the Facebook event:
– 6 days of skiing
– 7 nights in apartment style housing for 4 people
– food pack included
– 120 spots
– the time of your life!
So, why not? I convinced my Finnish friend Meri and my Austrian friend Josef to come with me, which wasn’t hard at all, and we stood in line for two hours at 8 in the morning one day in order to fight for the last spots available on the trip. Luckily, we got there early enough to get (literally) the last three spots to go on the trip.
And, before we knew it, we were sitting (uncomfortably) on an 8-hour bus ride with about 117 other people (all French except for a small group of British international students), on our way to our Spring Break in the Alps.
Meri and I ended up sharing a flat with two French students who were in their first year at Sciences Po, Matthieu and Alexis. Living with 3 other people in a flat like that was definitely an experience… I felt like I was a character in L’Auberge Espagnole. We were like a family, and sometimes we loved each other and shared wonderful “home-cooked” meals each night, with French wine and baguettes, but when cleaning time came we often got on each other’s throats.
By the end of the week, we all became really close and we also made friends with some other French people on our floor. Because Sciences Po doesn’t have dorms for its students, this week felt as if I was living in a residential hall for Sciences Po, because I met a lot of Sciences Po students and we ate together and hung out.
Meri, Matthieu, Alexis and I having dinner:
The skiing in Les Arcs was great. We had some good days and some bad days, but overall it wasn’t that cold and the slopes were magnificent.
And this is Meri (the Finnish girl) snowboarding in her super cool outfit.
On the last day, we had to leave our flat at 10am and then had to wait until 10pm for the bus to leave (French organization is sometimes not the best…clearly…), so we had to wander around in Les Arcs for 12 hours. During this time, we ate (a lot), and also bought some cheeses and “saucisson” at this really cute cheese place:
After a full week of skiing in the mountains, I came back to Paris and Sciences Po, back to the pile of work that is characteristic of the second half of the semester. However, I came back to Paris with yet another adventure under my belt, with another experience, having seen another wonderful, beautiful place, and having met more nice, sympathetic, and amiable people in this country, who I will continue to share experiences with. Now, back to working on my exposé for tomorrow…
À bientôt!
Sofia