Elizabeth Sell is a senior Interdisciplinary Humanities major in the College of Arts & Letters who studied abroad in France over the summer with the French Language, Literature, and Culture in Tours program that has been offered by the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University, in partnership with the Institut de Touraine, for 38 years.

With this study abroad program, participants engage in intensive language study and earn credits that meet French major and minor requirements. Students live with local host families to give them ample opportunity to practice their French and learn about cultural traditions and norms.

Sell wrote about her experience with this program in the following article that originally was published by MSU’s Office of Education Abroad.  

Michigan State University is celebrating International Education Week Nov. 17-21, which recognizes the importance of global learning and international exchange worldwide, including Michigan State University’s international partnerships, practitioners and scholars.

My study abroad experience was nothing short of transformative. As a student who deals with anxiety, ADHD, and a complex chronic illness/dynamic disability, I wasn’t entirely sure I would be able to handle and navigate studying abroad. But I did! And it was an extraordinary experience.

I was nervous leading up to my program and upon arrival in France. It can be overwhelming to spend over 24 hours traveling across the world and being thrown into a foreign country and surrounded by a different language – no matter how prepared you are.

When I first arrived, my brain was so exhausted from 30+ hours of traveling and being awake that I had a hard time understanding my host family and the French around me. I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that first night that I cried. But when I woke up the next morning, all that exhaustion and overwhelm slowly faded away. Every day my language skills, confidence, and even sense of self improved.

Successfully navigating a foreign country and the host language instilled a lot of confidence, faith, and resilience in me. Every moment of bravery I used to join in conversation with my host family, speak to waiters or cashiers or whoever I ran into in public, and participate in my French language classes not only helped me grow in my language skills but in my own sense of self.

Every small act of participation and practice helped quell my anxiety even more, and I was speaking and participating without any anxiety or nerves in a little over a week. As my language skills grew, so did the rest of me. The experience really helped me blossom.

Traveling with a chronic illness or disability can be extremely challenging. There is so much extra planning, preparation, packing, and headache involved in even just getting somewhere. And once you arrive at your host country, you have to navigate accommodations, accessibility/access needs, and manage your condition in an unfamiliar environment on top of all the usual challenges that come with studying abroad and traveling to a foreign country.

When I arrived in France, I was prepared to struggle with my disability a little. I knew the country had great laws regarding disability rights, but I also knew that cultural attitudes towards disability weren’t the same and that physical accessibility wouldn’t be the same. And I did struggle, but not nearly as much as I anticipated. My host family was amazing and accommodating, as was the institute my classes were at, and so were all the friends I made in my program.

All the activities we did were accessible to me, and everyone made sure the restaurants we went to were accessible too. There was a heatwave, which ended up knocking out the local power grid one morning and canceling class. There was an unavoidable number of stairs, and I was being accommodated and included so much that I was exhausted! My program and friends set the standard for how disability and accessibility should always be treated.

This opportunity was an incredible and unforgettable one. Every challenge, triumph, friendship, and unforgettable memory reshaped and rebuilt me in the most remarkable ways.