Pau is like a home away from home and provides culture, comfort and fun.

In any study abroad experience, there are at least a million favorite memories. But, some things that I carried back with me are the many friends I made when I was gone- Americans and foreigners. USAC does a wonderful job of creating programs that allow students to travel a lot. I fell in love with about 10 different cities. One of my favorite memories was the day I realized I could live in any one of the places I visited. Finally, the thing I miss the most was having a daily routine of my life abroad. Being gone for the year allowed me to really get comfortable with Pau. Establishing a routine and getting comfortable with my new life was my favorite part. The obvious benefit to studying abroad is that I now have a solid foundation of French. Being abroad anywhere can teach a lot, but something that stuck out for me was my ability to be flexible. It was difficult at times having to adjust to something that was unfamiliar or bizarre. It would be difficult not always being able to communicate and sometimes there was straight frustration and anger with the whole situation. Small cultural differences can prove to be the biggest difficulties when studying abroad. Those moments were important though because it taught me flexibility and patience.