As I look back and reflect on the past few weeks, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I feel like I have grown immensely in the past few weeks both as a person and as a student. Getting to witness the Olympic Games first hand was an experience I will never forget. While I learned so much through our amazing guest speakers and lectures, I really want to reflect on what I learned outside of that. Prior to this experience, I had never visited France before. I had anticipated that navigating the city of Paris would be difficult due to the fact I do not speak French. I was pleasantly surprised at how all of the signs across the city, both Olympic and non-Olympic related, were easy to read and navigate. One thing I was concerned about ahead of the trip was how well restaurants in Paris would respond to food allergies. To be transparent, my allergies played a major role in deciding if I would be able to pursue this opportunity and live in Paris for a few weeks. As someone who has lived with allergies for close to twenty years, I know how to stress its severity to restaurants in America. However, the language barrier worried me when trying to decide if I would be able to come on this trip safely. After much thought I obviously decided to come on the trip, but I still had fear. When I went out to eat for my first meal in Paris, I was so relieved with how accommodating the restaurant was to my needs. Thankfully, this continued with most other restaurants for the entirety of the trip. For most of my life I have been worried to travel to countries where English is not their primary language due to my allergies. However, this trip gave me a lot of relief. Though it might seem silly to some, I have found a new excitement to travel to new countries due to the way I was treated in Paris. I also learned so much by talking to locals in the city and those who traveled from other countries to come to the games. For example, I was fortunate enough to attend the women’s football final match against Brazil, which can be seen in the below photo. While the stadium had an overwhelming about of American fans, there was an equal amount of fans visiting from Brazil. In fact, majority of the fans sitting around me were from Brazil. This was an amazing opportunity to talk with visitors who also traveled long distances to be in Paris for the Games. Overall, I am so glad I got to attend this experience. I made memories, met people, and learned lessons that I will remember for the rest of my life. I look forward to hopefully attending another Olympic Games in the future!
