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Good afternoon.

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They say the best way to
experience a culture is

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to immerse yourself there.

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And last summer, I had
the incredible opportunity

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to immerse myself, not only in
one, but two cultures at once.

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My name is Elise Newcomer.

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And this summer I
created an internship

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with the help of
LYNK funding to work

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for Gites de La Richariere,
a British-owned business

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providing accommodations
to holidaymakers

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seeking the rich destinations
of the Loire Valley.

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But before that, I studied
abroad through the Montpellier

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program.

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I've always known that I wanted
to study French in college.

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But when I declared
a French major,

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I knew I needed also
to study or work

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in a French-speaking
country to really understand

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the language completely.

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Little did I know
that I would do both.

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My year in Montpellier was, as
most study abroad experiences

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are, full of new challenges as
I adapted to a different culture

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and was immersed in a language
I had studied so closely.

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This connected what I had
learned in the classroom

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to the French-speaking world.

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Here at Mount Holyoke, we
studied mostly literature

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in the French
department, which reveals

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many important qualities
of the French culture.

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However, arriving in France, I
realized quickly how one-sided

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my French skills had become.

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I say now that I could
analyze a work of art

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in a four-page paper
ready for Monday

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without too much difficulty,
but ask my host mother

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what time dinner would be
was surprisingly impossible.

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These challenges
not only humbled

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me but showed me just how
much work I had left to do

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and offered me the opportunities
to make that happen

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in my classes at the
French university

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and also at home
with my host family.

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Being in Montpellier also
put me in conversation

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with working adults and
other students navigating

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the world of applications
and interviews

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as well, though there, they're
called [SPEAKING FRENCH],,

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is blessedly the same.

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I networked through a
choir that I joined.

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And while I didn't
ultimately find

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the position I took
through that venue,

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I learned more about the French
system regarding internships,

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specifically how difficult
it is for French students

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to find work.

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They faced similar issues in
employment after graduation,

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and I saw this trend
later in the summer

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working in Le Petit-Pressigny.

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By going through
that arduous process,

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I feel more accustomed
to the French system

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and could apply for
positions within France

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potentially after graduation.

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Also during my time
in Montpellier,

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I lived with a host family for
one semester and an apartment

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the next.

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Living with a host
family helped me

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to adjust to the
French way of life,

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while also forcing me
to speak the language.

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When I lived on my own, I found
I didn't speak as much French,

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but I understood the world
around me more closely.

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And I appreciated
the independence

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of choosing the European
life that fit me most.

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I believe that
this cultural shift

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gave the emotional and
communicational skills

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to adjust to any community
abroad or domestic

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that I ended up using
in my internship.

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Dave and Patience
Brown privately

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own Gites de La Richariere,
and it's also their home.

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When Dave retired from being a
head teacher in England they,

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they bought this property
in the Loire Valley

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in a small village
named Le Petit-Pressigny

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and made it their business.

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But we are never officially
met before I came to France.

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They are distant
friends of my family,

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and I spent the
new year with them.

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During that time, we
discussed the possibility

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of me working for
them during the summer

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to continue speaking
French and went forward

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with the idea in May.

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So Gites de La
Richariere is a property

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of French style cottages,
which provide accommodation

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to holidaymakers seeking the
destinations of the Loire

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Valley.

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And it's originally
a farming property.

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So this building
on the bottom here

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is the Pigeonnier, which in
French means the pigeon house.

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And so it's this
lovely couple's cottage

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that is a self-catering
opportunity for couples

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honeymooning or things like that
to rent that out for the week.

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There's a fully
equipped kitchen.

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There's washing
machines on site.

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It's really such a
wonderful, beautiful place.

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This is a collaboration--
this internship-- was

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a collaboration on
both of our parts,

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as Gites de La Richariere
had never had an intern.

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And so this was an
opportunity for me

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to learn about their
business and assess what

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my skills could provide them.

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Here was a chance to
combine the skills I gained

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at Mount Holyoke
and French grammar

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and in my translation
class in Montpellier.

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However, I would be remiss
in not including funding

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as a major factor in
this collaboration.

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As an independent
business, my employers

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were not able to pay me.

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And the support I
received from LYNK

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is the only way I could
have taken this opportunity.

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I've included timing
also as a major

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valuable in this
application process as well.

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This is all done in the
spring, as I was also

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weighing the opportunity of
coming back to the United

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States overstaying
in France, where

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I would need to renew my
Visa and other complications.

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I found positions and applied
through the alumni network as

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well as Lyonnet while
I was in Montpellier,

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I applied to 10 different
positions in America and Europe

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with La Richariere as a backup.

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I contend that no matter how
much planning you can do,

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the process really
does come down

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to what is available and
logical and who responds quickly

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and positively to communication.

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Looking back, I would
encourage any applicant

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to continue to remain in contact
with the organization whose

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position you are applying for.

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After a week, send an
email and remind them

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of your application to
ensure that they received it.

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In multiple cases,
the organizations

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had not received my
application, and that's

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why I wasn't hearing
back from them.

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After a week, send an
email and remind them

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of your application.

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Remember that the
Career Development

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Center is a great
source for those

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applying abroad and on campus.

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Their online resources made
my resume extremely strong,

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and I met with Karen Miller
multiple times over Skype.

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MHC provides funding of $3,000
for domestic internships

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and $3,600 for international
internships, which

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is an amazing asset for
Mount Holyoke students.

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It is especially allocated
for unpaid internships

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and gives students more
freedom to choose opportunities

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they can forward their career.

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These are also
adjusted for places

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with a high cost of living
like Paris or New York.

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Step one is due Friday,
February 16 in 2018,

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so put that in your calendars.

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But a guaranteed internship
is not mandatory by that date,

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so it's best just to go to the
mandatory meeting in January

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and submit an application
for funding when you can.

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Sorry.

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I forgot to advance it.

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My specific job
spanned a great deal,

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as I assessed where
best to apply my skills

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throughout the summer.

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And it changed throughout
the summer as well.

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Here is another picture
of the property.

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So this was the house that
Dave and Patience live in.

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And it's just a beautiful
old farmhouse, as well as

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what I'm standing in there
are field of sunflowers

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that we're all blooming
around midsummer.

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And so each morning, I would
take the dog for a walk,

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and it was just a lovely
way to spend the day.

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So what I learned--

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my specific job spanned
a great deal and changed.

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I translated the website and
publicity text from English

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to French using the skills that
I had gained from Montpellier.

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And we were able to
expand the readership

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of the website for La
Richariere and advertising

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to beyond English-speaking
audiences.

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Now this English-speaking
audiences part

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is especially interesting
because my English

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was very different
from my host's English.

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And the conversations
that we had around that

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were not something
that I had expected.

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I expected coming from
a French host family,

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where we had so many
differences in language

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that were drastically
different, I

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had expected something
that was living

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with a host family
who is British,

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it's basically
the same language.

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It's fine.

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But there were really
big differences

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in grammar structure
and vocabulary

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that were completely new to me.

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And the conversations
we had around those

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were really eye opening.

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And so I also learned
the techniques

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that they used for maintaining
the physical property

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and the great care that was
taken to make each guest's

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experience at La Richariere
comfortable and restorative.

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Living and working in a
different region of France

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from Montpellier also
afforded me the opportunity

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to experience a
different way of life

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in a village versus a big city.

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In Montpellier, I
was living on my own

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and living the young,
single student life.

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And so I knew about maybe
the nightlife of Montpellier,

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where in La Richariere, I
knew more about family life

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and schools, as I
also assisted my hosts

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teaching in an English
elementary school--

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French elementary
school, excuse me.

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Many of Dave and
Patience friends

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are also British and have
transformed their farming

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properties to accommodate
tourists as well.

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This is also a sign of
the times that things

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are very much changing
in these small villages.

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There are dwindling
populations of French.

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And these villages
that you would think

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would be the most
French places of France

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are actually becoming more
and more international.

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LYNK funding gave me
the freedom to choose

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anything as an internship,
nearly regardless

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of compensation.

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After my year in
Montpellier, I knew

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that I wanted to stay
abroad, specifically

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in France for my
internship because I wanted

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to continue speaking French.

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However, my application
process was maybe

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a little bit more
frantic, and this

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is what I was able to create
thanks to the LYNK funding.

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I learned a lot
about French and as

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well as the French perspective
from another culture

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from an English culture.

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And I am thankful
to LYNK funding

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for giving me this opportunity.

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[APPLAUSE]

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