I am a 3rd year BBA (Bachelor of Business administration) Student at The University of New Brunswick (Saint John, N.B., Canada). This year, I had the opportunity to go on exchange abroad. I will be spending this year (2002-2003) in Poitiers, France. I will be studying at L'Ecole Superieure De Commerce et de Management (more commonly known as "ESCEM") following mainly marketing and management courses.

UNB - Oland Hall Building	ESCEM

After much discussion with my parents, (and much convincing that I was actually serious about this idea!) it was decided I would tak the opportunity and more the farthest away I have every been from them in my life. These are the people that mean the most to me:

I bought my plane ticket through a company called "Travel Cuts". They buy seats on flights, and sell them to students at a usually very discounted rate. (My ticket for 1 year, return flight, cost around $1200 Canadian as opposed to my Christmas ticket, not taken through Travel Cuts, for 3 weeks which was around $1300). The flight was out of Boston, with a stop in Philadelphia, and landed in Paris.

I left Boston in the afternoon of the 18th of July, and arrived in Paris the morning of the 19th (local time). After meeting at the airport, Gui and I head off to see Paris and visit his cousin. We spent the weekend visiting monuments and other "tourist attractions". Also, we attended a "Bachelor/Bachelorette" party for friends who were getting married. It was a great way to start my year in France!

I spent my first bit of time just next to the city of Lille. I lived with Gui's family from July 19th until the beginning of September. It was a wonderful time, a great city, and we did some traveling all together. You can see pictures of my visits on the "pictures" page (see link below!). We visited the Canadian monument at Vimey Ridge, the cities of Brussels and Brugge in Belgium, Paris, Poitiers, and Les Sables-D'Olonne. They will be spending Christmas in Canada with my family, so I will be able to return their kindness!