mekaylatucker – GW Blogs from Abroad

Fin d’une expérience

AdminMay 7, 2018December 14, 2018

Bonjour à Tous!!

I cannot believe that this semester is coming to a close, it has been such an amazing experience and the people I have met through my volunteering have only amplified this. I have to say that since the beginning of this journey with Serve the City: Paris I always knew that it would be the place where I felt I could be the most help and this has proven to be true. I have been able to take on more responsibilities than I thought I would have been able to, like coming up with projects to help get food out to homeless people. I have even been able to lead a group of volunteers giving out food.

I have really been able to speak French a good amount because of this opportunity. I really hope that my work at Serve the City: Paris is having a good impact on the local communities especially because each week we focus on a different neighborhood in Paris. I do know if the little things I do will have an impact but I hope I have at least made an impact with the organization. I am so grateful for this time! I have learned so much! This week will be my last week and I really hope that I take the skills I have learned this semesterrs and take it with me on my next endeavors

Mekayla

Swerving The Rain and Serving The City (à la Parisienne)

AdminMarch 6, 2018December 14, 2018

By mekaylatucker

Bonjour à tous!!

Mekayla here, reporting from Paris where its...raining… yep still raining... but any who…

After going back and fourth and trying to figure out which volunteer opportunity to choose, I decided that I would go with Serve the City: Paris!! I have been working with them for just about 4 weeks and I volunteer about two times a week. It has been cold but a great experience. There are currently about 2000 people on the streets in Paris, so what Serve the City does is recruit volunteers to collect or distribute food for people in need. So far, I have decided to hand food out, which means I am usually freezing or wet, as Paris has not gotten out of winter yet unfortunately, but it allows me to get to know other volunteers and most importantly, practice my French.

For me, the biggest challenges I am facing have to do with the language barrier as I still have a hard time understanding French when it is spoken very rapidly. I think the best way for me to overcome this is just to continue to push myself outside of my comfort zone as much as possible because once I get used to the rapidness, I will be able to get it down. The benefits of volunteering with Serve the City is that I am able to see so much more of Paris than I probably would otherwise, which is exactly what I wanted. I also just love helping people and to see the instant happiness on peoples faces when they see food gives me hope that the little I am doing here may help them even if it is just for the day.

Overall I am incredibly excited to see where else volunteering with Serve the City will take me. This week I have decided to do more of the collecting of food to see the other side of operations. The environment at Serve the City is great and it is mostly young people, so it is great to hear what French young adults feel about the state of their country and specifically problems like homelessness in Paris. I am so excited to take you all on this journey with me! Stayed Tuned!

(Hopefully I survive this continued rain!)

À Bientôt!

Paris? Mais Oui!

AdminFebruary 5, 2018December 14, 2018

By mekaylatucker

Bonjour à tous!!!

As you know I am currently in the city of lights with the GW Paris program. I knew I wanted to be in this program because for me, the chance to study at Sciencespo was always a dream of mine. It is truly an amazing experience to be able to learn alongside my French peers and really immerse myself within the French culture and…education system. This means that I don’t have the typical “light” course work load that is synonymous with studying abroad, but it does challenge me and gives me a new way of looking at not only my world but the world around me.

...continue reading "Paris? Mais Oui!"