The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News

Kate Maxwell [Click to enlarge]

The single piece of advice I have received the most in France is "profite bien." Literally translated, it means "profit well," but I love it because it means more than "have a nice time" and "enjoy yourself." Given in command form, it asks you in short to learn, to take advantage and to maximize your experience. It was a concept that fascinated and challenged me from the start. How do I manage to make the most of my 10 months in Europe?

As I write this column, I have 62 days left here.

By the time I return to the United States, it will be 10 months, 10 countries and three continents later.

I hope I can say I learned how to maximize my time. I've learned to enter each new place with an open mind and a sense of adventure.

Every good traveler knows the key to traveling is to be immersed in and swept away by the rhythm and culture of each place you encounter. To learn how to join in a jig in Ireland, even if you don't know the steps. To learn in Spain that 3 a.m. is early, yet. To learn in Italy that a good meal is surpassed by few things in life. Good travelers can learn these things and more.

But I've also learned that these lessons are not enough. Great travelers not only learn to see the uniqueness in each location but also know how to take those lessons and integrate them into their lives, wherever they are.

This is my next challenge, not only to experience but also to allow the experiences to affect me.

Ten years from now, I don't want to look back on my year abroad as a distant memory but as a turning point that still affects me. This has been arguably the best year of my life, and while I am excited to return to my home, family and friends, the idea of leaving breaks my heart.

After I board that plane in June, Lyon will never again exist as it does for me now.

My friends here will move on, to new cities and experiences, as will I.

The city itself, dynamic and exciting, will continue to evolve.

My favorite pub will find a new set of regulars, and my "French sisters," the little girls in my host family, will grow up into beautiful young women.

But there are things I can take with me. I will insist on giving my friends "bisous"-those charming, potentially awkward, cheek kisses. My apartment will be a St. Louis extension of the gracious living I've learned here from my lovely host family. I will take the lessons I have learned about leisure-to appreciate it-and beauty-to treasure it. A day spent in repose and among beauty is never a day wasted.

In this way, I can take a little bit of Lyon with me wherever I go. Cliché, but true: All good things must come to an end, and so it is with my time here. Yet, in many ways, it is just a beginning. It is the beginning of my travels, international experiences and a new way of looking at the world. A year spent in Europe has taught me that each moment has something to offer.

It is not an attitude that ends here, however. The second part of my challenge upon leaving is to continue to live in this way. Whether it's Istanbul or St. Louis, each place has something to say, and a great traveler can learn from that. If I have learned anything in my year here, it is to live in such a way that extracts and imbibes every bit of experience possible, wherever I am. I have finally learned to "profite bien."


Kate Maxwell is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, studying in Lyon, France.

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