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Question: “What are you going to miss most about being abroad? ”
By Hanna Ogilvy
Luckily for me, I will also study abroad next semester. Thus, when asked what I will miss the most about being abroad, I have to refine my question to: What I will miss most about Nantes? –and this is not an easy question to answer.
Yes, the food is amazing the people I have met will forever be a part of my greater family. However, there is one thing I will never forget: The metro system.
For me, I take the metro system, here called the “tran,” every day. I take line one to Commerce (the hub of the city center) and then take line two out of the center towards school. The whole process takes about 30 minutes, but usually, it is the best 30 minutes of my day.
The tran system is not like the Boston underground system. Nantes trans are above ground and are usually rather clean. I have experienced two circumstances on the tran: I am with a friend or I am by myself.
As there are hardly any American’s in Nantes, if I am with a friend or friends, I am probably in the company of someone from a different culture. I could not even place a figure on the number of times I have had conversations about life, love, religion, or beauty on a tran. It may seem like a random setting for such a conversation, but it has become a normal occurrence for me.
Then there is the other case: I am alone. This scenario is also very rewarding. Usually, this happens in the morning, when I leave my residence around 7:30 a.m. At this time, it is still dark.
However, by the time I have stepped on to line two, the sun is beaming through every tran window, and it is beautiful. This mixed with the most beautiful language in the world swirling in my ears from those around me is a perfect way to start my day. And for that reason, it will be what I miss most about Nantes – taking the tran.
