Vive la France!

Well! With the start of the new year and my upcoming adventures in Europe, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to start a blog to keep family updated, vent, and maybe even help some people out who are trying to study abroad.

My name is Nik Boivin.  I am a junior at Siena College in Loudonville, NY studying business.  I will be graduating in 2014 with a BS in Actuarial Sciences, a minor in French, and certificate in Risk Management.  Covering each of the School of Business, Science, and Liberal Arts, I guess you could call me a "Renaissance Man" or perhaps "Jack of All Trades," but my true love is French.  (That sounds so cocky and I am totally kidding.  A more fitting name would be "Busy-Bee.")

Everything about France has been interesting to me over the years, ever since I found out that I am part French!  Just after this fabulous news, I learned that my grandfather and his family were from Canada and spoke French in their household.  This was when I became intrigued.  What made the language and culture so alluring to me, I will never know, but since then I have come to accept that fate has intertwined myself and France. If you think that is an exaggerated claim, think again:

Favorite Food: French Fries. Preferred Salad Dressing: French.  Pancakes or French Toast: French Toast.  I prefer wine to almost any other alcoholic beverage.  My favorite books are The Little Price and Notre-Dame de Paris both written by famous French authors.  In school, given the choice of Spanish or French, I chose French.  My favorite new movie is "Les Misérables" while my old is "Amélie."  Escargots and cordon bleu are two of my favorite dishes and Belle was my favorite Disney Princess.  

I could go on and on about the many examples of the omnipresent French in my life, but the most powerful would have to be the meaning of my last name.  The name "Boivin" is a combination of two French words.  "Boi" is from the word "boire," meaning "to drink," and "vin," the word for "wine."  What does that mean? I was born a wine-drinking Frenchman.  Pretty badass, if you ask me!

Coming into college, I thought that my obsession with France would need to be suppressed.  There isn't much that you can do with a degree in a language anymore while also living comfortably.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are many people out there doing very well off degrees like this, but I wanted the possibility to go really far in my career.  I decided that I would become a doctor! I could use my science skills in a productive way and help people! What could be better than that?  Nothing!

Well...you have to pass basic biology classes to become a doctor, something that my first year at Siena proved would be impossible.  I can't tell if it was the teacher, the overly broad material, or just the fact that I didn't enjoy the class, but nonetheless I could not pass my second General Biology class.

I can remember the night that I decided to change majors! I mustered up the courage, emailed my advisor and teacher, and dropped the course online.  I followed this by putting a bottle of Moscato to my face in true French celebratory manner!

I switched my major to mathematics hoping that I could use it to get a job somewhere important, like the CIA or NASA.  What I found out there is that math majors have to take classes that have almost nothing to do with applying math and more about the ideas behind it.

Exhibit A: Foundations of Math.
Exhibit B: Number Theory.

This stuff wasn't for me.  I wanted to use my math skills in everyday life and see how my actions changed things.  I wanted to apply my math to things where I could measure how much change could happen.  I wanted to deal in money.  By now, mid October of my Sophomore year, I had decided to switch to my third major, Actuarial Sciences.

Actuarial Science is a pretty specific field of work with a great job outlook and many perks.  Actuaries deal with the risk that is involved with certain actions, people, and deals.  Actuaries, for the most part, work in insurance measuring how much risk is involved with different classes of people, doing things like seeing how to lower premium costs, targeting bad drivers away from safe drivers, and estimating how much money the companies should keep in reserve to cover future debts of all of their insured customers over any given time.  This may sound like a very intimidating career choice, but for the last 10 years or so,  being an actuary has been considered one of the top three least stressful jobs and one of the top jobs in terms of career outlook.

Being in the business world would mean having to talk with clients from around the world.  Maybe this could even mean traveling abroad or finding a position in an international corporation! I could use my skills in French from my last five years of taking the language to my benefit! This made me so excited and encouraged me to pick up my minor.

I chose to study a semester in Paris through a "third party"-like company called API after talking with my French Professor at Siena.  What I mean is that Siena recommended that I apply to API to get accepted into a French school...and I did!  During the upcoming semester, I will be studying at L'institut catholique de Paris on the left bank of the city!  I will be taking a full 15 credit hours and will be studying the language!  All of my classes will be in French with others who are learning the language.

In terms of housing, I will have my own studette in the city! API has given me a list of possible housing situations for the time being and will give me my exact location later on in the process.  While not the most classy of housing, my studette will have a small kitchen, a bed, and desk.  (Think of a mix between a studio apartment and a dorm room)  I will be responsible for my own food, laundry, and everything else you can think of, though API does provide some money for food and a monthly metro pass!  I will finally get my independence that I have been reaching for since high school!! From my two journeys to Paris in the past, I know roughly where each of the places are in the city and what is located near each.  They all sound really amazing and each seem to have their own...style, if you will.  One is near many famous monuments, one near Notre Dame, one very close to the high fashion and shopping districts, etc.

I am so excited to go and ready for the opportunity to prove and discover myself that the days have become longer and longer.  With only 31 days left until my departure on February 3rd, I have had/do have a lot to do before I can go and start the adventure that I have always longed for.