Some people have asked me why I left Paris to go to the Netherlands, to Groningen, a city that, compared to Paris, is…uhmm…almost unknown :-D. It’s like “mais tu en as marre de Paris?” (“but you get bored of Paris?”), or “mais tu es déjà à l’étranger, pourquoi tu veux parir ailleurs?” (“but you are already abroad, why do you want to go somewhere else?”). Or worse, they think immediately about the weed, the alcohol, the big parties, etc.

Thus, in this first article, I would like to answer to those questions, to talk about the reasons why I wanted to go Groningen.

First, I am very interested by the programs that they propose here: Creating an International Event for the second semester (so, it is very probably that I will attend that class in some months) and Game On! for the first semester (actually, I was supposed to attend the Creating a Communication Campaign class, then I changed my minor to Game On!. But both interest me).

Second, I want to improve my English, as a good English will be compulsory for me, even if I want to stay in France, go to somewhere else or come back to Vietnam. And there is no other way to study a foreign language but practice it, a lot, a lot, and a lot. “Practice makes perfect”. Of course, I don’t expect that after 10 months in the Netherlands, I will have a perfect English, or will speak like a native speaker. But I will be more used to use and speak English, and more importantly, I will be less shy to do so.

Last but not least, let’s agree on one thing: leaving a city or country, going to another city or country, it doesn’t mean that you don’t like the first country or city. But on the contrary, this makes you understand more about the first country/city, and your life there. The last two years in France have let me know much more about the world, about others, understand more about Vietnam, my people, my culture, and especially about myself. Thus, I want to go to the third (and why not the fourth or more) country, to to meet new people (Dutch people but also people from all over the world, as there are many international students in the city, and my program is an exchange program), to enrich my knowledge, and reflection, to understand more about France, about Vietnam.

Paris always has a place in my heart, like Hanoi also has. Paris, for me, doesn’t only have the ‘bright side’ of (uhmm…which words people usually use?) ‘the City of Love’, ‘the Capital of Light’. Paris is not just ‘beautiful’, ‘wonderful’. Paris is not always like how She appears in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”. I also saw the dark and cruel side of Paris: the dirty underground, the stress, the expensive life, etc. But She is still particular to me: I like the culture, I appreciate the people that I have met in Paris, and most of all, I have had many souvenirs with Paris, like I have had many souvenirs in Hanoi, in Vietnam.

* Inspired by the song title “C’est comme ça que je m’en vais” of the French group named “Il était une fois”.