As a child, many people have dreams or goals that fade away as time goes on, and as new experiences take place. But for senior Sarah Nassar, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

“I have known for a long time that I wanted to live in a different country. Honestly since elementary school,” she said. 

The idea of fully immersing herself into a different culture came from her mother. Due to her mother spending time in Germany and learning German, and then coming back to the states to share about her experience, Nassar wants to have the same experience, but in France. “I started learning French in 6th Grade, like everyone has the choice to. And from there, I knew that was the place for me. What’s really cool is that for my career, it will really help me learn a lot,” she said. 

For Nassar and her future goals of going into film studies, seeing Paris in-person is something that she feels will help her in the long run. “There are a lot of iconic places in France and Paris specifically. You always see them in movies and while you see them, I think that it will be different to get to see them for myself before I come back to the states,” Nassar said. 

For Nassar, the idea of going and living in France is not completely out of the question, but staying there indefinitely right out of high school isn’t something that she sees happening.

“I have a job and have been saving for about a year. My parents are also helping me pay for it and it has been in about monthly installments. And yes, I think that it is possible that I will live there for the rest of my life, but I don’t think that it is going to happen soon. I think I’m going to come back to the states and study here since I am a part of the A Plus Program, and then I will end up going to a four year university. If the opportunity to study abroad comes along, I can definitely see myself going back and studying there.”

For the time being, Nassar’s opportunity will create a truly memorable experience to mark her entrance into adulthood.

“My first trip there will be in early May, and it’s really cool. I have the choice to graduate early, and then get to go live in France for a little bit, and then I get to go back with my classmates on the school trip. So it’s really nice that I get to go personally and do what I want to, then I get to go back with my friends over the summer,” she said. 

Although to Nassar the Eiffel Tower is nice to look at, she has a few other places in mind of where she is excited to go. “I’m specifically excited to go to the restaurant Bouillon Chartier since they have very authentic, classic French cuisine. Madame Hauser also told me about this other restaurant called Le Refuge des Fondus where everyone sits together at a large table and eats fondue together. It sounds like such an exciting way to meet new people while eating great food. I want to go to the symphony since I am in orchestra and have played the cello since 4th Grade. I’d also like to take an architecture tour of Paris since there is so much history to learn and many buildings are significantly older than anything in the United States. I want to go to a movie theater in Paris to see how similar or different the experience is,” she said. 

With future career goals on the horizon, getting to travel before her life begins is beneficial to her.

“Since I want to go into film studies for a career, going and seeing all of these places that you only see on a screen will make anything that I see so much more real,” Nassar said. “I think I will learn a lot more about how to live on my own and be almost totally self-sufficient. I hope to become fluent in French and come back with a better understanding of another culture and how they live. I want to have many new experiences and meet a lot of new people. I’m excited to see how my outlook on life changes and generally expand my mind. I have only ever lived in Wildwood and I’ve only traveled out of the country once so I’m very intrigued to learn what my life will look like over there.”