First-year undergraduate students studying at Georgia Tech-Europe in the First Year Semester Abroad (FYSA) program showcased their learning outcomes in a FYSA film festival on Tuesday, December 2, in Metz, France. This event served as the culminating activity for the FYSA course, Communication and Culture, led by Jennifer Orth-Veillon, FYSA Faculty Director at Georgia Tech-Europe. The course offered a chronological, comprehensive exploration of European history and society through guided tours of key historical sites.

Orth-Veillon explains that the film project provides a framework for students to reflect on their intercultural communication experiences and make connections between places, cultural identities, and histories. The course is designed to foster adaptive skills and confidence in navigating uncertainty and unfamiliar situations in an international setting. For the first eight weeks, students take part in hands-on experiential learning about international travel. With guidance from Orth-Veillon, they plan trips, navigate public transit, and deal with unexpected travel challenges. Later, they use these skills during independent travel.

For Jayson Gonzalez, a student in the program, this marks his first experience traveling outside the United States. The experience has broadened his perspective and helped him move beyond cultural stereotypes and initial apprehensions about engaging with people in the host culture. Tommy Vo, another first-year student, noted that the film project required him to “talk to people and understand their culture from their point of view.” He emphasized that this method is more effective for learning than simply reading about cultures in textbooks.

Both Gonzalez and Vo credit their experiences with helping them develop greater confidence in their abilities to live independently for the first time. “I’m sustaining myself, and I’m enriching myself,” Gonzalez said. Orth-Veillon views the FYSA program as often transformative for students. “They have a richer vision of the world and more confidence in their abilities to navigate cultural differences and ambiguity,” she said. According to research from the Forum on Education Abroad, 90% of education abroad alumni surveyed (n=8,000) reported that their experiences helped them build job skills, including adaptability and intercultural communication, which significantly affected their overall career trajectory.

As the FYSA program comes to an end, Vo shared his mixed feelings about leaving Metz: “I want to stay and continue experiencing all these things. But I also know there’s way more in the world to discover and explore.” Gonzalez echoed this sentiment, “This world is so much bigger than any of us, any of our problems, and it is worth seeing,” he said. “The reason our degrees and careers are meaningful is that they contribute to this world. I don’t think any program could have shown me that better than this one. To experience all that while also furthering my academic enrichment has been the most rewarding thing.”

Orth-Veillon’s vision for the film festival project stems from her interest in sharing the transformative learning outcomes of cohort travel more broadly with the Georgia Tech community. Georgia Tech-Europe recently celebrated 35 years of operation and is hosting its fifth FYSA cohort. To learn more about Georgia Tech-Europe and the FYSA program, visit https://firstyearabroad.gatech.edu/.

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