David Goes To Paris

David Cawton II Start Date: Nov 9, 2012 - End Date: Feb 9, 2013
  • Paris, France

My Travel Story

by: David Cawton II Start Date: Nov 9, 2012 - End Date: Feb 9, 2013
My study abroad trip is to Paris, France in June 2013. This trip is the culmination of four years of hard work, hundreds of research papers, countless hours at my various internships, and lots of late nights. The reason I choose Paris is actually a practical one. I am a communications student at Jacksonville University, studying Broadcasting. Our communication majors have to satisfy basically two years of a foreign language as a degree requirement. I choose French and I’m glad I did, even though the classes offered are very slim. This trip will allow me to fulfill those requirements without having to go back to school for an entire year. A Little About Me I am a senior this year at Jacksonville University, and I’ve been very busy in my time there. I would say that I work either just as hard or harder than most students simply because of the various things I’m involved in. Besides holding a high GPA with a full class load each semester, I do work full time at AAA Auto Club Group as a Sales and Service Specialist and Media Representative. In the last two years, I’ve also interned at our Athletic Department producing all 100+ home sporting events each year on a live web stream and directed live television for our football games. In the spring of 2012, I also interned at our CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, working in the newsroom and the sports department. For the past two NFL seasons, I’ve worked on the Jacksonville Jaguars Game Day Staff, which has really been an eye-opening experience. I am great full for all of these opportunities and I hope that they pay off when I graduate! In school I host a radio show at the school radio station Dolphin Radio, and are an associate producer slash reporter for The Dolphin Channel, the school’s TV network. I’ve produced pieces for Non-Profit organizations and my work is currently featured on G.R.E.A.T. Rescues website. As you can see, days off are few and far between. The Trip: I took a study abroad two years ago to Italy Greece and Turkey for two weeks and couldn’t have been more satisfied. It was efficient in the fact that I gained six credit hours in upper level classes in just two weeks and was able to visit some of the ancient world’s most inspiring sites. This year, due to my class and work schedule, I was unable to continue the French track at school. Unfortunately I can’t take classes in the middle of the afternoon or I would have to quit my job. If I quit my job, I can’t pay rent and that’s not good. I talked to the study abroad office and they told me about the month in Paris. They offer the last six credit hours, (2 Classes), in my French sequence and would be much cheaper than spending an entire year in school. The trip cost just over $5,300 + Air fair which is running between $1,300-1,500. I figure I need about $500-800 in cash but I can live bare bones if I need to! I am paying for this mostly through student aid and probably a loan. I would love to avoid doing this, but I can’t afford not to go. If I decided to stay at JU for another year, that’s almost another $30,000, mostly paid for in student loans. Anything helps. $10 is the minimum donation and anything above that is a blessing. This trip means a lot to me and will be the last time for a while that I’ll be able to travel for a purpose. The offices at CIS abroad require me to keep a live journal and post pictures of the entire experience so I’ll be able to update you on everything. Before, during and after I will be filming and documenting the experience and will use that to create a documentary when I return to the states. I think this will also be a nice item to have on a resume as well as in life. Thank you again for your support and I can’t wait!
  • Paris, France

Updates

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  • Quick Fix

    Just wanted to update my Campaign description. I feel it's a bit better than what I wrote previously! Thanks