College is often the first opportunity students find to go abroad and experience a new culture, however senior Julia Bovee has possessed the desire to travel since visiting France when she was 15 years old.

Bovee has been speaking French for eight years, taking language classes beginning freshman year at Sitka High School. For two weeks during the summer after her sophomore year Bovee attended, Le Caousou, the sister school to Sitka High. Bovee lived with a French family and experienced the culture first hand.

“It’s one things to learn French in the classroom, but to actually experience it I get a high, like a runner’s high,” Bovee said.

Junior year of her Whitworth career, Bovee embraced the opportunity to return to France through ISEP, an international exchange program. The experience abroad taught Bovee independence and deepened her love for travel, she says.

“I really liked going alone,” Bovee said. “I was independent but not in the same way. In French culture I felt like I wasn’t coddled.”

After graduating from Whitworth, Bovee plans to return to the North area of France and work as an au pair for at least one year. The idea of meeting new people and getting the opportunity to improve her French is the main goal, Bovee said.

Following her au pair position, Bovee hopes to remain in France and pursue a career as an English tutor.

This spring, Bovee will graduate from Whitworth with a double major in both French and English, and like many her age she feels anxiety about what’s to come. As a fallback plan to living in France, Bovee is interested in getting her masters so she can teach.

“It’s really scary because I don’t know what I’ll do in the next five years, but it’s also exciting,” Bovee said.