Demat deoc’h ! Were you expecting a bonjour? Did you know that Brittany, the northwestern region of France, has its own language called Breton, and that you just learned how to say “hello everyone” in Breton?
My name is Maxwell Pirtle and I’m excited to share with you my experience living in Rennes, France, the capital of Brittany. I’m 22 years old and originally from Long Island, New York. Growing up, I loved being in nature, reading about science, and learning other languages. In college, I left for Boston, Massachusetts to study computer science at Northeastern University. During my time at Northeastern, I was fortunate to be able to travel to a number of different cities, from San Francisco, California to Oslo, Norway and in fact even Rennes, France!
Eager to return to Rennes, I applied for and was fortunate to receive a U.S. Fulbright Study Grant for two years of study at the École normale supérieure de Rennes (a mouthful!), or ENS Rennes for short. Currently, I’m enrolled in a number of exciting and challenging courses, from looking at the internals of computers to learning how to program the largest supercomputers around!
I’m excited to share my adventures with you and can’t wait to hear about your own!
Want to learn how you could be a Fulbright Scholar like me? The Fulbright Program is the United States government's flagship international exchange program. Fulbrighters foster mutual understanding between the United States and partner nations, share knowledge across communities, and improve lives around the world. Learn more by clicking here!
