I am currently a U.S. Foreign Service Officer/Deputy Senior Commercial Officer working in the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. I very much enjoyed the French program at the U of A. Despite my French-sounding last name, I didn’t have much background in French prior to my studies at the U of A. I thought the teachers were wonderful and very patient with me as I learned the language. I feel that having French as one of my majors really helped me to get into MBA graduate school and later into the U.S. Foreign Service. Studying French (or any other foreign language) can open up unexpected doors in the future. I studied French for four years at U of A and one year at the Thunderbird MBA school. Although I never truly used French for work, my French major did help me get into graduate school, my first international trade job in Washington, D.C. and later into the Foreign Service as a diplomat. Although I had a background in French, my career has focused on Asia so I consequently studied Japanese and Chinese and lived/worked in both countries. However, I believe today that I would not have had the opportunity for an international career had I not initially studied French at U of A and selected it as one of my majors.
