Ben Gorski, 5th Year Senior, Double Majoring in Chemistry and French

by Elizabeth Ma

Did you always know you wanted to double major in Chemistry and French?

I knew I wanted to start with French, and so I started with the minor my freshman year. Through the exploratory program my freshman year, I tried to find the best fit that would go with the French minor. I started with Communications, and then I went to International Business, and because I didn’t like the course load in those colleges, I went to Chemistry. I took Chemistry 1210 and 1220, and after that process, I knew that chemistry was a good fit for me because I liked the courses, and I saw the direct application in a business setting. I declared the Chemistry major and French minor, then went abroad and accumulated so many credits that now I’m a double major.

Has French always been part of your life?

My aunt has always been a huge influence on me--she lives in Nice. When I was younger, she invited our whole family to visit the town where she lives, and I really enjoyed it. Before I was in high school, I was already debating on what language I wanted to take because I knew that it would end up being important to me. International affairs has always been a huge topic in my life. I visited my aunt when I was 13, right before high school started, so entering freshman year I was already super into the language. Ever since then, I’ve been studying it, going on eight years.

How do you balance the two subjects?

I enjoy both subjects quite a bit. If I had to choose between one or the other in which to establish a career, I’d probably lean towards French, just because I’ve been passionate about it since I was 13. At the same time though, Chemistry is the means by which I get out into the world. I would say I definitely have to equally budget the time that I spend on both subjects. While one is harder, there are very different schools of thought that you have to employ to understand them both. I would frame French as a giant volume of information that you have to categorize – you’re basically becoming a human dictionary. You have to learn expressions, the language itself, the employment, grammar, syntax, etc. With Chemistry, I would say there’s a lesser volume of what you’re memorizing; however, the concepts that you’re learning are a lot more difficult in nature. I can learn the status of a verb in two seconds, and then know how to conjugate it based on the grammar I’ve learned, and I can use this and employ this in everyday grammar. In Chemistry, I learn about a weird Spectroscopy concept, and I have to spend a couple of days trying to figure out how it works. The two subjects just have different ways of thinking, both of which I enjoy. I tend to spend my mornings working on French and then switch over to Chemistry during the afternoon.

What study abroad program did you go on?

I went on the Nantes program in the Northwest part of France, during the spring semester of my sophomore year. The reason that I chose that program was because it was the most intensive program offered by Ohio State. My advisor through OIA recommended it to me, and she said that it was really comprehensive and that she loves Nantes as a city. Also the fact that it wasn’t in Paris sort of allowed me to practice my French even more. A lot more people in Paris speak English, so if I had gone to Paris, I probably would have had more people respond to me in English, had I started a conversation in French. In Nantes, I stayed with a host family, nobody spoke English, and I made a lot of friends who weren’t necessarily fluent in English. I got to practice quite a bit and have fun at the same time. It definitely helped me out with the language skills that I was striving for while I was there. 

After the program ended, I actually ended up staying abroad for another three months because I found an internship in Paris at a chemistry lab. There I got to work on some Nano chemistry stuff, which was really fun.

Did you do your work in French?

Yes, I actually ended up publishing a 14-page report at the end.

Wow, your French must be pretty good then!

It’s not bad. I just set a high standard for myself. I think I’ll always be striving to better my grasp of the language. While some people might call me fluent, it’s all dependent on how you gauge yourself and what goals you set. I know I want to be able to sit at a table with four or five French people and not worry about the language barrier and not have them accommodate themselves or the conversation for me. That, for me, would be full fluency.

Is that what motivates you to keep on pushing yourself with the language?

Absolutely. The international presence it would allow me to have, and the fact that I’m able to represent my country, go abroad and show people that all Americans don’t fit into that uncultured stereotype. It gives me bigger opportunities to other places in the world.  It’s a good compliment to Chemistry, in my opinion. I’d say Chemistry is very ubiquitous, which is why I chose it, and the French along with that is a bit more focused; however, I’m passionate about both of them.

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