Experiencing Paris is something a lot of Americans dream of.

They long to visit France's capital to see the historic attractions like they see in romantic films. Places like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral.

For Melanie Urvoy it was the opposite. Coming to the United States was a dream for her, the place she saw in movies and TV shows.

She made this dream come true in 2010 through the sport of tennis, playing four years at Louisiana Tech University while earning a college degree.

Nowadays, Melanie still plays tennis (and a newly-discovered sport called padel). What occupies most of her time though is her work as a supply network planner at Johnson & Johnson in Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Part I -- France

At the ripe old age of six, Melanie picked up a racquet and played tennis for the very first time. This was a fairly easy choice for her since her parents and some of her friends were already playing it.

"We sometimes had arguments on the court due to our competitive spirit, but most of the time it was good moments spent with family."

That type of competition and adrenaline that tennis provided is what made the sport such a passion for Melanie.

Vacations became synonymous with tennis tournaments, going all around Paris to play matches. There was also the luxury of watching the greatest players in the world descend upon Roland-Garros for the French Open every spring.

"I had a complicated relationship with tennis. It is a sport that frustrated me as much as it made me fall in love with it. I really enjoyed the vibes of being in the crowd watching the French Open. Matches would be very crazy, especially when French players were on court."

So after having a self-described normal childhood in Paris, following the usual French education path, Melanie developed the urge to travel and experience something other than Paris where she had lived her whole life.

She soon learned that she could get a tennis scholarship to study in the United States. The idea of getting to learn a new language, discover a new culture and live the American life for a few years was a captivating prospect.

"My parents and I started to check how we could make this happen. I posted a video on YouTube for tennis coaches to see and contact me. The coach of Louisiana Tech at the time was coming to Europe to recruit and stopped by Paris to meet me and watch me play. I actually had a tennis match with my team during his visit and I won the best match of my life.

"Sometime after his visit, I had to choose which university I wanted to go to and I chose Louisiana Tech."

Part II -- Louisiana

Melanie admitted she almost changed her mind, fearful of getting on a plane and flying thousands of miles from her current life made up of close family and friends.

She boarded the plane though, wanting to fly the roughly 5,000 miles to embark on a new experience because as she put it, "The wish to live something I dreamed of was bigger than the fear of living alone in another country."

Now in Ruston, the battle between Louisiana accent and French accent began. The two mutually agreed to a draw.

"I remember my first year, it was really tough for me to understand one of my teachers and he also had some difficulties understanding me. One student was actually translating what I was saying to him and vice versa.

"And I must say my French accent did help me to meet people. People were really patient and helped me learn as I struggled to hold a conversation in English at the beginning of my adventure. I really did not expect to fit in so easily."

Fitting in on the tennis court was fairly easy as well. Despite playing for three different coaches, Melanie compiled 54 victories in singles and doubles during her four spring seasons.

Of all the matches, her favorite tennis memory came her senior year in Lake Charles when LA Tech dug deep to pull off a 4-3 come-from-behind victory to defeat McNeese State.

"We were down 3-0 so we could not lose any other match. I won the first point for the team and then we won two other singles to tie the match up at 3-3. The last match was Manoela Chiacchio and she won a three-set thriller. We were all so happy. It was probably not my best match individually, but being able to turn around the game and get the final win was amazing and is still one of my best tennis memories."

That was one of 55 dual team wins -- including two 15-win seasons -- Melanie was a part of at LA Tech.

There were plenty of victories in the classroom as well as she graduated with a 3.58 GPA with a degree in International Business with a concentration on Sustainable Supply Chain Management while also being a two-time Academic All-WAC honoree.

"As a student, my best memory was most likely graduation. Both of my parents were here, some of my closest friends from Tech also. I was really proud when I walked on the stage to get my diploma. Well, to be honest, I was proud after I went down the stage too because I was so scared to fall in front of all those people."

Part III -- Switzerland

After four years with such great memories, Melanie wanted to stay in Louisiana to work. However, there was a lot of difficulty in finding a company that would pay for her needed work visa.

So she started looking at other options. One of those options was to pursue a master's degree back in her home country of France.

Melanie got accepted into a degree program in Bordeaux, France, and tearfully said goodbye to Ruston and all of her friends to start new adventures. "The funny part was that I felt like it was actually harder for me to get used to living in France again than it had been to get used to the United States."

After earning her master's, she got an internship at Johnson & Johnson in Switzerland. Moving around the company a little bit, she ultimately settled into her current gig about 18 months ago.

"Switzerland was a perfect fit for me since I still wanted to travel and learn new cultures, but this time I did not want to move too far from my family. I am currently responsible for planning the distribution of products all over the world and managing our inventory.

"Life for me has been way less exciting than it was in college. I am working a lot and it is not always easy. It is challenging, but I like it, so life is good."

Melanie is quick to say that her time at Louisiana Tech made her the person she is today.

"There were a lot of good times, but it was not always easy. I had to learn how to handle tough times without the help of my family. It made me stronger.

"Tennis and LA Tech also taught me to never give up in order to reach your goals. But most importantly, people I met there taught me to keep a smile on my face and try to bring a happy mood with me wherever I go. That sounds like a typical sentence you hear everywhere. However, I sincerely mean it."

Nowadays when she is not putting in her long work hours in the medical industry, she still finds time to play tennis and that new sport padel which also requires a racquet but is played on an enclosed court a third the size of a tennis court.

She also continues to travel around Europe when she can and even plans on coming back to the states again this year to visit her LA Tech friends.

"I hope to be able to catch up with some of my former teammates when I come visit. I really miss my LA Tech time on and off the tennis court. I still think that coming to Louisiana Tech was one of the best decisions of my life and I am happy I was able to live such a great experience."