Seventeen-year-old Nicole dreams of spending the rest of her life with her boyfriend Nate. So when she finds herself on her way to Paris to study abroad without him, she's less than thrilled. Paris is filled with cars that move at the speed of light, edible snails, and a language that Nicole can't speak or read. Worst of all, Nicole feels lost without Nate. She's not sure she's capable of finding joie de vivre on her own, but with the help of some new friends--and a certain handsome Frenchman-- Nicole might find Paris as sweet as a cafe au lait after all.

Cat Wilcox has left chilly Boston for sunny Mexico and a summer of girl bonding with her best friend, Sabrina. But Sabrina has a surprise. She is accompanied by her boyfriend a boyfriend Cat didn t even know existed. So rather than Sabrina and Cat spending their study-abroad semester working together at the orphan school building site, Cat expects she ll be hammering nails all by her lonesome. Then she meets Aidan. He s cute, he s smart, and he s paying her a lot of attention. Cat can t tell if he s flirting or friendly, but she s not sure it matters. Isn t it easier to be just friends? But...

Nori Tanaka is thrilled to be studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan, but it isn't exactly what she had imagined. She expected tranquil gardens and swoopy-roofed houses, not concrete and neon. And everyone assumes that, with her traditional Japanese features, she's a native instead of the naive Japanese-American that she really is. Even Erik, a gorgeous German student, mistakes Nori for Japanese, and treats her like a personal tour guide. Nori is sure that he'll like her for who she is once he gets to know her, so what harm can come of temporarily pretending to be Japanese? It doesn't take long to...