Thank you for the update, it’s always SO USEFUL for other students wondering tje same choices and cool for us (adults).
Sorry freshman year was so tough. I think it highlights how hard it can be to make a large campus feel small - but the opposite can be true too. There really was no wrong choice in that no college is perfect. In the end, you found your stride and made the best of it - D1 Rowing! Shadowing in neurosurgery! A choice between Aix and Paris for study abroad (if you go in the Spring, I’d pick Aix: better weather and Winter Break then 7 weeks later Spring Break should give you time in Paris. If you arrive in Paris for New Year’s, you get the best of both worlds, with Paris for vacations, Aix for daily life&studying, and weekends along the Riviera and Provence. Btw a kid named Max Reisinger spent a semester in Aix bc his parents were doing research there and has pretty good vlogs about it as well as the rest of his life
https://youtu.be/e6QbEzXKSw0 )
Anyway, thank you for posting and hope Jr Year is the best yet! 
My niece studied abroad in Aix and really enjoyed it. She had friends studying all over Europe and they all spent time traveling to the other countries to try everything out - Germany for Octoberfest, to Africa to ride camels, to Paris for the sights. In Aix, another student and she lived in a small house with a woman who had lots of student boarders over the years and really liked it.
The school did have an attendance requirement and she’d missed all the classes she could for one semester, so when she met her family in Paris for Thanksgiving week she had to go back to Aix midweek to go to class. If it is the same school, make sure you plan your entire semester and travel with this in mind.
I think it’s pretty common to not really hit your stride until sophomore year. I’m so glad you’ve found your place there and you have so many good things going on. Best of luck to you for the second half of college and I hope it just keeps getting better!