Jen's Letter

To put it simply, my intentions for going on this study abroad program was to see a city I’ve wanted to see since I was a little girl. I remember first hearing about this awesome city from a little movie called Anastasia. The way they talked about it seemed like it was the best city on earth. It blew my tiny mind! My second interest in this trip was the famous deemed  “fashion capital of the world.” As someone who is aspiring to work in the fashion industry this is defiantly a huge step. I really wanted to see if it lived up to its name. Apart from that, I really wanted to see if their fashion culture would inspire anything for my designs in CD. My mind had envisioned this picture perfect city with great sights and a brilliant atmosphere.  

 I certainly appreciated Versailles because I have this odd obsession with Marie Antoinette, as well as the Opera. But what was most exciting to me, was the self-explore days. While both Chris and Eric did a wonderful job of teaching the course, I was itching to do more self-explore days. These days were the most important because it allowed me to break away from what seemed like a strict Architectural and Fine Art course. During these days, I did a lot of things I consider to inspire to me for my work. I ventured to the fashion district to see Louis Vuitton, Celine, Hermes, Chanel, and Dior. I even ate lunch at Chanel, where I proceeded to cry because Coco Chanel is a personal influence on me. Another thing was just venturing out on my own to see the city on a personal level and not as a teaching in a lesson. You got to know the city better this way because you’re not tuning your ears to hear a lecture about how Picasso sat at this particular spot to paint. You view and hear on your own and learn from that.

This trip has defiantly opened my eyes to experience a new look into what people are attracted to. As I stated before, my dream is to go into fashion. Just seeing all these women walking on the street has made me rethink that good fashion isn’t designer wear, head to toe. But it’s the one simple statement piece. Which usually comes in the form of a scarf. Even though I’m not a fashion designer, I can re-take that thought of one statement piece to create whatever I do in CD.

 The course is defiantly challenging. From the start of when you leave to the end of the final studio project/paper, expect a mix range of emotions. These will come in the form of anger from eating too much bread and not your typical dinner, to happiness because you saw that statue from the 1^st century BC that you absolutely adored in the Louvre. It’s not easy and you have to not let anything terrible get to your head. No matter how much you want to quit, it’s only two weeks and someday you can look back and laugh. The importance of traveling is to open your eyes to new discoveries. If you still keep your self cooped up in one spot, you remain with the same ideas of the world. This can influence you to be a closed minded person. If you’re an artist, designer, or writer, travel is the inspiration for your work. The mind grows with many new ideas and replaces the ones you’ve had that get repeated in your work.

Overall, Paris in its overhyped glory isn’t worth all the excitement if you go to traditional tourist areas. Find your niche and explore it. There’s a lot of baggage that comes with the city that you don’t get to see or hear about until you experience it for yourself. I guess that’s how you break from this comfort zone you’ve built up over yourself all your life.