To Future Students

Dear future study abroad student,

I want to tell you a little about my experience in Paris this summer. I’ll start by explaining where it all started and i’ll try and give you pointers along the way. I hope that you have a wonderful time on your own trip to Paris and that what I say here can be helpful to you!

Since freshman year I have attended maybe 3 or 4 of the travel abroad meetings. I have wanted to go every time but just couldn’t see it through. Every year my desire to travel continued to grow until sometime last summer when it bubbled over and I just decided it had to be done. I had just finished watching Midnight in Paris and consequently had my sights set on Paris all year. My initial intent was to spend a semester abroad and so I started looking into that right away. When that fell through I was pretty awfully disappointed until I heard that this trip was being offered. I was going to Paris. No if’s and’s or but’s. 

Upon arriving in Paris I quickly realized that it was both exactly and nothing like I had expected. Coming over on the train from the airport I saw out the window graffiti, buildings in ruins, and something much less glamorous than I had always imagined. I was pretty worried that this would be my experience from then on out. Coming up out of the metro stop near out hostel didn’t help that feeling much either. It certainly wasn’t the most glamorous of locations though i’m not sure what I was expecting, it was a hostel after all. Now don’t let my initial evaluation of the area deter you, that was just my face value judgement of the place. It turned out to be a pretty nice area.  The hostel itself though had some issues, more on that later...maybe.

Note to future students, don’t eat at Belushi’s. Just don’t. Except for the free breakfast of course. 

Moving on.

In the 2 weeks I was in Paris I experienced everything I had always wanted to see and be near and so much more. Going with this program meant experiencing places I would never have thought to have gone and getting to view things that very few people in the world get to see. As a design major I’m not terribly into museums and galleries and I certainly wouldn’t have known how much I would love the Musée Rodin or the Pompidou. Without the art historical expertise of Chris and the architectural knowledge of Eric  I never would have looked twice at the Saint Séverin Church, which turned out to be one of my favorite places that we visited. 

Without the guidance of professors who knew where the hidden gems were I would have only experienced half of Paris, and remained ignorant to its true beauty. 

Note to future students, when the professors recommend an area to go on your free day, or a restaurant, or just take you somewhere you don’t think you want to go, give it a chance first. I think you’ll end up liking it more than you think. 

This happened to me countless times during the trip. Whenever I heard we were going to another museum I felt a little disappointed because, as I mentioned, i’m not the biggest fan of museums, However when we got to each museum I always ended up really interested in what was there. I think I might be a museum person now...weird.

Now about the course work...if you’re like me and you don’t journal, and you can’t really draw, hearing that you have to keep a journal with detailed drawings in it makes you want to give up almost immediately. That’s exactly how I felt the first few days trying to write all of these ridiculous scales (you’ll find out about the scales). I couldn’t imagine wasting time writing in a journal instead of experiencing the place that I was in. I’m a person who is profoundly driven by experience and not very good at sitting still so for the first couple of days, this journal was my nightmare. But it got better.

Note to future students, just keep writing. Even if they are seemingly tiny, stupid little observations, write them down. Write along the side of your journal, make crazy diagrams with arrows all over the place and notes squished in the margins because you forgot to write it down initially. Just keep writing, and go ahead and attempt to draw too. Though it may not be pretty, you’ll feel more accomplished later. Promise. 

Now to some more practical things.

Take photos. Bring your big clunky nice camera and take thousands of photos. You’ll regret it later if you don’t! Also bring a power strip! This was never something I had considered until I saw it sitting there in the hostel and I thought...”What an ingenious idea! How did I not think of something so simple?!”. 

If anything is playing while you’re in France or traveling elsewhere afterwards, see a show! See the Opera, go to a musical, etc. it will be a night to remember for sure! Speaking of traveling elsewhere...do that! It doesn't cost that much to travel afterwards and it will be so good to relax after the course and experience another part of Europe. 

This trip to Paris was one I will never forget and will keep with me. It has given me the drive I needed to be a world traveler. I’ve gotten a taste, and I want more. I’m sure the same will happen to you. I wish you the best of luck on your own trip to Paris and hope you get as much out of it as I did. 

Sincerely,

Andrea