After letting students have our Tuesday arrival day to work out jet lag, study-abroad began in earnest Wednesday 7 May with a morning orientation presentation and an afternoon bus tour of Paris, our classroom.
Our tour of Paris begin with the iconic Eiffel Tower, which we saw from a beautiful vantage point across the Seine. When the tower was erected 125 years ago, it was considered an eyesore and supposed to come down after 20 years. Today it would be hard to envision Paris without it.
Our group is so large (102 students plus 9 faculty and staff) that it takes three buses to haul us around. Each bus had a licensed tour guide who explained the history of Paris and France while pointing out some of the key sights.
We learned about the Sun King, how the French created the guillotine as a more humane execution method, how the French revolution went awry multiple times, what “Les Miserables” has to do with French history, how Napoleon liked to erect monuments to himself, and how Paris has remained a timeless city of nearly 9 million people in the metropolitan area.
Oh, and we saw where “Charade” with Audrey Hepburn and Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” were filmed and learned how the French are prone to hypochrondia.
Formal classes begin Thursday. But really, our classes happen every day. Sometimes students get planned educational outings such as the bus tour, and which will continue Friday with a visit to the Louvre and next week in Versailles. Sometimes the learning comes when students venture around Paris to tour the Opera House they saw from the outside today or interact with locals while doing projects. The entire city is the classroom. (Click on individual pictures to enlarge.)
Our tour of Paris begin with the iconic Eiffel Tower, which we saw from a beautiful vantage point across the Seine. When the tower was erected 125 years ago, it was considered an eyesore and supposed to come down after 20 years. Today it would be hard to envision Paris without it.
Our group is so large (102 students plus 9 faculty and staff) that it takes three buses to haul us around. Each bus had a licensed tour guide who explained the history of Paris and France while pointing out some of the key sights.
We learned about the Sun King, how the French created the guillotine as a more humane execution method, how the French revolution went awry multiple times, what “Les Miserables” has to do with French history, how Napoleon liked to erect monuments to himself, and how Paris has remained a timeless city of nearly 9 million people in the metropolitan area.
Oh, and we saw where “Charade” with Audrey Hepburn and Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” were filmed and learned how the French are prone to hypochrondia.
Formal classes begin Thursday. But really, our classes happen every day. Sometimes students get planned educational outings such as the bus tour, and which will continue Friday with a visit to the Louvre and next week in Versailles. Sometimes the learning comes when students venture around Paris to tour the Opera House they saw from the outside today or interact with locals while doing projects. The entire city is the classroom. (Click on individual pictures to enlarge.)
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