The Cool News Is, You’re On Your Own Now

The days are long, but the time is short. That’s how I would summarize my first two weeks here in Dublin. Right now, it’s the beginning of the third week of my program and I have a heightened awareness of how little time I really have to explore. To put it into perspective, there are …

Cinema, Cinema, Cinema

Play ‘Cinema’ by CIX. A well-known fact about me: I love to watch foreign TV and film. Bong Joon Ho, the director and writer of many critically-acclaimed films including Parasite (2019), said it best as he accepted the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020: “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will …

Mise en scène: Performing in France

The IES Abroad Nantes Program offers a variety of courses taught entirely in French, from Gastronomy to Translation, but the most interactive course is without a doubt TH 343: Theater Production. You read that right! Theater Production. No, we’re not sitting at desks in the IES center analyzing French comedies— we’re rehearsing for a live performance, every …

Don’t Sink: Visiting Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel

Though France is beginning to blossom and warm, on Saturday morning I wrapped my fuzzy pastel scarf securely around my neck in preparation for the cooler coastal winds of Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel. For the third IES field trip of the semester, we headed back to Brittany, the northwestern region of France known for its cider, …

Sightseeing in Paris Pt. 2: The Catacombs

After meandering through The Louvre (see Sightseeing in Paris Pt. 1), my family and I decided to end our second day in Paris by tackling an unusual item on my bucket list: Visiting the Catacombs of Paris. I wouldn’t say the ossuaries deep underneath the bustling city of Paris were high on my bucket list, …

Sightseeing in Paris Pt. 1: The Louvre

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a student studying abroad in France must be in want of a trip to Paris. Okay, that’s not quite how Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice begins but it very well could, were it set in modern France— There’s a predictable plot for the next Netflix series set in …

Royal Residences: The Loire Valley Châteaux

After a few days of exploring the narrow streets and tram lines that shape the city of Nantes, France, we hopped on a bus early Saturday morning for our first field trip: A tour of the Loire Valley châteaux. Over 300 châteaux, or castles, decorate the Loire Valley. Relics of royal courts and the Renaissance, …

Socks & Suitcases: Preparing to Study Abroad

48 hours.  48 hours until I say Au revoir! to the suburbs of Chicago and depart for Nantes, France.  Well, maybe 54 hours is more accurate since I have a connecting flight in Texas, but my shock is the same. I’m leaving my parents, brother, three cats, and tortoise to travel over 4,000 miles to …

Evolution of Learning a French Word

As the semester draws to a close, I’ve been reflecting on how far I’ve come in language acquisition. While my classes are without a doubt helpful in acquiring new vocabulary, I’ve found that just living in France is indispensable when wanting to learn new words and phrases. Picking up vocabulary through context is far easier …

Found in Translation

Way back in January, I opted to take a French-English translation class at Rennes 2. This means I got graded alongside native French students. Who speak French. Natively. This suggested two possible outcomes: 1.) I would perish in the ocean of French vocabulary I did not know. Aware I was going waaaay in over my …