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 …
Continue reading “Socks & Suitcases: Preparing to Study Abroad”
Paris is a complicated, historic city. There are unwritten rules to just about everything, and if you want to be treated like a local, you better follow them all. Unlike in newer American cities and towns, quick convenience and individual happiness are subject second to the city’s collective needs and functionality. Say au revoir to …
Continue reading “Vivre à Paris: Rules, Reasons and History”
People say to trust your instincts because they’re usually right. Instincts, it turns out, aren’t as good when you’ve just arrived in a foreign country, sleep deprived, and in desperate need of food and a shower. I took a flight from Minneapolis to Cincinnati on Sunday, January 6 and from there I took an overnight …
I was able to visit the Musée d’Orsay over the past week, which is a very unique museum. The museum itself is inside the old Paris train station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Musée d’Orsay houses several famous artworks, including an entire wing of Vincent van Gogh paintings. If you climb to the top …
Continue reading “Musée d’Orsay, Top of the Eiffel Tower, and the World Cup!”
As an avid art fan, I was super excited to get the chance to go to Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. Giverny is a small countryside town in Normandy, France. Giverny is famous for its rolling countryside hills and impressionist art history, which was a great change of scenery from the busy streets …
Continue reading “Claude Monet’s House and the Towers of Notre Dame!”
With the World Cup kicking off this weekend, my study abroad friends and I bought tickets to the World Cup send-off game of France vs. Ireland at the Stade de France. As an avid soccer fan, I was super excited to see one of my favorite national teams (France, of course!) take on Ireland. European …
Continue reading “French Soccer, Versailles, and the Louvre!”
Classes finally started at the IES Center! My first class is French 101 with Professor Lerouvillois. I have never taken French language before, but I find learning the language very interesting. I think the language rules are very similar to Spanish which I studied for five years, so I am learning pretty fast. After class …
What is a summer studying in Paris without a visit to the Arc de Triomphe? This was one of the monuments I was most excited to visit! Something I did not know is the only way to access the Arc de Triomphe is to cross the street through an underground tunnel because the street is so …
Continue reading “Arc de Triomphe, Seine Boat Tour, and Champs Elysees!”
After attending another IES orientation for French culture in the morning, the entire IES business group decided to head to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. A picnic on the famous lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower is pretty high on my bucket list, so I was super excited for this! We bought some …
After months of preparing and the excitement leading up to studying abroad, I’m finally here in the famous Ville de Lumiéres (City of Lights)! After an eight hour flight, I managed to navigate the massive Charles de Gaulle airport and catch a taxi to my apartment in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. My apartment is …
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