Student Story

"Savoring the last sip of our breakfast coffee at a local boulangerie, Kaleigh, Heather, and I finished up the morning's reading assignment. Once in class, we learned of the French people, their country, and Paris in particular -- the city we were seeing, touching, hearing, and tasting that afternoon.

We then rehearsed typical Paris scenarios, making sure our French was flawless in preparation of future adventures. Of course, this learning was only a tiny fraction of what we discovered as we wandered the corridors of the Musée D'Orsay, Louvre, Musée Picasso, and the Musée Rodin. Or what the three of us learned about Europe after working up an appetite at the Musée D'Orsay, stumbling upon an adorable yellow crêperie, and making friends with the waiter.

Though Madame Beauclair could teach us what a proper "metro face" looks like, we could hardly contain our laughter at the sheer delight of experiencing the city together and next to everyday Parisians. Outside of Paris, as if going back in time, we toured the castles of the Loire Valley one day, listening intently to Madame Beauclair revealing the stories about how they were built.

Even during such a short time, we began to feel Parisian as we ate their world-renowned food: falafels, the tenderest steak and fries, Ladurée macarons, Jeff de Bruges chocolates, tea at Mariage Frères, picnics of fruit with compté cheese, and a baguette on the famous Rue Mouffetard.

Living like ordinary Parisians allowed us invaluable French language practice, while simultaneously forming within us our own identity as French speakers — and giving us a sense of culture that a textbook simply cannot supply."

Emily Sadler, Senior, French and English Literature Double Major