Paris the City from Gothic to Modern Times
In the 2015 spring semester I participated in an honors seminar called Paris the City from Gothic to Modern Times. I along with 19 other students were taught by Professor Kathryn Lorenz. During the course of the semester we learned about the basic history of Paris, the importance of the Seine to the city, the culture surrounding food in Paris, the architecture of the city, important political and literary figures to Paris, basic French language skills, and an overview of Parisian culture. The course was rounded out by traveling to Paris for spring break and applying all of the knowledge we had gained in the classroom to our real world experiences.
I feel lucky and grateful to have been able to take part in this experience. I wanted to participate in this study tour for multiple reasons. I want to be a part of more study abroad trips during my time at UC and hopefully one of those experiences will be a long term study abroad, such as a full semester. I hoped that participating in a faculty led study tour would help me gain guided experience to studying abroad that would make traveling on my own more manageable. I also have always wanted to visit Paris and I was excited by the opportunity to do so with a professor with so much experience and with such a passion for Paris. I have traveled to Europe once before; I visited Italy for spring break in middle school with my family. This study tour, however, differs from that previous experience. First of all, my age difference and the fact that I traveled with my peers versus my family makes it an inherently different experience in terms of dynamics and opportunities. The biggest difference, though, is the way I was prepared as a traveler to Paris compared to Italy. Professor Lorenz did a great job of helping us as students and travelers to understand the city of Paris and its culture. In doing so, I had a much more fulfilling experience visiting Paris than I did visiting Italy. The vast differences in my traveling experiences also shows me how much I've learned through this course. I understand what it takes to learn about and understand your destination, as well as how important that is to being a good traveler.
This study tour experience has reaffirmed my passion for traveling and also taught me how to be the best traveler I can be. I hope to take what I've learned in the classroom and apply it to any travel experiences I have in the future, especially internationally. I've learned how to be more than just a tourist but to actually interact with a country's culture. With that information I hope to be able to make all my travel experiences just as meaningful.
Final Project: Education & University Life - France vs. America
An artifact from this honors seminar is the comparative project completed upon our return to the U.S. The assignment was to pick a relevant topic to both Paris and the U.S. and explore it in-depth. I chose to learn about the education systems of both countries and do a compare and contrast of the student experience in both places.
I feel lucky and grateful to have been able to take part in this experience. I wanted to participate in this study tour for multiple reasons. I want to be a part of more study abroad trips during my time at UC and hopefully one of those experiences will be a long term study abroad, such as a full semester. I hoped that participating in a faculty led study tour would help me gain guided experience to studying abroad that would make traveling on my own more manageable. I also have always wanted to visit Paris and I was excited by the opportunity to do so with a professor with so much experience and with such a passion for Paris. I have traveled to Europe once before; I visited Italy for spring break in middle school with my family. This study tour, however, differs from that previous experience. First of all, my age difference and the fact that I traveled with my peers versus my family makes it an inherently different experience in terms of dynamics and opportunities. The biggest difference, though, is the way I was prepared as a traveler to Paris compared to Italy. Professor Lorenz did a great job of helping us as students and travelers to understand the city of Paris and its culture. In doing so, I had a much more fulfilling experience visiting Paris than I did visiting Italy. The vast differences in my traveling experiences also shows me how much I've learned through this course. I understand what it takes to learn about and understand your destination, as well as how important that is to being a good traveler.
This study tour experience has reaffirmed my passion for traveling and also taught me how to be the best traveler I can be. I hope to take what I've learned in the classroom and apply it to any travel experiences I have in the future, especially internationally. I've learned how to be more than just a tourist but to actually interact with a country's culture. With that information I hope to be able to make all my travel experiences just as meaningful.
Final Project: Education & University Life - France vs. America
An artifact from this honors seminar is the comparative project completed upon our return to the U.S. The assignment was to pick a relevant topic to both Paris and the U.S. and explore it in-depth. I chose to learn about the education systems of both countries and do a compare and contrast of the student experience in both places.
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Paris 2015 SlideShow: