Bonjour mes amis! I am Harmony—a Pitt Honors Student, rising Senior, and newly-converted macaron lover. I've spent the past twelve days in Paris as a Cultural Experiences Abroad (CEA) Summer student. Through their 4-Week May session, I'm able to take a French Civilization and Culture at the CEA Paris Center. The course will count towards my French Studies minor and allow me to celebrate completing my Chemistry minor. Part of this celebration is exchanging my frequent snacking habits for trips to different pâtisseries (pastry shops)!
Though I've found connections to my English Writing Major in Paris—from reading Voltaire and Sieyes in class to exploring Le Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève—I largely chose the CEA Program based on a long-held desire to visit France, the practicality of working towards my French Studies minor, and intersections with my summer research plans.
My middle and high school English teacher had encouraged us to explore the world in tangent with growing up. She believed that exposure to different cultures and peoples were better lessons in tolerance and empathy than ink-stained textbook pages. Coming from a Nigerian household I could say the same, less eloquently. However, travelling to France is kind of a testimony to my early French teachers and their passion for the culture (and their contribution to the mere-exposure effect).
Overall, gaining more perspectives and using experience to practice merging that new information about life with what I've already learned is important to me. I want to continue travelling in the future and synthesize different ideologies into my career, avoiding Plato's dreary cave. I also want to work on retaining my French.
The CEA Program is supportive of these goals, incorporating weekly excursions and reflections into class syllabi. Our on-site team encourages students to take trips to museums and street markets. They also plan different group events like going to soccer matches, food tours, and expense-included weekend trips. My roommates and I have already noted different Parisian norms—the straight faces paired with lively group activities, the independent little kids, and the men tucking baguettes under their arms—while walking 10 km (6 miles) a day.
I am excited to continue engaging with French history in class and seeing its effects as I wander through the city—and I'll leave you with a few miscellaneous notes:
- The Metro isn't hard to navigate—but don't ride it past 11:30 p.m.
- The food is better than everyone says, both the small local shops and the highly regarded restaurants.
- Everything will be closed by 9:00 p.m. on from Sunday to Thursday (Subway, McDonald's, and the local midnight Crepe stand are exceptions).
- My roommate says our closest McDonald's only has two McFlurry flavours.
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