Bourgogne and more!

September 26, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Hello again!

At the end of my last blog entry, it was Thursday evening and I was packing and preparing to leave bright and early for Bourgogne (Burgundy), a beautiful region of France a few hours from Paris. This weekend excursion is the first of the APA organized excursions, with an excursion to Normandie in October, and study tours to Brussels and London in November.

We left for Dijon, the major city of the Bourgogne region on Friday morning and we spend the day exploring and learning about the mustard capital’s history and architecture. It was not only interesting, but very fun to be reunited with all the rest of the APA students, as we now are scattered across Paris and are only all together for class.

Saturday was our full day in Bourgogne, which we spend in the small town of Beaune, enjoying the market and learning about the historical hospice. We then departed for a nearby vineyard and winery, where we tasted to classic Pinot Noir that Bourgogne is famous for, while also learning about the winemaking process.

Sunday, we returned home to Paris, but not before visiting Châteauneuf and exploring the historical medieval village of Vézelay, Roman basilica and all!

This week marked the end of the course shopping period and now I finally have my permanent schedule of my classes. This meant I tried my fourth and final course at a real Parisian university: Université Paris 8 Saint Denis. I was apprehensive to take a course where everyone else speaks French as their first language, and I would be the only student struggling for comprehension, but it turns out I had nothing to worry about! I was able to follow the professor without much trouble, I found the material interesting and not too difficult, because a History of Opera course is right up my alley, and to top it all off, I even met some friendly French students!

It’s been a wonderful week all around!

À plus tard,
Calista