April 9, 2017

I met my host-mom Solène (mère d’accueil) over macarons and champagne a few days after I arrived in Paris. Solène’s a nurse, and she has a habit of wearing two pairs of glasses at the same time. I met her husband, Thierry, about an hour later over dinner. Thierry owns a... Read More

March 28, 2017

With just over two months of classes at French university under my belt, I’ve had enough time to note the differences between the French and American school systems. During our orientation, the APA directors explained the differences in full, but practice can often be... Read More

March 19, 2017

When my family and friends found out that I was officially going to be studying abroad in Paris, their first reaction was: We’re coming to visit! Oftentimes, your semester abroad gives the people who love you a perfect excuse to come to Paris (though really, do you need... Read More

March 12, 2017

Paris truly showed off this past weekend. It seemed like the first sunny days in months, though in reality it had only been a few weeks of gray skies and rain, and everybody was out and about enjoying the weather. This weekend served as a big hint of what the spring to come... Read More

March 9, 2017

Once in a while, there’s an aspect of being abroad that mirrors being back at our home universities. Sometimes it’s greasy food at 2am, sometimes it’s oversleeping after working late at night. These days, at the beginning of March, it’s the... Read More

March 2, 2017

The French political science class – French name is “Les Enjeux Politiques de la France” – spent last weekend in Bruxelles, Belgium. We were lucky to visit the actual European Union institutions that we had studied in class with our professor,... Read More

February 27, 2017

PARIS — Paris does a lot of things right. Glimmering Haussmann architecture, satisfying wine, oozing cheese like jewels behind glass counters… and perfectly adequate street cleaning. Sadly, coffee (and the matter of public urination, among other things) doesn’t make the... Read More

February 22, 2017

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a full seven weeks (!) since I arrived in Paris. Many students from my home university are just departing on their study abroad adventures, and I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve already gotten to spend so much time in Paris. I can safely... Read More

February 6, 2017

I have a habit of carrying around a little journal with me. It’s different from the one that’s full of French words I learn in real-life and should probably get around to memorising. It doesn’t have lined pages; instead, I tape in billets and brochures and... Read More

January 23, 2017

APA headed to Normandy and Brittany on Saturday for our first weekend trip! Departing at around 8am on Saturday morning, we drove the 4-5 hours to St. Malo – a medieval village in Northwestern France that looks out onto the English channel. The walled city is notorious... Read More