Student Blog

Read first-hand accounts from our students about their experiences on APA programs.

Ever heard of the Chateau of Craon?

January 13, 2020

by Lydia Brooks

Honestly, us neither. But you should! We are closing in on our last days of orientation at the Chateau de Craon and what a surprise it's been. Known as the "the little Versailles of Mayenne," the chateau is situated in a tiny French town, Craon. In the seemingly middle of nowhere, the Chateau de Craon hosted the first week of our orientation and introduction to France. The little town held many a surprise for us. This 18th century gem overlooked the petite ville of Craon, which is also home to the Ferme du Pressoir, an apple orchard and distillery. Not only were we able to visit the distillery, but we had to chance to taste all of their curated ciders and liqueurs. Our week at the Chateau was full of meetings and team building exercises. French actresses, Cecile and Connie, were brought in to lead us through various bonding activities, including an impromptu fashion show and game of improv. The niche town of Craon holds more than meets the eye. Although we are all excited... Read More

A Horse Attack, A Burglary, and Surfing!

December 19, 2019

by apaparis

Claire, our program director, arrived to Senegal on Thursday, and at night we went to a very bougie hotel to get some drinks and catch up. We had a great view of the ocean, and it happened to be where they shot some scenes of the movie Atlantique (would highly recommend). The... Read More

Last week and then its goodbye Paris…

December 19, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

As I reflect on my semester here in Paris, its crazy to think of all the incredible opportunities we’ve had and all the wonderful things we’ve experienced! I’ve decided to compile some of my favorites moments in Paris here: A visit to Monet’s Gardens in Giverny with... Read More

Still enjoying Paris during the strike

December 13, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Bonjour! It’s been quite a week, with the national transportation strike that started on December 5th and continued since then. I don’t have class on Thursday or Friday so I mostly hibernated, with the exception of visiting a friend to watch Gossip Girl together. Then on... Read More

(Near) End of Semester Blues

December 10, 2019

by apaparis

The first week of classes went really well, in my opinion. There was however, a problem with the Economics professor (I class that I do not take), but he was replaced after the first class. For my immigration course, the professor asked us to conduct five interviews for our... Read More

Back Home!

December 10, 2019

by apaparis

To be perfectly honest, I was most looking forward to the Senegal portion of the trip, so it is definitely great to be back. While I was going through immigration, I received my first “How come you don’t speak Wolof?”, which was the welcome that I expected, and the... Read More

An American (Thanksgiving) in Paris

December 5, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Hey everyone! Happy (belated) Thanksgiving from everyone here at APA Paris! We had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner with APA Thursday evening with tons of traditional thanksgiving food even here in France!   Then over the weekend, I went to a second Thanksgiving with a group of... Read More

Three Countries Three Days

December 2, 2019

by apaparis

The last week of Morocco was one of the most eventful, apart from the train fire of course…nothing can top that.  On Friday after the weekly couscous dinner, I went to Tanger with another American student who had been staying at the same host family. We took the train and... Read More

A Visit to London!

December 2, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Salut! This week has been a whirlwind between a study tour to London and my first Thanksgiving not in America. On Thursday evening, we left for London for our study tour with our Art History class to study the nineteenth century paintings of England. We spend Friday and Saturday... Read More

Enjoying November!

November 22, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Hello again! The first half of this week was spend in Vienna visiting some friends from uni who are studying abroad in Vienna, which was super interesting! Here are some photos from my visit:   Then on Tuesday, our political science course, « La France Contemporaine » took... Read More

This is Morocco!

November 14, 2019

by apaparis

I’m back after a week-long hiatus. There is nothing exciting that happened this past week, except for a sickness that will not go away. When I was not in class I was in bed. The one fun thing I did was make pancakes for my host mom. There was another American student living... Read More

Study Tour and so much more!

November 14, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Bonjour! This week has been packed with fun activities, starting with our Study Tour to Brussels for the APA in-house course, « La France Contemporaine » in which we visited the Conseil and the Parlement of the European Union. We also still made time to enjoys some frites... Read More

First Week of November

November 7, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Bonjour bonjour! This week has been lots of fun, beginning with my return from Scotland and ending with a concert at the Philharmonie de Paris! I returned from Scotland on Sunday after a few more days of sightseeing! Here’s a photo of me in front of the Wallace Monument in... Read More

Fall Break in Scotland!

November 7, 2019

by Calista Goldwasser

Hello hello! It’s fall break and I’m currently in Scotland enjoying some Halloween festivities with friends! I would share a bunch about my week but up until yesterday I was sick and hardly doing anything but sleep and watch Netflix until I finally felt better. Now I’ve... Read More

Weekend Trip to Fes 

October 30, 2019

by apaparis

On Friday, we met up at the language center at 9:30 and took a van to Fes. The two Moroccan students, Kanza and Maroua, joined us on our trip. The ride to Fes from Rabat took about 3 hours, but we took a pit stop halfway to grab a bite to eat. When we finally... Read More

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