Hopkins Interactive Guest Blog

Life in Technicolor

Name: Anna Kochut

Year: Class of 2013

Hometown: Athens, GA

Majors: International Studies

************************************************************************************************************************

During the final weeks of high school, visions of college bliss clouded my consciousness.  I daydreamed about meeting exciting new people, taking fascinating courses from renowned professors, and experiencing all that an urban campus could offer.  Daydreams are all well and good, but honestly, when I decided to attend Hopkins last spring, I had no idea what to expect.  Looking at my life, I realized that I had spent the past nine years at a tiny independent school in Athens, Georgia and was about to graduate alongside the same 62 kids that I had known for most of my life.  What was I getting myself into? Needless to say, I was terrified at the prospect of moving over 600 miles away to attend a school several times larger than I was sure my comfort zone could handle.  Before I knew it (or could accept it), it was move-in day.

The first few days of college were a blur.  There was intense heat, sleepless nights due to said ludicrous heat, fun and informative Orientation events, and learning more names than I could ever hope to remember.  In all honesty, it was overwhelming—and a lot like summer camp. I felt uprooted and confused, but at the same time exhilarated at the prospect of a new beginning. It was a lot for me to deal with, so I’m pretty sure I appeared quiet and reserved when people met me.  It’s funny, because in reality that’s the last thing I am.

Once classes started, I felt more comfortable.  I love a good routine, and for some reason settling into a new one always filled me with a sense of purpose.  I clung to it. My classes, needless to say, are amazing. I’m taking five classes this semester: Intro to Greek Philosophy, Intro to Cognitive Neuropsychology, Contemporary International Politics (CIP), High Intermediate French, and Intro to Fiction/Poetry Writing.  While the selection might seem random, I promise there was at least some method to my madness.  Before Hopkins, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in, so I decided to take classes in whatever interested me.  I’m so glad I took this path; I not only learned more about what I’m interested in, I have also broadened my worldview. While I love them all, I must say that CIP is my favorite.  Professor David gives such concise, intelligent, and frequently hilarious lectures that present the information in a new and exciting way. It’s basically impossible not to be engaged. My intimidating TA, once I got past the intimidation factor, is incredibly brilliant and a valuable resource. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten as much out of this class without going to his office hours. I realize now that classes like this were a huge part of reason I came to Hopkins. 

As for social life, I honestly wasn’t expecting very much.  Hopkins’ academic reputation precedes it, and I was pretty much expecting to be drowning in homework. Much to my surprise, this didn’t prove to be the case at all.  With careful time management (by that I mean lots of time spent holed up in the library, forcing myself to do my work) I have had plenty of time to spend with the awesome friends I made in my house (Griffin house in AMR II—the best).  We have hot chocolate parties, go out on the town for each other’s birthdays, and spend hours just hanging out together in the dorms. Together, we’ve been exploring more and more of Baltimore.  Once, we went to Little Italy and ate at a cute Italian restaurant to celebrate the birthday of one of my friends. We also ventured into Fell’s Point for the Halloween festivities.  That was an interesting adventure, to say the least. Needless to say, having whetted our appetite, we definitely plan to explore more and more of the city.

Now, nearing the end of my first semester here at Hopkins, I realize I could not be happier. I love my classes, my friends, and my roommate (I got so lucky!).  I’m so excited to start next semester.  I have a feeling it’ll be even better than this one. However, I must say that happiness definitely takes effort.  I will be the first one to admit that I was terrified when I first got here- scared I would fail out of my classes, scared that I wouldn’t find anyone I got along with, and most of all, scared to discover that I made the wrong decision.  Admittedly, it was hard to get my fresh-to-college-shy self out of my dorm room and make friends, but it wouldn’t have happened any other way.  It’s hard to remain caught up with schoolwork so I can have time for social life.  But I’m so glad I made the effort.

At first glance, the first months of college felt like some strange combination of summer camp and high school. However, now I can definitely say that it has morphed into something else.  Don’t get me wrong, it still feels like a combination of camp and high school (with more homework), but it’s starting to sink in that this is where my life truly begins.  Walking around at the beautiful campus, listening to interesting lectures, hanging out with my friends, I realize that this is the reason I moved so far away from home—to start my life.  Looking back on my time here, I realized that nothing in my life up to this point has felt as real, as solid as my first months at Hopkins.  Moving far away from home and being forced out of my comfort zone definitely put things in a new perspective, and I feel like I’m living life in an amplified version… life in Technicolor.

Back On My Feet

Name: Laurin Wolf

Year: Class of 2012

Hometown: Faribault, MN

Majors: Writing Seminars

************************************************************************************************************************

Hi readers! I’m Laurin, a sophomore Writing Seminars student from Faribault, Minnesota. For those with a sense of the Minnesota geography, it’s a pretty small town located about an hour south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I can’t believe I’ve almost completed three semesters at Hopkins already—the time has just flown! I love my life at here a lot, and here are some of the reasons why: the people are smart, unique, and inspiring, my classes never fail to simultaneously excite and challenge me, and the campus is beautiful and easy to get around.  But another aspect of JHU life that I can’t get enough of is the city of Baltimore itself. It’s a manageable urban setting that offers a huge variety of theatres, music venues, restaurants, museums, and opportunities to get involved with the community through service projects.

Growing up in the great Midwest, I developed a love for the outdoors and being active, and especially for running. I guess having two marathoner parents also encouraged this (but don’t think I didn’t call them crazy when I was younger!) When I got to college, running provided me with a great way to burn off steam, stay in shape (or at least try!), and see my new city from a different perspective.  There’s no easier or more interesting way to discover cool nooks and crannies than by literally running into them. I quickly discovered my favorite routes in the neighborhoods surrounding campus.

This year, I started running with one of my awesome sorority sisters, Charlotte. She’s a great runner and also a Baltimore native, which means she’s been able to add to my collection of routes. Running with a friend makes those miles go even faster! Every year, Baltimore puts on a Running Festival, and we decided to run the 5K distance (3.1 miles). So one dreary October morning, we took a cab down to M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Ravens, and joined thousands of people out there doing exactly what we were there to do. It must be said that runners are an unusually happy group when they’re all together early in the morning. But one group stood out to us in particular: the people wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the words “Back On My Feet” seemed to be having an especially great time running and cheering each other on. We wanted to get in on the fun, so we decided to investigate.

An Internet search taught us that Back On My Feet is a group that organizes running clubs at homeless shelters. It started in Philadelphia and now has a chapter in Baltimore. After attending an orientation session, Charlotte and I became official “non-res members” (meaning we don’t live at the shelter) of one of the 4 BOMF clubs here in the city. We get up around 5 a.m. on Friday mornings (sooo early, I know—but it’s only once a week!) and head down to the shelter in order to start running with our new friends by 5:30.  The group has pre-planned routes that take us through the still-dark, sleepy streets of Baltimore. Some of us run slow, some of us run fast. Some have been running for 30 years, some started a month ago. Our lives have taken different paths until now. But we’re all same when we’re out there at 5:30 in the morning, huffing and puffing up the hill on Charles Street. We all just love to run.

I know this sounds pretty cliché—my Writing Sems professors would probably give me a hard time if they read this! But it’s true, and I’m realizing that my experience with BOMF reflects many of my experiences at Hopkins. The student body here is as diverse as one can imagine, but we’ve all come to this great city and awesome school because we’re passionate about something, and together, we form a strong community. During one of our recent runs, a BOMF “res member” told me that he felt like the other runners had become his second family, which was a pretty powerful statement to me. I’m excited to keep discovering new paths with the BOMF crew and my new Hopkins family.

Notes from a Hopkins Teaching Assistant

Name: Adam Bisno

Year: Second Year PhD Student

Department: History

************************************************************************************************************************

My name is Adam Bisno, and I’m a Teaching Assistant for an introductory history class called “Occidental Civilization, 1789–present.”  I really enjoy teaching my subject area, which is modern Europe with a focus on German cultural history. (I’m a PhD student in the Department of History.)  My responsibilities include grading exams and papers and leading weekly discussion sections of 10-20 undergraduates.  I’m here not only as their instructor, though, but as a fellow student and historian-in-training, too.

Lecturing is one of the skills I’m still developing, so the course professor let me give this term’s talk on fascism. My preparation was guided by two questions: What is the vision of interwar and fascist Europe I want students to have, and what are the ways I hope that students might find to question the perspective I offer?  In the end, I opted for an explanation of fascism that took the ideology seriously, that located its cultural appeal to contemporaries, and that highlighted the continuities and discontinuities in modern European political culture up to 1945.  This is only one way of looking at fascism.  In choosing it, I didn’t hope to persuade students that culture and ideologies are the stuff from which we must build our understanding of fascism; rather, I tried to give them a concrete approach with which to engage, against which to push, and from which they might form their own ideas about the origins, meanings, and legacies of interwar fascism.

The way I teach is really the way I learn: through problem-oriented, question-driven discussion.  I always try to bring the conversation back to the historian we’re reading: Why did she choose the evidence she chose? How is she using it?  What is her argument?  Do we agree?  Why not? For Hopkins undergrads, dates and facts are just as easily memorized at home; class is where they should learn to read for argument, question evidence, and think through problems.

I also meet with a fair number of my students outside class.  It’s always a pleasure when somebody comes to ask about a finer point or broader theme in the course, and it’s fun for me to help students to historical definitions of concepts and categories we otherwise take for granted–like citizenship, the individual, and rights.  Most of my students won’t even major in history, but I’m pretty sure they’ll take with them the discipline’s unique approach to the past, an approach I hope to have helped them discover.

At my sections on Friday afternoons, I don’t spend much time imparting information. I try very hard not to do that.  Better to provoke, sit back, and gently guide a discussion toward some useful, possibly mind-expanding conclusion.  Of course, conclusions aren’t always forthcoming, not in history and not in any discipline.  Sometimes it’s just as satisfying to end class on a question with no solution and then send everybody off to their weekends.

Salaamaalekum ci Senegal (Greetings from Senegal)

Name: Katie Firestone

Year: Class of 2011

Hometown: New York, NY

Majors: International Studies and Africana Studies

************************************************************************************************************************

I knew I wanted to study abroad starting in high school, and maybe even earlier. I had imagined myself going to France, given the fact that I started taking French in middle school. I definitely surprised people when I announced I wanted to study abroad in Dakar, Senegal. West Africa is certainly a world away from Europe.

For me, the choice was logical. At Hopkins, I am an International Studies and Africana Studies doublemajor. Given my study of French as well, a French-speaking West African country was the ideal place to choose to study abroad. Some people asked me why I was not going to Paris if I wanted to improve my French, but for me, coming to Senegal was about more than French. I wanted the chance to live in Africa, to experience a culture and history that I had previously only studied. In my mind, study abroad is the chance of a lifetime—a time when your opportunities really are endless and you can choose to live and study virtually anywhere in the world. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. And I did just that.

Senegal is a fascinating country. The country is 95% Muslim (I interestingly enough live with a Catholic host family). The official language is French, but the majority of the population  cannot understand French and speak Wolof (a lesser number speak other “maternal” languages including  Pulaar and Serer). The city of Dakar is extremely international, with many organizations and groups having headquarters here and a large number of international residents (including French, American, Lebanese, etc.).

I have called Dakar home for the past two and a half months and will be here for another six weeks. While I attend classes with fifty other American students, I live with a Senegalese host family and take most of my classes in French, so I have been able to truly experience life in Senegal. I eat meals with my family around the bowl, sometimes even using my (right) hand. I know how to greet someone properly in Wolof and ask about his or her health and family. I can bargain for a taxi.

I feel lucky that I have been able to experience so much. I have explored Dakar—the neighborhoods, markets, beaches and restaurants. I have met incredible friends through my program,who go to colleges all across the United States. I have also gotten to know neighbors, family friends and other Senegalese host families. I have been able to travel: to the beaches on the coast, to a rural village for a week, to southern Senegal and to the Gambia for fall break.

While I have certainly learned a lot in my classes (French, Senegalese Culture and Society, Wolof, International Crisis Management in African Countries and Colonization and Decolonization in Senegal), I am also learning so much outside of the classroom. I have learned how to navigate language barriers, with the help of my dictionary and the patience of my host family. My French in turn has been forced to improve. I have learned cultural differences: not giving compliments, being a member of a family (versus being an individual), polygamy and the importance of Islam. I have learned to adapt to the heat and to love rice.

I have come to love the little things about Senegal: hearing the call to prayer at six every morning from the mosque near my house, ceebu jen (the national dish of rice and fish), being able to communicate in Wolof with people on the street, the amazing Senegalese teranga (hospitality), the car rapide system (buses/vans that take you around the city). While part of me is excited to return to the US and to family and friends and eventually Hopkins in the spring, I know I am going to miss Senegal.

The Vocal Chords Experience

Name: Kim Skerritt

Year: Class of 2010

Hometown:  Herndon, VA

Major: Political Science, minor in Museums and Society

************************************************************************************************************************

A cappella has been infused in every aspect of my college life.  I’ve always been a singer. I planned on trying out for a variety of music groups in college, but I didn’t expect that the one I joined would affect my entire undergraduate experience. 

I still remember the day I tried out for the Vocal Chords. They were so friendly and smiley, it made the entire auditioning process not as overwhelming as it could have been. After the 15 minutes of singing, I had to wait 9 hours to find out whether I got called back. It was so stressful, and to make things worse my friend (of four days at the time) played a joke and called me to say I didn’t make callbacks. In reality, I did. The next day, I had been asked to join the group. After saying yes, spent the next hour calling family and friends with the good news. I was so exhausted by the end of the night I passed out and missed the call from the Vocal Chords to meet for the first time.

Because I joined so close to the beginning of freshman year, I automatically became really good friends with them. As a person from a very strong family unit at home, VC (Vocal Chords) became my family at Hopkins. 7 hours of practice a week turns into so much more time spent together. We do everything together: live, eat, watch movies, go see other a cappella concerts, etc (I have actually lived with two different member of VC for the past 3 years).

     
  

One of the best things about being in a small but diverse group is that you end up becoming friends with people you may never encounter in the first place. The Vocal Chords is made up of all different majors from all different years. As a freshman I was the only one in my group of hall mates to have upperclassmen friends. And now as a senior, I know many more freshmen than I would have.

I find practice like brain break. After spending all day at class or work, I look forward to doing something I love with people I love. It’s true that every semester we work towards a final concert, but really it’s just a fun way to show-off what we like to do. 

There are these moments I have during practice. I called them “epiphanies.”  It’s when I have this feeling of inner joy and awe because I am standing with my friends making this beautiful music with just our bodies. That is one of the most wonderful things about singing. It is something you cannot buy, and it is something that everyone can relate to.
 
As a senior, I know my time with the Chords is coming to an end, only one more wonderful semester together. I know I will be sad, but at the same time I have had such an amazing experience singing in this group that I can’t wait to give more students the opportunity I had. When I remember my time at Hopkins I will always think of my Vocal Chords first.

International Conference on Birth Defects & Disabilities in India

Name: Neha Deshpande

Year: Class of 2011

Hometown:  Monmouth Junction, NJ

Major: Molecular and Cellular Biology, minor in French Cultural Studies

************************************************************************************************************************

From October 4-7, 2009, over 350 delegates from 28 countries gathered in New Delhi, India for the 4th International Birth Defects and Disabilities Conference in the Developing World. Conference delegates included leaders from The March of Dimes Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and The National Institute of Health, to name  a few. Delegates ranged from health professionals, policy makers, social workers, patients, administrators, and volunteers – the youngest of whom was me! 

My name is Neha Deshpande and I am currently a junior, Molecular & Cellular Biology major at Hopkins. I am involved in many activities on campus including research at the medical campus, dancing with my team JHU JOSH, working as a JHU Admissions Representative, leading the JHU Women’s Pre-Health Leadership Society, and teaching French to a 3rd grade class at a local Baltimore public school. However, by far my biggest commitment is to mothers and babies across the world. After 9 years of volunteering with the March of Dimes (MOD), the nation’s pioneer in maternal and infant health, I am the 2009-2010 March of Dimes National Youth Chair. I represent over 1 million youth volunteers across the nation who are working towards a day when every baby is born healthy.

As the Chair of the MOD National Youth Council, I assist the organization in the design and implementation of various youth leadership programs such as health initiatives to promote healthy lifestyle choices among teens and young adults, advocacy initiatives to push for newborn screening and maternal and infant health insurance, communication via the national “Youth Times” newsletter, and education programs such as fall and summer volunteer leadership conferences. Currently, I am working with March of Dimes Global Programs to establish an international network of youth volunteers. The goal of this network is to emphasize collective action to improve birth outcomes and help reduce mortality and disability for birth defects and preterm births worldwide. The network would include youth from six academic centers including China, Lebanon, The Philippines, Brazil, Egypt, and the United States.

 

My goal at the 4th International conference was not only to represent March of Dimes Team Youth, but to relay the importance of “The Power of Youth in Global Public Health.” My presentation offered strategies for mobilizing young professionals in developing countries to help reduce the rates of death and disability from preterm birth and birth defects in local communities. I shared my experiences working with March of Dimes Team Youth, a long-standing and successful model for engaging and sustaining volunteer activity in areas of community service, advocacy, education, and fundraising. Did you know that more than 1 in every 4 persons in the world is a youth aged 10-24 years? (Population Reference Bureau, February 2006). Nearly 70% of the world’s young people live in developing countries, which means that youth represent an untapped resource with the time, incentive, and energy to volunteer in ways that can help solve social, economic, and health challenges.

The 4th International Conference was a spectacular opportunity that really showed me that the work we do as volunteers has both national and global impact. Every year, an estimated 7.8 million children are born in the world with a serious genetic or acquired birth defect. Of these children who are born, 3.3 million die each year. The impact of birth defects is particularly severe in developing countries where 95% of deaths of children occur who have serious birth defects. Tragically, every year nearly 13 million babies are born prematurely worldwide, and one million of these babies die. The March of Dimes Global Programs is working hard to combat these disturbing statistics. To understand more about the March of Dimes’ mission on a global scale, check out the recently published White Paper on Preterm Birth (a pdf version).

A trip to India would not be complete without some sightseeing! I was fortunate to have my mother accompany me as my guest and we spent a few days after the conference visiting the Taj Mahal as well as family members in Mumbai, India.

 
November is also National Prematurity Awareness Month so I encourage all of you to show your support for moms and babies worldwide! Visit our website and sign up for our E-newsletter, do something nice for a local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or Create your virtual band to celebrate, honor, or remember a baby in your life. We have also developed an incredible volunteer toolkit that you should check out if you are interested in more ways to get involved with the March of Dimes.

I would like to thank The Johns Hopkins Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program for sponsoring my trip to India. Without this amazing fellowship program, I would not have had this extraordinary life-changing experience serving as a delegate at an international conference!

**Editor's note: Be sure to check out Neha's previous guest blog entry, "Intersession in India."**

London Calling

Name: Sam Lichtenstein

Year: Class of 2011

Hometown: New York, New York

Major: International Studies 

************************************************************************************************************************

As I sat procrastinating (correction: procrastinating is an understatement) in my dorm room last spring, my mind began to wander off to the land of study abroad possibilities. There were simply so many continents, so many countries, so many cities, and so many colleges. As I looked out my window at the sunny, warm, and generally beautiful early spring day we were having in Baltimore, my mind thought of somewhere by the beach in South America, or along the coast in Australia, or maybe next to the Mediterranean in southern Europe.

Yet, somehow I write this blog post from London. So how did I end up in the definition of the rainy, damp, and cold city?

Well, the answer to that question is not terribly difficult: despite my desire for fantastic weather, my mind was much more motivated by where I would get a good education that fit my interests (I guess my parents made me a rational thinker, after all).

To begin with, I knew I wanted to spend my time abroad taking some classes that dealt with Islamic Studies – my concentration at JHU. Knowing this fact narrowed my focus pretty dramatically: somewhere in the Middle East or Western Europe. Unfortunately, pretty much all the programs that were relevant to me in Middle Eastern countries required me to speak fairly good Arabic – something I was not confident in my ability to do.

Thus, I knew I needed to look around in Western Europe, where there were a lot (A LOT) of options. I was able to narrow it down a bit more, though, because I wanted to be somewhere where I spoke the local language. Given the programs that were relevant to my desire course of study, my fluency in English and proficiency in French then left me with three big choices: London, Paris, or Geneva (there are certainly worse problems to have than having to choose among those three countries).

To be honest, I discounted Geneva pretty quickly. As much as I was interested in spending some time there, it simply couldn’t measure up to London or Paris. Then, I spent days going back and forth in my mind: London…no Paris…no London…and then back to Paris. Finally, after about a week of indecisiveness I walked into the Office of Study Abroad and told the staff my problem. After listening to me, Dr. Citi, the head of the office, looked at me and said point blank, “Easy answer: You want to go to SOAS in London.”

Maybe it was easy for her, but what on earth was SOAS?

                              

After doing some research I found out that SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a small  college within the University of London that focuses – as the name suggests – on Africa and Asia (both the Middle East and the rest of the continent). Perhaps best of all, I discovered that it is located in one of the best areas of central London. After looking at the course catalog (which was essentially perfection for someone with my interests), I made up my mind that instant. I knew that I would be spending next semester in the land of the Beatles, royalty, and – most importantly – afternoon tea.

 So what have I been up to in London since crossing the pond in September? Well, perhaps ironically, the big highlight has been…well…not being in London. Sounds a bit weird, right? After all, London has so much to explore that it should in theory keep me more than occupied until I return to the U.S. in December. True, but the really fantastic thing about being in Europe is how easy it is to travel. Needless to say, I’ve done quite a bit – and have a lot more planned.

 Before I even got to London, I went on a week-long adventure to España with my roommate from Hopkins who just happens to go to the same school as I do in London (don’t worry, he made his choice completely independently of me; we’re not COMPLETELY attached at the hip, but we are pretty bad). We spent the majority of our time in Barcelona (where I had studied during the summer between my junior and senior years in high schools), which was truly amazing. It’s such a quirky city with such great culture – not to mention the pristine beach that runs along the Mediterranean. Needless to say, we found plenty of ways to keep ourselves entertained. From Barcelona, we then travelled to Bilbao (pretty much only to see the Guggenheim, which is truly mind-blowing) and ended up in San Sebastian, which was beautiful.

  

Following the epic trip to Spain, I decided to let my batteries recharge for a bit. After all, I did have to  move into my dorm in London and get settled (oh, and that whole starting classes thing). Nonetheless, three weeks later I was back at the airport and headed to Dublin for two days. The great thing about Dublin was that it is perfectly sized to hit all the big sites over a weekend – if you manage your time wisely, that is. As a result, my friends and I were on our feet the WHOLE weekend, but at least we took a lot of good photos as we did all the touristy things.

Since coming back from Dublin, I’ve made three more trips: two to  Paris and one to Berlin. In terms of Paris, it’s simply so easy to reach. The Eurostar train (which gets you to Paris in 2.5 hours) leaves from the train station that is literally a five-minute walk from my dorm, so it’s hard to resist going more than once. It especially helps to have a lot of friends studying in the City of Light who are always far too nice and let me sleep in their apartments. And, fingers crossed, I’m hoping to make one more trip to the city in which I almost spent my semester!

As for Berlin, I couldn’t have picked a more exciting time to go visit. For starters, I had never been and I had always been told that I needed to go – so I was already really pumped up for the weekend. However, I ended up going on the weekend of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Being in Berlin that weekend was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. There were tons of celebrations and festivals, not to mention reduced ticket prices to lots of museums and other famous sites in the city!

For better or worse, though, my jet-setting days did have to come to some sort of end, though.  After all, there are certainly much worse places to settle down than in London. Now I have to start thinking about those 3,000-word papers due for each of my four classes. Anybody want to help? That being said, don’t think I don’t already have a trip to Prague in the works…

 

**Editor's note: Be sure to check out Sam's previous guest blog entry, "So You Want To Start An Organization"**

L’automne à Paris

Name: Kit Harris

Year: Class of 2011

Hometown: Andover, MA

Major: International Studies 

************************************************************************************************************************

To get to class every day I have to take a 30 minute bus ride. That might sound pretty terrible to you… except I forgot to tell you that I live in PARIS! So, my bus ride isn’t just any bus ride. I get to drive down the Champs-Elysees, cross the Seine, see the Eiffel Tower in the distance and catch a glimpse of the spire of Notre Dame. All on my way to class. No biggie.

I live in the 17ème arondissment of Paris with a host family, so I’m a little bit farther out of the city center, hence the bus ride. [The arondissments in Paris are numbered in a spiral, like a snail’s shell beginning with 1er arondissment in the area of the Louvre. So, the arondissments with higher numbers are on the exterior of the city.] I also have a Metro stop within a 10 minute walk of my apartment, but I choose to take the bus, when I have the time and it’s not rush-hour, because in the beginning it helped me get a sense of where I was in the city and how to get between places. It’s a great way to learn street names and to spot monuments or parks or museums that you want to come back to explore later!

So, that’s all just my ride to class. Class itself is at the Sorbonne, also known as Paris IV. The program I chose to go abroad with, Academic Programs Abroad, is a direct enrollment program. That means that of my five courses this semester; three of them are actually at a French university. I am taking two classes at Paris IV in History of Art and one at Paris II in Political Science. What’s great about the direct enrollment system that APA has perfected over the past 30 years is that we are at the same time treated completely like every French student, but also aided with the particularities that could possibly make our educational experience complicated.

The educational system is completely different here, because everyone who goes to university has to pick their specialty upon exiting lycée or high school. So, by the time they get to the third year of license or undergraduate, they are pretty darn good at their specialty. That makes it very difficult for American students to try to jump into the system and catch up with the French students. But, APA helps to teach us the methodology and processes for writing papers, taking tests, giving oral exposés (!! This is the scariest part of all!)

I managed to organize my classes so that I don’t have class on Fridays, which is great for hoping around Europe on weekend trips which you can read more about on my personal blog: www.kitintothegreatwideopen.blogspot.com and I also don’t have class until 2 on most weekdays. I try to do one thing, sometimes I manage to get two done, on those mornings. For example, last week I went to the Cimitaire de Père Lachaise to see the graves of Jim Morrison, Simone de Beauvoir, and Camille Pissaro on Tuesday and on Wednesday I went to the (free!) Musée de L’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris to see their excellent permanent collection of art of the 2nd half of the 20th century and a great special exhibition they’re presenting called “Deadline” and on Thursday I relaxed in the Jardin de Luxembourg, a beautiful park in the center of the Rive Gauche.

Gardens and churches have become two of my “hang-outs” in Paris. Oh, and MacDo also. (That’s MacDonald’s!) Another crucial difference between the universities here and in the US, is that there aren’t campuses. There’s a few academic buildings scattered around in the same general area and there’s a library. But, the libraries are mostly for research and there aren’t any student lounges or places to jut chill. So, I’ve taken to spending time in gardens when it’s nice out and churches when it’s drizzly, as it often is in autumn in Paris. MacDo here is so much better than in the US. It’s classy here… with really great contemporary design and free WiFi. You can hang out there for as long as you want too. In the Latin Quarter and around the Jardin de Luxembourg there are so many universities and schools, that the MacDo is always packed with students sipping lattés and eating Le M, the “gourmet” MacDo sandwich.

 
 So, that’s just a little taste of what I’m doing over here in Paris. It’s amazing to be able to get away and take the time to get to know another country, another part of the world. My French skills have been rapidly getting better since the minute I stepped off the plane. I can’t say that I’m anywhere near being fluent… but I’m definitely learning faster than I ever have in a classroom. It’s extremely rewarding (and fun too!)