Submitted by Bridget Miceli on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Paris, France sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences…
My week two abroad journey started off like I had never imagined it to be, I ended up taking a spontaneous trip to Brussels with a bunch of friends in my program. Coming into the program, I was not expecting to travel a lot during the weekends since I was not too comfortable with airplanes, but once I found out it was a bus trip, I couldn’t resist! We explored the city in the most touristy way attempting to fit everything we possibly could into the short overnight trip. We visited the Grand Place, the Chocolate Museum, the Parliament building and a Jewish history museum. We found ourselves immersed in another country’s culture and quickly fell in love with the city. We ended our trip with famous Belgian waffles topped with strawberries, Nutella and whipped cream as we said a bittersweet good-bye to Belgium.
One day during the week instead of having class, our instructor set up a scavenger hunt. This scavenger hunt involved us going around Paris and getting a chance to see all of the city’s old history, buildings and old structures that used to stand. In addition to getting the opportunity to explore Paris with a group of people in the program, the scavenger hunt also helped us understand some of the places that are in the book we are reading for class. At the end of the long day, my group and I all went to the Eiffel Tower to bond. We ate crepes and sat and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle as we told stories of our pasts, home life and our future plans. I’ve found that we’ve all grown comfortable with one another and our friendships evolve everyday as we are already planning on getting together when we get back to Delaware in the spring.
On Friday, our whole biology class took a field trip to the Palace of Versailles. I was particularly excited for this excursion because I don’t think I would have gotten the opportunity to see it if it was not a scheduled class visit. Versailles is not located within the city center, but within the suburbs requiring longer transportation and a whole day to visit the grounds. This would have been difficult with our tight school schedule and possible travels on the weekend. The Palace is simply stunning with its large complex structure, lavish bedrooms and hallways, extravagant painted ceilings and breathtaking views of the gardens. The Palace felt like a town of its own and allowed me to connect what we had been learning in our history class to most of the displays seen within the Palace.
