Submitted by Isabella Bonvicin on the 2024 Winter BUAD program in Paris, France…
My first week in Paris has been an incredible experience of great food, sights, and memories made. Our group’s main focus this week was to build connections with the students who we are exchanging with at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. They graciously planned a week filled with activities for us to enjoy together, while exploring the massive and beautiful city that Paris is known to be. Although this week may have been one of the coldest weeks Paris has seen in years, we certainly made the most of it- and were also able to experience a rare Parisian snow!
Earlier in the week, we did some geocaching around the Île de la Cité, which is the island in the Seine that the first settlement of Paris was built upon. Geocaching is an activity that has recently become very popular among young people in France that relies on using coordinates and other navigational techniques to find hidden caches, or containers, around the city. While my group was not successful in finding any caches, we had a blast exploring the island and seeing the Notre Dame Cathedral and Pont-Neuf along the way. Later in the day, the students took us to a food market called La Felicita, which was in a former train
station, where we had delicious pizza and gelato in a room of trains decorated with colorful flowers and
sparkling lights.
We also visited the Musée Rodin with the Sorbonne students this week, which houses many remarkable statues and artwork by the famous Aguste Rodin, as well as several other sculpturists. We even saw Rodin’s most notable piece, The Thinker. They also took us on a walking tour of the Louvre gardens and surrounding areas, where we saw the famous Louvre Pyramids. We ended our week with our new friends with a river cruise and dinner party on the Seine River. Nothing compares to seeing Paris’ buildings and bridges along the river at night, especially the quick glimpse we got of the Eiffel Tower sparkling!
Overall, getting the opportunity to form relationships with peers from different cultural backgrounds has opened me up to so many new perspectives. I have learned that while our lives may be very different in the USA and France, we also still have so much in common, such as our favorite music artists and where we like to shop for our clothes. This week has been filled with so many new adventures and friendships, and I am very excited for all that I still have to experience in my next two weeks in Paris! (Submitted on January 12, 2024)