Bonjour!

Bonjour! I am a sophomore in Gallatin studying abroad in Paris for the semester. My concentration, while not solidly formed yet, will be centered on writing and travel, which is why I chose this class as it fits perfectly with my plan of study. What I'm really interested in is art and media as expressions of cultural identity, and how that differs as you travel from place to place around the world. I hope to learn, through history classes, media classes, observation, and travel the nuances of different cultures around the world, what makes each people different than another, what makes up their daily life philosophy, what supports their art and media, and write it, hoping to someday be able to create an assemblage of all these cultural identities to form a global identity, a global artistic point of view, a global media, to show we are all a lot closer to each other than we think we are.

While here, I took three classes in addition to this blogging course. The first, Acting French, consisted of a small group of students rehearsing the entire semester to put on a play to celebrate the 40th anniversary of NYU in Paris. The play, mainly in French, also honored Eugene Ionesco, recently passed and a great contributor to the program in Paris. At the end of the semester we performed twice, once in the private quarters of the ambassador in front of an audience of administrative heads and, flown in from New York, John Sexton. The second time we performed in a bigger room in front of our peers, teachers, colleagues and friends. Both performances went far better than expected, and I was very proud to be in the course. Another course I took was Advanced Composition, also in French. As I am so interested in writing, I thought it might be wise to try and perfect my french writing skills (grammar, syntax, etc.) so if I ever travel write abroad, I can travel write in French. My third class, European Cinema and Society, entailed us watching a dozen or so European films (from Spain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, of course, and others) whose storyline or creation was directly influenced by the specific history of that country. This course also applied directly to my concentration as I came to learn of so many different countries' histories and how they were reflected through art and media to teach the public about their own cultural identity.

I'm from a tiny town in New England, where I lived all my life before moving to New York, so I've always felt I have the best of both worlds. I have a country home and a city home, two different cultural experiences. And now, I have a European home, in Paris. And I feel even luckier.