Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Category: Europe (page 7 of 9)

Les Catacombs

Tunnel leading to the cemetery

Last weekend I visited a unique cemetery in the 14th district called the catacombs. Like the name suggests, the cemetery is in a system of underground tunnels, but what makes it truly bizarre is the way the bodies are arranged. The bones of about six million people are neatly arranged along the walls for all to see.

At the end of the eighteenth century, cemeteries in Paris were becoming overcrowded and a serious health problem for the city. From April 7th, 1786 until 1788, the bones from every cemetery in Paris were transfered to the underground quarries, always accompanied with a blessing from a priest. In 1810, the catacombs were renovated, and the bones were then neatly arranged with a few tombstones and decorations. The cemetery eventually became a tourist attraction in 1874. Fun fact: Victor Hugo used the catacombs in his 1862 novel Les Miserables, and you can see the tunnels (minus the bones for some reason) in the new film, as well.

Inside the catacombs

While I have seen my share of horror films, being in these tunnels with the bones of six million people was a little unsettling. At the time, I had no idea just how many bodies were down there, and when I think about it, six million sounds about right. Like any other great attraction in Paris, you have to walk up and down many stairs to get to your destination. The tunnels themselves were very small; the ceilings must be less than seven feet high, and the walls are only a few feet apart. I would not recommend veturing down there if you are afraid of small spaces! Or skeletons, for that matter.

Being in the presence of so many bodies was a rather creepy but humbling experience. I was reminded that someday I will be put into the ground just like the millions of bodies in the catacombs. While many who visit this cemetery are respectful of the dead, many others are not: there is a good amount of graffiti on the tombstones and even on a number of skulls. It made me very sad to see how others want to right their initials on a person’s final resting place and even on the person’s own skull. The cemetery was also closed for four months in 2009 due to vandalism, which shows how little respect some people have for the dead.

If you ever visit Paris and want to see something different, I would definitely recommend visiting the catacombs. The line was a little long since my friends and I went on a Satuday, but I’m sure the lines are shorter on weekdays. Just make sure you’re ready to climb a lot of stairs and to whisper for a while, and you’ll be prepared to visit the strangest cemetery in Paris!

View From the Top

View from the Sacré-Cœur

One thing I absolutely love about Paris is its skyline. Whenever I’m a few stories high in a building, I see a breathtaking view of the city, and I can’t believe that I’m really here. Sometimes I feel like I’m just dreaming, and this entire trip is all in my mind.

Last weekend I became a tourist once again and headed over to the Basilisque du Sacré-Cœur and the Arc de Triomphe to see some more examples of French architecture. While I hate acting like a tourist in front of French natives, I can’t help but whipping out my camera and gawking at something beautiful with jaw completely dropped. I’ve never seen such georgous, ancient buildings in my life, so if I must revert back to my American tourist ways, so be it!

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

When I first saw the Notre Dame, I thought, “Wow, this is pretty amazing.” But when I saw the Sacré-Cœur up close for the first time, I was completely blown away. You can see this Roman Catholic church from pretty much anywhere in Paris because it sits on top of the hill Montmartre, which is also the name of the area surrounding the Sacré-Cœur in the 18th district. My legs were aching after the long climb up to the top of the hill, but it was completely worth it in the end. Luckily the sun was shining that afternoon, and the view of Paris was absolutely magical. While the outside of the Sacré-Cœur is beautiful in itself, it’s the inside that left me speechless. There is a mosaic in the front of the church titled Christ in Majesty (one of the largest in the world) that gives this church a really unique and spiritual feel.

Arc de Triomphe

The next day I also saw an amazing view of Paris at the top of the Arc de Triomphe, which is an arch standing in the center of a turnabout on the Champs-Élysées. It was built to honor those who died in the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. It also holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which includes an eternal flame that burns for the unidentified soldiers who died in both world wars. Although it began to snow while I was at the top, the view was completely worth it. You could see so much of Paris at once, from La Défense to the Sacré-Cœur.

Seeing the skyline of Paris makes me so excited to be here, and it reminds me how much of the city I have yet to see. The weather is just starting to get nicer here, so I hope to finish up my tour of the museums and monuments and to instead see more gardens and parks in Paris.

View from the Arc de Triomphe

Sacré-Cœur

Inside the Sacré-Cœur

Soaking Up un Peu de Culture

Looking at art in the Musée d'Orsay

One thing I did not know about Paris is the large number of museums that can be found here: 204, to be exact! Although I did take a few art classes back in high school, I do not consider myself an art buff. But since I’m here now, why not take in a little bit of art culture while I can?

Of course there are the famous museums that are bombarded with tourists almost everyday, including the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Musée National d’Art Moderne in the Centre Georges Pompidou. But there are many other museums that often get overlooked, such as the catacombs, the Musée de Radio France, or the Musée du Vin. Since the weather has been quite rainy since I arrived, I decided that I this is my chance to visit as many museums as possible before the sun returns for good.

I started my quest for art two weeks ago when my program group went on a guided tour through the Musée d’Orsay. This was my first time seeing the museum ever, and I was completely blown away by it’s beauty. While the outside itself is very lovely, the inside is what took my breath away. The Musée d’Orsay resides in an old train station, giving the building a unique quality that makes it stand out from other museums in Paris. The museum’s collection includes artwork from impressionists and post-impressionists such as Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. My favorite piece that I can across had to be Van Gogh’s self portrait. I really enjoyed the group tour and learning about the history behind famous pieces of art rather than constantly guessing what really went on in the world when a masterpiece was created. I can’t wait to go back and see more amazing artwork!

Inside the Musée d'Orsay

Musée d'Orsay

 

Next on my list was the Musée du Louvre, without a doubt the most famous of all the museums in Paris. Situated in thecenter of the city, the Louvre holds many different kinds of artwork, including ancient Egyptian artifacts, Greek and Roman sculptures, and paintings from the Italian Renaissance. Its most famous piece of art is the Mona Lisa; luckily I didn’t have to wait in a line to see it! The museum is absolutely gigantic, and I succeeded in getting myself lost when I visited the Louvre last week. The building is absolutely georgous and has a triangular glass building for one entrance. It’s even connected to an underground shopping mall complete with a Starbucks and a McDonalds. No wonder it’s the most visited art museum in the world.

Musée du Louvre

Venus de Milo, Greek Goddess of love and beauty

The Mona Lisa

Life in the 14th Arrondissement

I finally visited the Eiffel Tower!

While my first week in Paris was a little hectic as I was trying to adjust to life in a new city, things have gone much smoother this week. After discovering the cheapest grocery stores in the neighborhood, learning how to use the washers and dryers at the laundry mat, and navigating the metro system successully, I feel as though each day is better than the last. I have heard so many times from my program director that the first week of a study abroad program is the hardest, and I couldn’t agree with her more. If things can only get better from here, I know this semester is going to be as wonderful as I imagined.

When I used to day dream about living in Paris, I imagined myself wandering around the Eiffel Tower on a bright, sunny day, revelling in all that is French. This image was quickly thrown out the door after almost two weeks of consant rain. Literally every day since I arrived here, the sky has been filled with clouds. Although it is a little sad to live in constant gloom, I will not let that stop me from enjoying my time here. Spring will simply be all the more glorious when it returns.

La Tour Montparnasse

After traveling to a handful of the different districts in Paris, I can gladly say that I live in the 14th. Paris is divided into twenty districts (or arrondissements). They are arranged in a sort of clockwise spiral like a snail, starting in the center of the city with the 1st district. The district I live in is far from the tourist hot spots and is quite different than living near the center. Roads are mostly one-way streets and are rarely busy. Instead of designer clothing stores and expensive restaurants, there are smaller shops and cafes where you can try and save a little pocket money. Although nothing is more than a fifteen minute train ride away, life is just a little less crazy than in the center of Paris.

Since my foyer does not have a meal plan, I have to cook my meals in our kitchen if I do not feel like spending money at a restaurant, which happens to be most of the time. While finding a grocery store was quite simple, chosing my own groceries was a different story. Even though I have cooked meals for myself at home, it’s much different when you have to plan on buying every single item you will need for just one meal. Unfortunately, I discovered that I am a terrible cook and will be living off of grilled cheese, noodles, and poorly cooked vegetables for the next few months.

My savior: the boulangerie.

Luckily, there is a wonderful thing called a boulangerie on almost every corner in Paris where you can buy fresh baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolate, and other delicious concoctions that melt in your mouth. Bread in France is absolutely sinful. The crust of a baguette is perfectly crisp, and the inside is incredibly soft. It is simply the best bread I have ever tasted. Bread is definitely going to be my number one food staple while I am here…

Every day I wind up thanking myself for every decision that got me here so far, from choosing to live in a quiet neighborhood to choosing this specific study abroad program. As I learn more about Paris each day and see amazing cathedrals, monuments, and architecture, I couldn’t be happier than where I am now, and I look forward to seeing much more of France and Europe soon.

La Vie à Paris

It lacks a little color, but hey, it's home.

After so much anticipation and planning, I am finally here. It’s hard to believe that just a week ago I was laying around my house bored out of my mind during winter break. But now I am here in Paris, and I’m going to try my very best to make the most of it!

My 6 1/2 hour flight from New York to Paris on Sunday went smoothly, and we landed at 6:30 a.m. Unfortunately for me, that was seven hours ahead of Chicago time. As a result, I had terrible jet lag on Monday. It did not help that I had to sit and try to understand my foyer director explaining to me the rules of the dorm in fast, fluent French. Needless to say, I took a 3 1/2 hour nap immediately after that rendez-vous.

My foyer is actually very quaint. It’s in the 14th arrondissement near Montparnasse (a skyscraper) and is easy to get to using the metro. Many French girls around my age live here, but girls from other countries stay here too. My roommate, for example, is German and has been living in this foyer for a year already. We speak English to each other since we are both more comfortable speaking English than French. While this may not be useful for practicing my French, she’ll be moving to a single room at the end of the month and I’ll be getting a French roommate. Hopefully by then I’ll be a little more comfortable speaking French to native speakers! (I tried ordering a sandwich yesterday and failed. But that’s what learning is all about, right?)

My study abroad program is through Central Colleg and only has four other girls in it. Already I am thankful for choosing my program for this reason! It’s so nice being relaxed in such a small group and getting to discover Paris without sticking out like a sore thumb in a huge group of Americans. My program director is also wonderfully helpful, and I could never thank her enough for all of her help so far.

While I have not been in Paris for very long, I am so excited to see what the semester has in store for me. Tomorrow I am starting a language class with the Ecole Etoile, and I can’t wait to see my French skills improve. Although I haven’t seen many monuments or museums yet (even the Eiffel Tower!), I know I have four whole months to see what Paris is really like. I think I can safely say this semester is going to be a memorable one. (:

I've been trying to get the hang of this since I arrived!

Parisian Society from the Seat of a Train

It’s rather revealing taking the RER train from Paris to its outskirts (banlieue). The RER lines, the few larger trains that service the city like the metro, allow access from Paris to its many neighborhoods and beyond. Students like me take the RER to reach tourist sites like Versailles, le chateau de Chantilly, or other Aristocratic domiciles-turned-tourist sites. And yet the RER serves another purpose – that of piercing the bubble that surrounds the city of Paris. For the habitants of  suburban Paris, the RER allows direct access to the heart of the traditional city, cutting across the different layers of social stratification. It’s funny then, as I take my train to see France’s “treasures”, that the ride reveals such marked societal differences.

An intriguing aspect of society that is revealed en train is the very active graffiti culture. Graffiti marks the walls of ancient buildings, the dripping subterranea of the metro system, apartment buildings, monuments . . . anywhere really.  The graffiti often serves, like below, as a a sort of transgression of the sometimes-stifling bubble of the past that France often hides under. Or at least that’s how the younger generations are likely to see it.

Graffiti can reveal a certain irreverence for traditional french art, a statement against a seemingly regressive adulation of France's cultural past

There is, in effect, a twofold stratification that marks the Paris (and France) of today. There is the economic and social stratification that reveals itself  in the daily RER users (the predominance of which I can assure you are not white). The “liberated” and “modernly educated” youth may not have completely freed themselves of the traditionalism of their society.  I notice, on the ride back to Paris, a young, white teenager seat himself on the RER. He waves fondly to his parents out the window as he rolls away to the “real world”, the city that is Paris. I notice his face marked with displeasure as two black men seat themselves beside him at the next stop.  And I wonder how real this world is, this Paris the french youth experience? The further you get to the center of Paris “the escargot”, the lesser the diversity, and greater the affluence. Wealthy youth parade in heels, blazers, dresses seeking neon lights and alcohol on weekend nights. The Parisian nightlife is “super cool” . . . if you have the money for it.

France is marked by a certain social atmosphere. Older generations prefer the rosy image of the France of their youth – that which is daily “transgressed” by the younger generations (citing graffiti, proliferation of American culture, etc.), shifting the conventional view of French identity. Traditional France – its art, culture, and markedly its social hierarchy (purism) – is guarded carefully. The government creates around Paris a bubble that idealizes the golden age of Paris. And on the surface Paris succeeds in matching itself to its postcard depictions for the economic support of tourists. The Péripherique (autoroute) cuts Paris into an awkward oval, yet very distinctly walls in Paris Proper. Outside of the Péripherique, cités (towering low-budget apartment complexes) rise amidst a dreary, decidedly unromantic landscape. And trailing from the banlieues into the countryside, the bidonvilles flash by, desperate shanty towns of which many Parisians are unaware.

A bidonville seen by train

The rosy Paris of Woody Allen’s A Midnight in Paris or countless other Hollywood films is the dream it appears to be. One can, in fact, limit himself or herself to this romantic apparition of the past. The tourism industry tries desperately to preserve the romantic Paris of bygones, because who would come to France to see American plays, movies, concerts . . . who would buy postcards of a Parisian Bidonville? The sad truth is that the prior occurs regularly (a fear of embracing the otherness of France’s own media) and the latter is photographed for its quaint “primitiveness”. It’s sad to face the realization of this ignorance, avoidance, or plain naivety, though it is the world in which we live. If we can but be aware and try to share this awareness, that is enough – for ignorance plagues the world over.

Why Let me ask you this: Why not Paris?

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Emily Hardesty et j’étudierai en Paris le semestre prochain. And for those of you who don’t speak French: Hello! My name is Emily Hardesty and I will be studying in Paris next semester. Oh, Paris. The city of love. Who wouldn’t want to spend four months of their life in one of the greatest cities in the world? Not this girl. I am an old fashioned romantic, and I constantly dream about sitting in a quaint little café by the Eiffel Tower sipping a café au lait.

Paris

But let me start from the beginning. How did I decide to study abroad in the first place? I grew up in a small, not-so-quaint village called Beecher, Illinois. Yes, you read that correctly. Village. It’s not even big enough to be considered a town. Because I spent twenty years surrounded by cornfields and stranded thirty minutes away from the nearest shopping center, I dream of the day when I can live in a big city filled with excitement, strangers, and opportunities. I am tired of living in a town where I know everyone by name. To put it simply, I want to see the world and understand how the rest of the world lives.

France

So why Paris? Let me ask you this: Why not Paris? I started studying French my freshman year at VU, and I fell in love with the language. After declaring a French major (and an English major), I knew that I had to visit Paris someday, and what better time than when I am learning French? I will be completely immersed in the language while I am living there. My speaking skills are not quite up to par just yet, and although I am a little anxious about communicating with native French speakers, I am ready for the challenge. It’s going to be tough at first, but who said life wasn’t going to be tough? After I knew I was going to be studying in Paris, I immediately chose the Central College Abroad program for one main reason: it’s in Paris. Since I’m going to be studying in France, I’m going to make sure that I’m living in the city where all of the action happens. It may be the number one tourist destination in the world and full of lost tourists who can’t speak French (hopefully not what I’m going to be!), I think that’s sweet. The whole world wants to visit the most romantic city in the world. If that doesn’t tug at your heart strings a little, you need to go watch The Notebook one more time.

Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy

If you haven’t realized it yet, I am so excited for my trip to Paris. I want to see and experience everything I possibly can while I am in Europe. The Nôtre Dame Cathedral, the Musée d’Orsday, the Louvre, and obviously the Eiffel Tower are a few places on my I-have-to-see-this-before-I-die list. Outside of the city, I plan to see the D-Day beaches and the Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, the palace of Versailles, and the Alps in the East. I also plan on traveling outside of the country as much as my budget allows. While I would like to travel to every major city in Europe next semester, I am sadly living on the budget of a college student. (Easy Mac is my best friend.) So, I narrowed my must-see cities in Europe to London, Rome, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Madrid. I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll get to go to all of these cities, but I know they will all be waiting for me in the future after I return home in May.

French Café

Sometimes I can’t believe that in less than two months I will be living in Paris. How does a girl from the middle of nowhere get the chance to fulfill her dream of traveling the world? The answer is through extensive planning; a great support system at VU, Central College, and at home; and a student loan. (I’d have to say that last one may have been the key factor!) While I may be apprehensive about living in a huge city where I may not be able to communicate perfectly or I may get lost sometimes, I know that my time abroad will be well spent and will be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope that students reading this blog will understand the value of traveling abroad and will do whatever it takes to make their dreams of traveling the world come true like I did.

 

By Emily Hardesty, English and French majors, from Beecher, Illinois.  More posts to come!!

A Change of Seasons

If you have not seen the movie Amarcord, by Federico Fellini, I suggest it – if not for the nostalgic setting of prewar Italy – then for the vignetted coming of age of Titta, the young lead. The film opens with the arrival of the puffballs, the small white “manine” announcing the coming of spring. This simple event captures the attention of the townspeople, bringing them to the street to hurrah and parade in joyous celebration. With the arrival of spring is the spirit of renewal, the white – purity, and the sense, simply, of time passing, moving forward.

The changing of seasons is not something I can greet here, in Paris, so easily, so markedly as in the Midwest. There, cornshocks rustle in a dry wind (that same wind which brings in, year after year, the puffballs), forest gleam in passionate shades, as families decorate for those wonderful holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Here, alas, the city is self-contained, the onset of fall marked by temporary death in the rare inner-city vegetation, while October and November greet me with torrents of rain and slowly cooling temperatures.

Yet the city moves on, progresses as usual, seems even to thrive on the effrontery of the seasons. The city is business – while American hands trade lattés for their holiday counterparts, the Parisian continues to consume that potent drug (upon which the city endlessly runs) expresso. There is, I have noted, a continuity, an unparalleled movement that exists here, that feeds on the activity of Parisians, in the change of money, food, products, in the rush of the metro, the larger Grandes Lignes, and the continual activity of Charles de Gaulle International. 

It is this movement that keeps the city alive. Parisians are too busy living, truly living to stop and enjoy a calmer pace. For who lives so precarious, so vivant a life as the young Parisian? Overcome with desire for an ever-changing adventure like beloved Mr. Toad of Graham’s Wind in the Willows. Each new day, new fad, new acquaintance seizes hold of the mind and holds sway until the night of that day fades into the next – the mind effaced, open now to new horizons.

So life goes, the Parisian (really, not so different from the New Yorker, the Chicagoan, you see) living life from link to link, chain stretched endlessly on the horizon, waiting to *snap* like a firecracker. And so Keroauc describes such folk, like On The Road‘s anti-hero Dean Moriarty: “. . . the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

And again, the little white puffballs, drifting into town to wash again the minds and hearts with a new season . . .

Museums of Paris: Un petit goût

Paris is a city of culture, undoubtedly, but how does one judge that culture? There is the food, of course, the people, their mannerisms, the language, the buildings, and then, there are the museums. Museums, as I perceive, those institutions that center their interest on a topic (be it medieval tapestries, art deco furniture, or contemporary installations) and attempt to find some connection/significance between the objects/information displayed, and the visitor. And so I am fascinated by the manner in which museums attempt to create this connection, instill significance, or simply make their visitors marvel. There are two trends I especially noted, the first being the general lack of analysis and interpretation of art or artifacts- this is something I certainly appreciate. The other is that museums either display their artifacts in a completely black atmosphere (in vitrines lit from within), or showcase their works in completely white, well-lit galleries. What a contrast. So here I will describe many of the museums I have visited thus far, and my impressions.
Cinémathèque Française: Modern, an intriguing building from the exterior. Magical, the permanent exhibition, like walking through a dream. The vitrines are lit from the interior, there are clips of audio and snippets of film projected or playing on all corners of the black space. The collections are organized not by time period, but by theme, be it Russo-Germanic avant-garde or early collectors of moving photographs. Fascinating, and I need to return for their cinema, which has a regular schedule of cinematic gems.
Musée d’Orsay: Fantastic collection of Impressionist works, organized by theme or artist as much as time period, but the density of grand works makes no single one better than another. This is how Impressionism should be displayed. It’s interesting too, that the converted train station (a symbol of industry, smoke, movement) has become a peaceful white, and quite elegant space for exhibition.
Centre Pompidou: So cool, I would spend days here. All white walls, it shows the progression of movements from modern to contemporary, which is quite helpful from an art history perspective. My favorite room is the studio-apartment of André Breton, father of Surrealism, artist, and collector. The single wall recreating his studio is replete with African and Oceanic masks, works of fellow artists, sculptures, exquisite rocks, stuffed animals, shrunken heads, ornate furniture- a vast colloquium from which to derive inspiration.

Mur d'Atelier d'André Breton (not my picture)

Musée de Quai Branly: Ethnographic drama, sculptures and masks floating, glowing in a completely black museum. I loved it, and it felt modern, not stale like certain ethnographic rooms at the Field Museum. Also, there is little to no interpretation regarding the artifacts, leaving you often to imagine their function (though there are a number of videos and images that show use for more modern masks or artifacts). I have never quite seen ethnographic objects displayed as such, and I’m quite pleased with the way they make such important artifacts interesting and important in their own right. The exterior of the museum is intriguing, composed of a forested campus (more like a jungle with small walkways) that you must traverse to get from one part of the museum to another. The part of the building directly facing the Seine is actually composed of vegetation, growing straight off the multi-story wall. At night, glowing light rods spread throughout the grounds illuminate the dark vegetation, accompanied by well-hidden speakers that play (slightly unnerving, but really cool) jungle noises. I loved this museum.

 

Mummy's skull, gold leaf

Sculpture, skeleton motif

Musée de Quai Branly, exterior

Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: This museum pales in comparison to the Centre Pompidou, its open spaces home to but a few contemporary installations and works. It almost feels like the space is filled with the leftovers of Palais Tokyo and Centre Pompidou. Not really worth my time. Certain exhibitions, though, were very interactive, including such aspects as adding your height to an installation (solely composed of the names and heights of visitors), or being able to press buttons and see and hear live feeds from major subway systems around the world.

Height "installation"

Musée du Chocolat: This museum is new, and has a bof (expression of indifference) exhibition showing how cacao is grown and harvested and made into chocolate. The cool part of this museum is the interactive aspect, where one first watches the chocolatier make pralines using a machine (it takes as much expertise on his part as on the part of the machine) as it would be made in a factory. Then we participated in a workshop, where a traditionally trained chocolatier assisted us in making our own pralines, a very smooth and detailed process, which we found out in attempting to replicate the chocolatier’s actions. Despite our untrained efforts, we walked away with a bag of pralines made by our very own hands!

Making Pralines

 

“Nous avons une bonne nouvelle pour toi”

So begins an email I received from EUSA, the organization that organizes the internship aspect of our program. The internship is in fact the focal point of the Paris program, the first half of the semester spent learning skills and vocabulary necessary to be effective in the French workplace, the second half- in doing the internship. Today I had my first internship interview, with a contemporary art gallery in Marais. But what exactly happens leading up to this point?

EUSA starts early in the year (last semester for me) sending out questionnaires and asking for a draft of a CV so that they can begin researching internships for the students. The first week we arrive in Paris, we have scheduled interviews with EUSA to help further pinpoint specific interests and discuss the work in different sectors. It’s kind of exciting and nerve-racking at the same time, just thinking about the opportunities that are opened to you. What sector is good for me- fashion, galleries, non-profit, history, publicity, public health? By the time you walk out of the interview, you and your advisor have narrowed the choices down to three sectors, which may not seem at first obvious, but are meant to provide the most interactive and valuable work experience while abroad. I was placed in the gallery, journalism, and marketing sectors, though my advisor assured me a position with a contemporary art gallery considering my interests in modern culture, contemporary art, and working with my hands.

The next step is to await an interview. EUSA does the research- finding and contacting businesses (entreprises)- and eventually, you receive an email, as my title suggests, offering you an interview. Now the real work begins- you begin to research the company, you go over your responses to any number of questions the employer might ask and . . . you plan your own questions (because surely you want to make sure the position/company will fit you just as much as the interviewer wants to see if you will fit the company/position). Yet, no matter how much research or preparation you do, you’ll still never be quite prepared for the interview.

If you think interviewing for a job in America is nerve-racking, try interviewing in another language! This is not to say you are set up to fail, these interviews simply provide a unique challenge in that you never know what exactly is going to happen (or how well you’ll understand what the employer is saying!). It’s exciting, and following with my initial goal for this program, it is a great personal challenge.

So see what you can accomplish, and be confidant in your abilities. Your whole life has been a learning experience, so utilize the tools you’ve gained, perhaps unwittingly, to – as I was prompted to do- convaincre l’entretien (an interesting mix of conquer and convince, one must truly show their stuff during the interview). Now here’s to hoping I did just that.

Galerie Eric Mircher

 

Older posts Newer posts

© 2024 Valpo Voyager

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑