France: Samantha Engel (Our global classroom)

Here in Paris, I am not in a traditional US college lecture. First off, I am not living on campus. I have about a thirty-minute commute to classes every day by the metro and walking. There are two buildings here in Paris my program uses and they are a fifteen-minute walk from each other. Both buildings host many other programs in them and our program is just renting out certain classrooms for us to learn in. These classrooms are very small and simple. I would compare their size to the size of a living room. They all contain a projector and desk for the teacher and then tables and chairs for the students. Each class size is about twenty students. This was a big transition for me as I am used to large lecture halls and there are one hundred students in each class. This makes teachers require participation from each student in each class as it is more of a discussion-based setting. Instead of a semester, here in Paris, there are blocks. Each block is six weeks long and you take about two classes each block. Each of those classes meets three times a week for two and a half hours. These long classes were an easy adjustment for me because they give you a break halfway through each class and it meant only two classes a day. Classes here also have a lot of field trips depending on which ones you take. Last block I took an art history course that went on one field trip a week to a different art museum. My favorite field trip was to Musee de l’Orangerie where I got to see Monet’s water lily paintings!

 

Samantha Engel

Hometown: West Allis, Wisconsin

Major: Legal Studies

Program: UW in Paris