“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast,” Ernest Hemingway once said.
Dr. Robert Viau, a French professor at the University of New Brunswick, shared this quote when referring to the upcoming “Spring in France” study abroad program.
Joanne and Tom Melady are living examples of Hemingway’s words. They participated in “Spring in France” in May of 2008 and spoke by phone with The Brunswickan on Friday from Dijon, France where they are on an extended visit.
“I guess we kinda caught that bug. We thought, ‘We’ve got to get back,’” Joanne said. Her husband is studying French at the University of Burgundy.
Spring in France has been happening every May for the past four years. The program, run by UNB, is open to students and members of the public who are interested in studying abroad. This year’s trip takes place from May 3 to May 22.
Participants will spend a week in Poitiers and two weeks in Paris. A French language and culture course, taught by Viau, is offered for university credit; students may also take an economics course taught by Dr. Constantine Passaris. Classes are informally taught and students study in museums, churches, historical sites and cafes. Participants may also audit classes.
Poitiers, the first stop on the trip, is closely tied to Acadian culture in New Brunswick.
“There is one place in the world where people know where New Brunswick is and it is the Poitiers-Poitou area. The reason is because that is where the Acadians come from,” Viau said. “When we do get there we are received as cousins. They take out the flag. They bring us out for lunch. It’s really quite an experience.”
After Poitiers, students spend two weeks in Paris, which are highlighted by visits to important landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame Cathedral, as well as museums like the Louvre.
Viau said that one of the benefits of the trip is that students are invited to explore places that tourists are not, such as the Bank of France, UNESCO, a fashion show and the Louvre at night.
For Melady, the trip was an immersion into French history and culture.
“When you think about what is here in France, hundreds and hundreds of years, just the wealth of history that’s here,” she said.
Melady said she recommends the trip both to students and professionals looking to explore French culture.
For more information on the trip visit: www.cel.unb.ca/travelstudy/france/english.php or email rviau@unb.ca or passaris@unb.ca.
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