Edgar completes semester in Paris

Montell Edgar spent the fall 2008 semester in France with the Lake Forest College Paris Program. Edgar is majoring in French, minoring in English, and planning to eventually pursue a doctorate in Egyptology. The following are her reflections on her semester abroad:

The best part of the Paris trip was our professor Maria Al-Salem. She genuinely loves doing the program and has put a lot of effort into creating something that students will remember.

Excursions

Each Wednesday during our history class we would go to a location that was related to the period we were studying. For example, when we were studying the Renaissance we went to the Loire Valley to tour the castles and we went to da Vinci’s home; when we were studying WWII she took us to Omaha beach in Normandy; when we were studying the middle ages we went to the Cluny museum and to the oldest churches in Paris. She also provided a supplementary list of required trips to do on the weekends to places that were related to our history class.

Internships

Each student is assigned a home to stay in and an internship based on their interests. One of the students that came was teaching English in a French school because he wants to be an elementary school teacher. I was placed at Musee Galliera, one of the most famous fashion museums, because of my interest in working with artifacts in archaeology.

I learned a lot while I was there and the trip changed me as a person. I made friends with people I would have never met otherwise that will always be in my life, and I can’t wait to return to Paris. I would recommend the trip to anyone wholeheartedly.