One of the huge privileges of studying in UCD for me was this option of studying abroad for a year, in between Second and Third Year. Not only did it turn my degree (The Bachelor of Arts Honours) into an International degree (which looks damn impressive to potential employers!) but it was easily the best year of my life so far. I elected to study in the Université Sorbonne Paris IV in France, one of the oldest and most famous universities in the world.
La Sorbonne, Paris
I spent the year living in an
apartment in Paris (with the help of the Erasmus Grant for the EU!) and studied
English Literature and Culture in the university, through English and French.
It was the quintessential French existence: every morning, full of fresh
baguettes and patisseries from my
local boulangerie, I cycled through
the most iconic city in the world on my way to class, past the Eiffel Tower,
Arc de Triomphe.
The Street I Lived On
Paris in Winter
Playing Boules on Les Invalides
At night myself and my friends (both French and other international students studying in Paris) would go out to bars, clubs or just sit on the banks of Seine and drink (extremely cheap) wine with hundreds of other students.
The Ceiling of One of My Lecture Theatres
Massive Art Installation by Anish Kapour in Le Grand Palais
As well as experiencing the culture of the city I also gained valuable perspective on the teaching of English and universities in general, as in France university is completely different – the way it’s taught and assessed as well as the different priorities of the lecturers themselves. For example UCD employs world-famous scholars of Irish Literature, particularly experts in the likes of Yeats, Joyce and Beckett to name but a few, whereas in La Sorbonne there was more of an emphasis on World Literature, particularly many of the American writers who came to Paris in the 1920s, such as F Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Gertrude Stein.
It truly was an unforgettable year, and all my international friends have kept in contact and visited each other, little reunions all over the world!
