Guest Blog...France's Sites of Memory

Winter break is now in the rear view mirror. I was fortunate enough to spend my break in France with a group of UM-Dearborn students and faculty engaged in a study abroad course. I could go on and on about what the experience meant for our students but I thought it a wiser course to turn to my Associate Dean, Professor Gabriella Scarlatta (who co-lead the course) and ask her to share her thoughts on the trip with you.

Exploring France’s Sites of Memory during Spring break

Eighteen students, two faculty members in French, and the Dean embarked on an exploration of the major sites of France’s collective memory, from the Roman conquest during the first century BC to the French Revolution of 1789. This study abroad experience is linked to my course French 336, French Civilization of the Past.
The trip started in Paris where we visited the most important sites intimately connected to French history and civilization, such as the Catacombs, Place des Vosges, the Church of Saint-Sulpice, the Cathedral Notre Dame, the Place de la Bastille, and Montmartre, with its imposing Basilica Le Sacré Coeur. We also visited the seventeenth-century castle of Versailles. Students had a chance to experience French life in restaurants and cafés, go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and have a full 360 degrees view of the City of Lights. We walked everywhere, some days covering ten to eleven miles, not worrying about the cold, but only caring about the unbelievably beautiful, old surroundings!
After four days in Paris, we went by private bus to the Loire Castle region, and visited the castles of Chenonceau, Chambord, Azay-le-Rideau, and Villandry. Students were fully awed by the splendor and details of these Renaissance castles, as well as by the beauty of the region surrounding the river Loire, where many more castles were built to greet the old French nobility. We stayed in a quaint small hotel in the main square of Tours, right across the train station, where we had the opportunity to experience life in a French province town. From the City of Lights to the small city of Tours, students were able to appreciate the essence of French life and culture.
We continued our discovery toward Southern France, where more sites of memory were waiting. We stopped at the Pont du Gard, a 50 kilometer-long aqueduct and bridge, built by the Romans about 2100 years ago to carry water from a spring to the city of Nîmes. And then on to Nîmes, where we visited its Roman Arena and the Maison Carrée, erected by the Romans to impress the local population and to entertain themselves. Our last two nights were spent in the beautiful port city of Marseille, founded by the Greeks on the Mediterranean sea. Finally, we visited two more charming cities, Arles and Orange, in which their Roman vestiges, including the Arena, Theater, and the Triumphal Arch, still stand tall and imposing.
This was a fabulous educational and empowering experience for our students! They learned to navigate a foreign environment with genuine curiosity and gusto! Every single one of them was completely engaged in the daily activities and took full advantage of every opportunity they encountered. I truly appreciated traveling with them and watched them with pride as they discovered France and its many treasures!