By Professors Cadero-Gillette and Salmon
As we professors wait in the Charles de Gaulle Airport for our students’ plane to depart, we reflect fondly on the past weeks’ activities in Paris. We have come to better know students both familiar and new to us as we have shared many and diverse experiences in the City of Light. It is always amazing to see the transformation of young adults as they encounter other cultures and lifestyles, and, by extension, it is rewarding to observe the personal transformations and self-discoveries that only a full immersion program such as UMass Lowell in Paris can encourage. The complementary backgrounds of our personal trajectories (Prof. Salmon as a native française and Prof. Cadero-Gillette as a Francophile and former ex-pat) have both shaped the program design and choice of activities. Our mutually complimentary viewpoints also aid in allowing our students to experience the city of Paris in a multi-faceted and complex way. From the Louvre to the Cinémathèque, from haute cuisine to cabaret and street art, we have traversed the city and its many delights in the fashion of Hemingway’s moveable feast. We trust, as this group of students continue their strolls through life, that this summer’s sojourn in Paris will remain with them and inspire them to continue to explore and savor all that the world has to offer.
Au revoir et bon voyage! Professors Cadero-Gillette and Salmon