This space is managed by the GSP students. It is devoted to the exchanges, questions, and reflections they want to share with one and another and with other readers. It starts after their arrival as they reorient from global New York City to global Paris.
Discovering ”Global” Paris
Between the beginning of Orientation (January 9) and the Introductory Class of the Colloquium (January 19), the GSP students are encouraged to discover Paris through individual or group visits, not only of traditional touristic sites and monuments, but of places and neighborhoods that are less emphasized in the guidebooks: the Barbès – La Goutte d’Or quarter, the Belleville quarter, the Asian quarter of the 13th arrondissement, the faubourg Saint-Denis… And what about the banlieues of Paris, accessible through a ride in the métro? These places demonstrate the “globalism” of Paris as a center not only of world-class Culture, but of world cultures reaching beyond the city limits.
What’s different about Paris?
Emily Arsen 
Jan 19, 2012
Public transportation offers a look into the culture and socioeconomic structure of a city. For a brief
period of time, people from across the city with different lives, cultures and destinations sit together. In
New York, I learned to tell which stops people would get off at depending on their appearance and the general make up of the neighborhood… Read More
Noel Duan
Jan 20, 2012
My first impression of Paris, as I headed from the airport to the cité universitaire, was neither of crêperies on every street corner nor of majestic neoclassical architecture. Instead of taking a shuttle into the city or using mass transit, I had gotten a ride with my cousin, so I had a front seat view of the highway—and more importantly, the graffiti alongside the highway… Read More
Isaac Santos
Jan 20, 2012
Getting off the plane at Charles de Gaulle was the final wake-up call for me: I was actually in Paris. And, although it did take me a while to figure out how to get to my new home, the simple reality of being in my chambre at the Cité Universitaire had a certain air of excitement to it. Since I flew from Chicago, I was extremely jet-lagged, and, given that I have no control over my body, I plunged into deep sleep… Read more
Cassandra Nozil
Jan 20, 2012
“What are you doing today?” asked a friend.
“Not really sure.” I replied.
“You should go walking, and see the sights.”
And that, readers, is where the difference between the US and France begins. (Besides the fact that this conversation was held in French, of course) I’m a Florida girl, where the only time I walk is to get from my house to my SUV. In New York, there is definitely a walking culture, but I’ve never been told by many people (as I have here) to just walk. Many of the New Yorkers I know have never even visited the Statue of Liberty. There is a participation and pride in French culture that is tangible.
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Ella Wagner (left)
Elizabeth Jacob
Jan 20, 2012
It’s pretty much unavoidable—when you’re traveling abroad, you’re bound to visit at least a few
dead guys. Paris is no exception. But while Parisian cemeteries honor the remains of countless
great men of the French Republic, the Pantheon, with its gorgeous neoclassical architecture and
striking dome, really takes it up a notch… Read more
Matthew G.
Jan 20, 2012
On my first museum visit since arriving in Paris, I attended the Diane Arbus exhibition at the Jeu de Paume. It was a fitting way to begin the Global Scholars Program, an experience that entails navigating French culture through immersion while reflecting critically from a distance. With the expectation of critically traversing cultures in mind, Diane Arbus’s two hundred photographs at the Jeu de Paume took on a unique significance in the Parisian setting.
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