Featuring…FREN 215: La Provence (and more!)
The French department at Vanderbilt offers many a course, ranging from beginner’s French to French history through literature to phonetics to more specific classes like “French Feminist Thought,” “Medical French in Intercultural Contexts,” and “Literature of the Fantastic.” A very cool advantage to studying abroad is that at Vanderbilt-in-France (in Aix-en-Provence), one can take courses that are solely offered in this program, like “The Maghreb” and a class I’m in called “La Provence.”
The class is unique because it is taught by a French professor from Marseille (the second largest city in France, which is only 30 min away from Aix) who grew up in Provence and therefore is not only knowledgeable about the region in southern France academically, but also from a personal connection created only from experience. We meet once a week for two consecutive 1 hour and 15 min periods, separated by a 15 min break. This semester, we have discussed the geography, history, cities, language, literature, paintings, and photography of Provence while also taking the time to visit a local museum, visit an exposition in Marseille, have a guest lecturer (a man who used to teach the class, but recently retired) give us a brief history and then a tour of Aix, and going on a hike around the base of the nearby mountain Sainte-Victoire.
During the course of the semester, this class has turned into my favorite because of its creative assignments (such as a scrapbook of experiences and observations about Provence that turned into a scrapbook of my stay in France, which I otherwise may or may not have made), but more so, the general applicability of the material to my daily life…We learned some uniquely provencal words and suddenly I started hearing them everywhere I went. We talked about the history of Provence and all of a sudden of the road names in Aix took on new meaning.
There are countless advantages to studying abroad (experiencing a new culture, meeting new people, travel opportunities, learning a new language — this is even possible in English-speaking countries!, the food!, and finding yourself — cheesy, but true, etc etc etc…) and one of them just so happens to be the opportunity to take amazing classes that are only offered abroad! (Think of all the classes you can take at foreign universities and get credit for as well! – I’m taking “History of Political Thought” and “Environment, Health: the Real Issues” at a university in Aix…)
Just think about it, is all I’m saying…because I 110% endorse the choice to study abroad for EVERYONE!