Welcome 2011 Paris Students!

We've all arrived in Paris, France, for the Paris Study Course: Communication and Culture in Contemporary and Modern France! Students arrived yesterday and, despite just a few glitches, we picked up the students at the airport (two students had already arrived, so they met us at the hotel). After a pretty grueling day of travel and arrival, everyone got a good night sleep and we started bright and early today.

Highlights of our activities included: three hours in the Louvre, contemplating works that are important to the subject matter in the course (by artists such as Delacroix, David and Gros). Oh, and we saw the Mona Lisa, too! We went up to the Montmartre and visited Emile Zola's first tomb (hint: he has a second tomb that we will visit later) and the Martyrium, the chapel where St. Ignatius of Loyola and his first companions made their first vows. We also spent a few minutes in Sacré Coeur and toured the wonderful Montmartre district. Finally, we had dinner at a restaurant in Montmartre. Tomorrow, the Musée d'Orsay and more paintings that we are studying in our course!