LSU hosts an array of study abroad programs, including the summer trip: LSU in Paris, which is four weeks of concentrated classes and group excursions where students will get to immerse themselves in French culture.
Program Director, Kevin Bongiorni, is an associate professor in French and Italian at LSU. He met Annemarie Geleucia, the assistant director for LSU Communication Across the Curriculum and faculty for the Ogden Honors College, at the Summer Institute faculty training.
The two have been active with this program for many years, Bongiorni being involved for over 20 years and Geleucia since 2019. Both will attend the upcoming trip, where they will not only act as professors but also as guides for the students traveling in a new country.
“It is a real opportunity to be at LSU, a large public university, but still have a liberal arts college experience,” Bongiorni said, “The classes are small, the ratio of faculty to students is small and we do a lot of small group activities.”
Students who participate will have the opportunity to receive up to six credit hours from courses in the French language, anthropology, communication studies and film.
Geleucia explained how students who are taking French classes should be prepared to speak French, but it’s not a requirement to participate in the program. She said classes will be taught in both languages, giving students a sense of community.
“We are also going to put them in a position to be able to develop a baseline set of skills in the French language,” Geleucia said, “The kind of stuff that you’re going to get from living in a city like just wandering around trying to get coffee, trying to find a bathroom and just trying to navigate on the regular.”
According to Bongiorni, students who embrace learning the basics of French, even if they are not studying it, will make the most out of this trip. But still, it’s not a requirement, and there aren’t any expectations unless they are enrolled in French language courses.
Beyond just their studies, students will also be taken on excursions outside of Paris. Currently, the itinerary is not fully mapped out, but in the past, they have gone to areas such as the French Alps and Versace.
“It gives you the opportunity to have a better understanding of yourself from the world. It definitely increases your confidence. It just exposes you to so much more and it changes how you look at the world,” Bongiorni said.
According to Geleucia, the benefits of studying abroad include that hiring managers, graduate programs and people in public and private sectors are looking for college graduates who understand how to be global citizens and have global and cultural competency.
“We know that people who are looking for college graduates are trying to find graduates who understand in some real way what it means to be a part of the bigger world,” Geleucia said.
She also said students who study abroad are able to draw connections and immerse themselves in foreign situations.
“Something happens in your brain when this happens and it actually fosters more firing in your neural pathways and it puts you in a position to think creatively, adaptively and quickly,” Geleucia said.
The biggest shock both professors have seen on past trips is that what they are used to doing at home is not the same everywhere. Geleucia used Louisiana students specifically as an example and how they were shocked by how much walking they were doing and using public transport.
“I think that one of the big adjustments for the students is the fact that they’re independent in a completely different and foreign environment,” Bongiorni said, “We aren’t holding their hand the whole time and they are required to be independent to go out and to actually be in the physical and social context of being in Paris and being in France.”
Software Engineering and Finance sophomore Zoe Joubert saw the opportunity of improving her French and experiencing a new culture and decided to participate in LSU in Paris.
She completed 25 hours of service, and her favorite activities included gardening with La Prairie du Canal, sewing menstrual pads with Madison du Zéro Déchet and recycling arts supplies with La Réserve des Arts.
“The gardening activity especially stuck out to me because I was parked with another young woman who was close in age with me and we spoke for two and a half hours about music, school and things we all liked in French,” Joubert said, “It was an experience that I will always carry with me because it showed me how capable I was of speaking French and I met a very cool person.”
Joubert said that her schedule was very easy, and on most days, she didn’t even have one. As long as she got her service work done, she was able to have time on her own where she could go to concerts like Surf Curse, museums such as the Louvre and cafes where she could try new foods.
“My biggest piece of advice would be to go on the study abroad if you’re on the fence,” Joubert said, “It can seem scary and lonely, but studying abroad has been the most valuable experience I have ever had and I know I would have regret if I had not gone on this trip.”
