At the beginning of 2014, I was fortunate enough to have been awarded a place on the University of Kent’s Paris Summer School Scholarship scheme for the period 15-28 June 2014.
The description on the website is as follows:
‘The Paris Summer School is focused on the theme of ‘Revolutions’. This allows students to explore how French culture has long been at the centre of innovation in the fields of architecture, film, literature, art, philosophy and drama. Students will spend two weeks in Paris in an interdisciplinary environment, attending seminars given by academics from the University of Kent and visiting important sites and museums related to the programme. This will give students an experience of living and studying in one of Europe’s major capital cities and provide an insight into a wide variety of subject areas. Students will gain expertise, skills and intercultural awareness which will be attractive to potential employers.’
In light of this opportunity I intended to produce daily content during this two-week period about my experience in the ‘City of Light’. These posts consisted of discussion topics and highlights from my everyday activities during my time in lectures and seminars.
I also intended to write about my adventures as I explored the city in the best way I knew how – walking (second only to eating) – as a flâneur in 21st-century Paris. These took the form of thoughts and ideas that sprang to mind as I perused the streets of the city and the banks of the river Seine. I also wrote mini exhibition reviews as I endeavoured to take in as much of its culture, history and ever-growing art scene in this short period of time.
With the Louvre’s unveiling of its new collection for its Abu Dhabi branch in its Birth of a Museum exhibition and a major I, Augustus, Emperor of Rome exhibition touring from Rome to the Grand Palais celebrating the 2000th anniversary of the emperor’s death, the timing of this opportunity could not have been better handled.
Unfortunately, this series of posts abruptly ended at the one week mark, due to much difficulty condensing all of the incredible insights I had experienced into writing, let alone as a daily series. Nevertheless, I hope you readers will enjoy reading about it.
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 1: Reunion
Early morning start. Destination: Gare du Nord, Paris. Departure time: 9:55am. The reunion was lovely. Awkward university students standing in a circle outside Canterbury West station. The rest met us at Ashford International. I needed a coffee – a latte was the result, along with two bars of chocolate. I haven’t had them yet. The…
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 2: Architecture
My second day in Paris began with a brief search for food. A few of us walked around the nearby area scouting for cafés and pâtisseries. We ended up going to a very small branch of Brioche Dorée where €1 bought me an espresso and a pain au chocolat. It was time to head up…
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 3: Nobility
The Sorbonne. This fascinating domed structure used to house the former University of Paris. Nowadays, it is the home of the Panthéon-Sorbonne University, one of 13 different universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1970. And it was here, in the Place de la Sorbonne, where my day began. Breakfast at Les Patios, Place…
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 4: Crea-tea-vity
The history of art has always been littered with controversy. Perhaps the most famous set of all are those related to representations of female nudes in which Titian’s Venus of Urbino (1538) and Manet’s Olympia (1863) take centre-stage. But art, in many cases, seems to have progressed because of these controversies – Picasso’s Les Demoiselles…
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 5: Versailles
Out of our entire two-week programme, Thursday was perhaps the biggest day in the schedule. My day began with a brief breakfast at Reid Hall consisting of a pain au chocolat and university-provided coffee. Dr Stefan Goebel conducted our crash-course seminar on Versailles, focusing on the periods 1789-1871-1919, highlighting the Women’s March on Versailles –…
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 6: Animals
This day was perhaps the most intense – and certainly most enjoyable – seminar of the week. Having had a relaxing walk towards Reid Hall with a leftover ham and cheese baguette and stopping briefly at Patisserie Boulangerie for an espresso, myself and everyone else were plunged into deep discussion about revolutionary animals by Professor…
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2 Weeks in Paris – Day 8: Strolling
The second half of my weekend involved an early morning to visit the Paris Catacombs. The queue circled around the park with a wait of over an hour – who knows how many people were in the line. I walked there with most of the group but soon decided to give up and find my…
Nigel Ip 