Participants will enroll in a second eight-weeks honors seminar course titled “Reading the City: Parisian Spaces." On campus, the course will focus on a writer’s perspective of Paris' urban spaces through readings about the City of Light from French authors in translation. Students will compare these spaces to their Bloomington counterpart in experiential assignments. After the end of the semester, students will take their knowledge abroad to visit the sites we explored during a two-week continuation of the program in Paris, France.
Learn more about Reading the City: Parisian Spaces
Study in Paris will take place May 26-June 8, 2025.*
Please note that this program includes a second eight-weeks spring semester course that will meet on campus.
*All travel dates are tentative and subject to international travel restrictions.
October 2, 2024
| 11:00am-12:00pm HHC Great Room |
Course Title: HON-H251: Reading the City: Parisian Spaces
Academic Director & Instructor: Alison Calhoun
Syllabus Description:
Travelers lucky enough to travel to Paris usually manage to visit its iconic sites, but they rarely explore the extent to which Parisian spaces are also literary spaces. This seminar will consider that the allure of Paris, the world’s most visited city after Bangkok and London, is generated not only by the beauty of its urban landscape, but by the space’s unmatched tie to the art of writing. Students will explore how the geography of Paris is both physical and textual, meaning we can “read” the city when we experience it materially, and we can “read” the city when we engage with writing that strives to emulate urban spatiality. This seminar seeks to teach students from a wide range of disciplines to engage with the relationships between city and art, space and thought, science and culture. During the second 8-week course, students in this seminar will read texts about seven different Parisian spaces (one space per week). Alongside these readings, assignments will include an experiential element in which students are asked to “experience” (visit, test out, spend time in, etc.) the Bloomington equivalent of the type of space in question. Both types of assignments prepare students for the on-site, experiential component to be completed after the end of the semester during a two-week visit to Paris. In addition, in consultation with the Professor, each student will devise one research project (tied to the course theme) requiring on-site work during free days or free time in Paris. Grades will be based on weekly reading reactions, regular presentations on the objects of study, a journal students will keep during their time abroad, and an independent research project on a chosen topic to be turned in several weeks after the trip.
- Daily course excursions to different sites of the city, including:
- Procop Café
- Latin Quarter
- Sainte Chapelle
- Notre Dame (exterior)
- Musée D'Orsay
- Opéra Garnier
- Iconic Paris Métro Stations
- Père Lachaise Cemetery
- Optional Excursions
- Day trip to the Versailles Palace
- Eiffel Tower
- Paris Catacombs
- Louvre museum
Program participants will stay in a student residence in Paris. The accommodations are conveniently located near shops, public transit, and program excursion sites.
Program Fee - $1650*
The program fee includes airport transfers in country, accommodations in Paris, some meals, transportation to and from all excursion sites, entry fees to all museums and historical sites, student travel insurance, and administrative fees
*Program fee is subject to change due to unforeseeable circumstances.
IUB Tuition
If you are enrolled as a full-time student during the spring semester and enroll in HON-H251 as part of your block credits, there is no additional tuition cost to participate in Reading the City: Parisian Spaces.
Additional Variable Costs
Variable costs are paid before and after you arrive in France as you pay for roundtrip international airfare, some meals, snacks, personal expenses, and independent travel outside the program.
Note: The program fee will appear on your bursar bill and is paid directly to IU. See the program fee sheet for more details.
Scholarships
All admitted program participants are awarded an automatic HIEP Hutton Honors Study Abroad Scholarship of $500 applied directly to the program fee. No separate application is required.
Additionally, applicants to Hutton Honors Study Abroad programs may be considered for additional merit and need-based scholarships. If finances will be a barrier to participating in your study abroad experience, we invite you to apply for these awards. Please submit your application no later than your program's final application deadline.
Note: Program participants are not eligible to apply for the HIEP Grant.
Please see the IU Education Abroad Office website for more information on other available scholarships and financial aid opportunities.