"During my time abroad, I learned a multitude of life lessons. I encountered breathtaking artwork that moved me to tears and historical masterpieces that transported me to unknown worlds."
When I applied to the Columbia Summer in Paris program, I didn’t know what to expect. I hoped for the adventure of a lifetime, an international journey filled with cultural immersion and academic wonder, but looking back, what I experienced was so much more.
When I think of my time in Paris, I think of the classes that instilled in me a new-found love for what used to be my least favorite subject. I think of the people I met: those whom I reconnected with from the school year and bonded within a whole new setting and those whom I met in Paris that opened my eyes to seeing and experiencing new things that were both thrilling and scary at the same time. I learned immensely from world-class professors who are driven by a passion for helping students grow and become their best selves. Every day, my professors challenged and nurtured me to think outside of my current realm of knowledge and to consider an academic world beyond. I enrolled in classes I wouldn’t have chosen for myself in a regular school year, but the nuggets of wisdom and pearls of knowledge I gained every day inside the classroom, streets of Paris, and sprawling student housing complex, I will take with me for the rest of my life.
During my time abroad, I learned a multitude of life lessons. I encountered breathtaking artwork that moved me to tears and historical masterpieces that transported me to unknown worlds. Against the stunning backdrop of Paris, a city known to me now as more than just the "City of Light", I learned to embrace life and cherish the unexpected, even amidst trepidation and awe.
