Support Kristen Marie's Studying in France

Kristen Marie Brown Start Date: Apr 20, 2014 - End Date: Jun 23, 2014
  • Annecy, France
  • Paris, France
  • Geneva, Switzerland

My Travel Story

by: Kristen Marie Brown Start Date: Apr 20, 2014 - End Date: Jun 23, 2014
Ever since I was a little girl I have been a Francophile. I remember the first time I ever realized this; I was in a library looking at some kids around the world book and when I read the section about the little French girl, I instantly felt like I just wanted to be her.

Years later, France would be the first foreign country I ever visited. I was only 12 and my great aunt Delia, who was retired State Department, arranged for us to stay with her friend Shiela who was stationed in Paris at the time. It was a life-changing experience for me. I will never forget the ride to Sheila's from the airport because it was on this route that I caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower for the first time. It was not much, only what I could see over the tops of the buildings, but it was enough to make my heart race. 

France will never be what it was on that trip. It was 1998 and Paris was hosting the World Cup. I was so young. And I was with my grandma and her two sisters, none of whom could go back to Paris now - the years have gotten the best of them. My aunt Delia passed away in 2005 from breast cancer and neither my grandmother nor her sister Linda would physically be able to embark on a European excursion. "Travel while you're young," they say. I'm trying...

Having travelled with an ex-State Department woman, I learned how to be a smart traveller. Having stayed with someone who lived there, I got to experience the daily life of going to the grocery store and eating a home-cooked meal. Having been surrounded by strong, loving females in a city with football-crazed men from all over the world was a unique way to experience Paris.

Visiting Paris as a child was like seeing the tip of the Eiffel Tower. It was only a small part of the whole, but enough to get the blood pumping. For years, I have dreamt up ways to get back to Paris and to venture outside of the capital, but none came to fruition. 

For the first time ever, I actually have a plan that makes sense. I am one class away from graduation and in the essence of time, I will take a summer course. I am currently studying French with the facilitator of the study abroad program for UTSA. It is the first time this class will be offered and is the last time I could take it - such sweet, sweet timing.

Aside from the personal, lifelong meanings this trip has for me and the bucket-list entry of "learning a new language" that I wish to accomplish, it will also be an incredible way to close out my education. As a student of the humanities, I will be able to see the things which I have studied over the course of obtaining my degree such as ancient art and artifacts of the Greek and Roman world and Renaissance art, as well as be able to consume and digest the modern, contemporary, and everyday art that Paris bleeds. Now I will be able to spend a day at the Louvre and actually know what I'm looking at while also adding onto this pre-existing knowledge.
  • Annecy, France
  • Paris, France
  • Geneva, Switzerland