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I’d like to think of Paris like a thin book with the tiniest font you’ve ever seen—you look at it from the outside and think you’ve got an idea but just wait until you open the pages.
Amelia Barr, Duke in Paris (Summer 2025)
What is your favorite memory from your study away experience?
One of my favorite memories from the trip was the “Nuit des Musées”, a night in Paris where almost all museums are free and open late at night. We were celebrating a birthday, so we got dinner together and decided to walk to Le Petit Palais for our museum of the evening.
Much to our dismay, the night turned a bit chaotic as my friend giving us directions was using the car map, not the pedestrian one, so we ended up walking for about and hour and a half instead of 20 minutes. We got gelato and were all in a good mood, until we arrived at the museum and discovered it was closed. We were all devastated, but we also began laughing at the abysmally bad situation, with one mishap after another being comedically terrible.
By this point we realized nothing was going according to plan, so we abandoned the plan and went to a late-night bistro, where we sung a happy birthday to our friend and sipped on decaf espressos into the wee hours of the night. You’d think that the Nuit des Musées was my favorite because of the unique opportunity to see museums for free, but that wasn’t the case at all. It turns out that the detour of exploring Paris for hours at midnight with some good friends ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. I think this story encapsulates the nature of Paris—let the city take you where it wants, and you’ll discover it’s better than anywhere you originally wanted to go!
What was your favorite excursion that you went on?
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My favorite excursion of the program was our trip to Aix-en-Provence, a charming region of France that has warm weather and even warmer people. We were in Provence for two and a half days, and we got to travel to various towns and attractions in the area, all of which were absolutely stunning with hills and valleys and rustic architecture reminiscent of an Italian countryside.
We got to learn about the history of some of the towns, and we also got to explore their unique specialities such as giant lavender fields and natural yellow ochre pigments. We did a lot of exploring and traveling, but we also had plenty of time to enjoy the slow pace of Aix-en-Provence and stroll through the streets while admiring all the summer dresses, strappy sandals, and suntanned glows.
There were many vendors and shops that were selling fresh and/or delicious local products, adding to the irresistible charm of the region. In addition, all these vendors were incredibly kind to us, always giving us compliments and recommendations on places to see and explore. Everyone was begging for a few more days here, myself included, and it’s not hard to see why!
Where were your favorite places to go in Paris?
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This is definitely a loaded question, because Paris is jam-packed with an abundance of little gems everywhere you look. I had plenty of places to study, to enjoy nature, to shop, and so much more. I found myself drawn to the parks and coffee shops most often, and I quickly discovered my favorites during my short stay.
For parks, les Buttes-Chaumont and parc Monceau were my two favorites. Both have a romantic charm and mystical appearance, with delicate hanging trees and beautiful bodies of water that make them perfect for afternoon walks or study dates or picnics. Paris has other gorgeous parks worth visiting, but I’d have to say these two were my personal favorites.
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In terms of coffee shops, I stayed in the 9th arrondissement in Pigalle, so most of my coffee that I got was in this area. I found two local businesses that had delicious coffee and a delightful vibe on the inside—Liperli Coffee and Book Nook Paris Coffee Shop. More generally, walking along the Seine is an absolute MUST for anyone visiting Paris, especially during the evening. Throughout my stay, these were the places you would have found me!
On the Pont Alexandre III for a day-long, city-wide scavenger hunt
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Our first cooking workshop at the Atelier des Chefs
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Second day of classes spent wandering the city, shopping, and getting baked goods.
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How did this program change your perspective?
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Paris is one of those cities that everyone has a concept of, but not everyone truly knows the city. I’d like to think of Paris like a thin book with the tiniest font you’ve ever seen—you look at it from the outside and think you’ve got an idea but just wait until you open the pages. There is more history in Paris’s 105.4 square kilometers than whole countries. It’s not just the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, nor the Champs-Élysées—it’s so much more, and I found out how little I really knew about Paris on this trip.
Last time I visited I was there for four days, which gave me rose colored lenses and that instant “coup de foudre” (love at first sight) that many people get when seeing Paris for the first time. I thought that Paris was just this perfect, picturesque “museum without walls” and the most romantic place I’d ever seen, which remains true to an extent.
However, my second time there gave me a much more realistic picture, and a more intimate one at that. I was shown the Parisian Paris. I spent almost half my time in the metro, another chunk of it walking to and from class, and another eating 3-hour dinners with my host family while we talked politics, food, philosophy, you name it. I learned that my anger at my customer service experiences quite frankly weren’t rude at all, they were just misunderstandings. I learned why the French do this and that and how every little quirk or absurdity does indeed have a traceable origin. Paris was humanized for me, and honestly? I’m really glad it was.
In my second trip, I only went to the Eiffel Tower once. It was just as beautiful as the first time I saw it, only this time, I got to view it from a changed lens. I don’t feel my stomach turn out of astonishment anymore when I see the Eiffel Tower sparkle on the hour, but I feel a warm sense of familiarity, as if those sparkles were my hourly reminder that the city lives on. From left of the river to the right there are people who are seeing the same lights as me, smiling as their city shines just as brightly as it always had, before the Eiffel Tower had lights or even came into existence. Paris has a dirty and messy history, but it is incredibly resilient and has since become an icon of fashion, love, art, and more. I think knowing both is what makes it so beautiful.
And I prefer the Paris that I know now.
What advice do you have for students considering Duke in Paris?
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There’s a word in French called “flâner” which means “to stroll” or “to wander”. I cannot count the number of times that this concept came up almost every single day that I was in Paris.
When you first get to Paris, you automatically start thinking about all the things you’re going to see and do and all the places you want to travel, but the first thing that this program teaches you is how to put the breaks on that fast moving brain of yours. You soon discover that all those bookmarked Instagram reels and saved spots on Google maps start feeling totally unachievable as the jet-lag smacks you like a freight train.
And don’t forget—you’re also a student! You’re not totally in vacation mode. This means you should be careful with your health and money, but be especially careful with your time. I don’t mean plan out every single hour of your day, but quite the opposite! Use your time to flâne. Don’t worry about all those plans, but take it day by day, always checking how you feel emotionally and physically.
Learn to accept that it’s okay to stay in and work on homework today, or it’s okay to spend just an hour on homework and then go to a nearby park. And if you’re on your way home from class, don’t be afraid stop by that cool coffee shop or jewelry store! I found some of my favorite places and souvenirs by letting myself fall into the pushes and pulls of the city. I promise: you have time. Some of my favorite days I spent in Paris were the days where I had no plans and simply decided to go where I felt drawn to.
And trust me, the program has a whole lot of things for you to do already. Don’t worry about seeing it all—the longer you stay in Paris the more you realize how impossible that really is. I personally can’t wait to go back, flâner, and remind myself of how much I have yet to see—that’s the real magic of Paris.