Posted by Kelley Conway, associate professor, UW-Madison Department of Communication Arts.
June 2009
[Author's note: In my course on French cinema, I asked the students to work on the economics of the French film industry for their final paper. Most students chose to write about the exhibition sector. Part of the project involved conducting interviews of the [...]
Continue reading about Students Tour French Cinema, Attend Cannes Film Festival
It’s weird now to think about the entire past semester being done. I know that’s not eloquent or thought provoking or anything but that’s how it is. Just weird. 4 Sunday’s ago I was still in Montpellier, 3 Sunday’s ago I was in Portugal, 2 Sunday’s ago I was between London airport and Chicago airport, [...]
It’s the end of finals and I’m finishing up two papers but very soon, I’ll be finished with the academic aspect of study abroad already.
In anticipating going home, I’ve been looking back at some of the places and things I’ve seen and done, and I have to laugh a little. It all just seems crazy. [...]
Continue reading about Reasons to Study or Live Abroad for at Least a Little While
Ah. Three weeks. And then I’m reunited with the good old US of A. The end is in sight.
I don’t know if it was seeing my mom and sister again when they came to visit me during spring break or the fact that I really do not want to write 14 pages expounding on themes [...]
To start off, I have some random musings about my new perspective on learning a foreign language.
When I started the whole study abroad process, the iceberg analogy was brought up numerous times when describing transitions to understanding beyond superficial cultural differences. In the context of learning a language, I find that the iceberg analogy fits [...]
Here I am again,
I’ve put together another photographic collage of pictures I’ve taken to represent what I’ve gotten to see and do. Besides, pictures are so much better sometimes at expressing awe inspiring things. By the way, did you know that the proverb “A picture is worth a thousand words” has Confucian origins and that [...]
Continue reading about Ma Vie Française, un Montage des Photos
Crazy to think I’ve been in France now for close to two months!
As outdated as this might seem, two weeks ago I returned from a 12-day tour of Southern Ireland with two friends of mine also from UW. It was definitely THE best school vacation I’ve ever been on and we were able [...]
I can’t believe it’s been two months since I left Wisconsin for France. All other semesters have flown by but for some reason, I thought that this semester was going to feel longer. I have essentially nine weeks left, two of which are spring break, and one of which is my last week (no classes [...]
Continue reading about “Defer No Time, Delays Have Dangerous Ends.”
Only two days now until February break! A good friend of mine here, Amanda (also from UW), one of her friends who’s studying in Montpelier, and I will be backpacking through the south of Ireland for 12 days! We’ll be leaving on Thursday, taking the train from Rennes to Paris and spending the night in [...]
France will honestly never cease to amaze me. I am not exaggerating that everyday here brings something new and sometimes absurdly unbelievable. As of January 29th, there has been an organized national strike going on here and the consequences of this strike have been interesting, to say the least. That day, the 29th, was the [...]
Continue reading about Une Greve Nationale and Other Cultural Tidbits
So I have been promising some pictures and here they are finally! The links are to my facebook albums, so hopefully they should work. I have some homework to do and it’s really late here, but I will be posting soon about the national strike that’s going on here and how many of my classes [...]
WOW! I have been in Rennes now for almost a week and a half, and it’s hard to put into words all that has happened so far on the program, all the different cultural observations, the feelings of “American awkwardness” and how beautiful the city of Rennes is.
The first four days of the program our [...]
A couple semesters ago in one of my French classes, we talked about globalization: how it’s viewed from the French perspective and how that perspective differs from the American point of view. I learned that for the French, there is a general belief that while there are some obvious advantages to globalization, it can also [...]
Hello everyone! I am officially a denizen of France. While there’s so much that is still surreal right now, I can’t help but be hit with very tangible cues that I really am in a foreign land, the most obvious cue being completely blanketed by French sounds (and almost zero English). I think I’m going [...]
I am leaving in just two very short days and will be starting the new year in another country! Packing and shopping for everything I need has been somewhat hectic and the ultimate procrastinator that I am, of course I have a million things left to do even still. I thought that I’d post some helpful [...]
