Several Boston University students and staff members met at the Division of International Programs library on Monday to discuss study abroad opportunities in France.
Students in last semster’s program dealt with riots that engulfed Paris’ suburbs, but did not affect the areas where the program studies.
Students listened to an informal presentation by Paris Internship Program Assistant Director Renée Pontbriand, who arrived from France last week to promote the program.
International Programs Associate Director Debra Terzian also spoke, saying the Paris Internship Program provides a balance between work experience and academics. According to Pontbriand, the program is freestanding, meaning it is not affiliated with any French universities, although French professors do teach courses in the program.
Like others present at the information session, School of Hospitality sophomore Aileen McCarron said she does not feel threatened by last November’s racially influenced riots in the suburbs of northern Paris.
“I think of it [happening] more in the suburbs,” she said.
Pontbriand said the students involved in the Paris Internship Programs live and study about an hour away from the site of the riots.
“[The riots] were overly publicized and poorly informed,” she said. “No one [involved with the program] actually witnessed the car burnings.”
Pontbriand did say one student dropped out of this semester’s program because of riot and violence concerns, but she said she was confident that present and future students will not be heavily affected by the suburban racial tensions.
According to Pontbriand, last semester’s students found out about the riots from relatives in the United States, not from French news sources.
“The U.S. media didn’t really do their homework,” she said.
Instead of emphasizing this point, Pontbriand focused on the opportunities the program affords students, including placement in a French household, professional experience and cultural immersion, piquing the interest of the students in attendance.
Those involved in the program, which usually enrolls 40 to 60 students each semester, arrive in Paris and spend seven weeks taking three academic courses. The students are required to take one to two classes on the French language, fulfilling the rest of their requirements with electives that cover a wide range of subject matter, including art, architecture and politics.
“Three courses up front in the first seven weeks-it’s pretty intensive,” Terzian said.
After a one-week break, the students work full time at an eight-week internship with a French company or organization, meeting only four times with a French professor to draft an internship report.
“And that’s where the true immersion kind of kicks in, in the last eight weeks,” Terzian said.
Internships are available for a broad range of majors, including hospitality administration, arts and arts administration, business and journalism. Internship supervisor Xavier Gonzalez Del Valle meets with the students in Boston the semester before their study abroad begins and then places them with a variety of companies, including American Airlines, Sotheby’s and the Associated Press.
“Internships are market-driven,” Terzian said. “So there’s a lot of things that go into the mix.”
Students must have completed at least four semesters of college-level French and must maintain a 3.0 GPA to be admitted into the program.
McCarron said she is interested in completing the Paris Internship Program next year.
“I’ve been studying French in high school and [at] BU,” she said, “and the Paris program appeals to me because it’s a chance to immerse myself in a foreign culture and also gain work experience in a foreign environment.