Alice, our FLE coordinator and phonology teacher, will take her class and any other interested students on an afternoon trip to the French language museum in Villers-Cotterêts. The new museum, hosted in a 500 year old castle, offers an extensive study of the French language, its history, evolution, and use as a tool of colonisation.
Second day of orientation brings us to the Seine, where we went on an afternoon cruise. As most students are experiencing Paris for the first time, the cruise allows them to see the big landmarks, such as the Tour Eiffel, Concorde, le Louvre, and Notre Dame to name a few. We also saw an agriculture protest […]
As the first week comes to a close, the students and staff gather around a lovely apéro full of cheese, wine, and charcuterie.
Our second week of orientation is underway, and after a few methodology workshops, we took a long afternoon to relax around a few French card games : Kemps, Dany, and Skyjo !
To wrap-up orientation, we came together around a super buffet catered by Les Cuistots Migrateurs. Students are now armed with everything they will need for their first classes next week, as well as how to begin building their own Parisian routines. Tomorrow, the spring cohort is off to Provins on a day trip !
Every semester, we take a day trip at the end of orientation. It's a perfect way for students to spend time together outside of CUPA and explore a nearby French town or city. This semester we visited Provins, where we went on a guided tour of the medieval city. Provins has an incredible history as […]
Monument tardif de Beethoven, l'imposante Missa solemnis est sans doute la partition qui coûta le plus d'efforts au "grand sourd" : travail opiniâtre et passionné, pour une oeuvre qui, au-delà de son sens liturgique, est un hymne de paix universel. Composée entre 1818 et 1823, la Missa solemnis appartient au corpus retreint des oeuvres du "dernier Beethoven", […]
Mary Ann has been working at CUPA for over 26 years. She is and will always be a pillar of CUPA values. Her commitment to education, student well-being, teamwork, and cross-cultural exchange has grown CUPA into the immersion program it is. Her students and staff are sad to close this chapter, but remain determined to […]
Hosted by two cinéphile CUPA students, a French movie night with popcorn !
To celebrate Mardi Gras and the Lunaire New Year, we ate bugnes and dumplings while discussing the two traditions.
Come meet Jasmine to discuss all things studying abroad in Paris with CUPA ! Whether you're interested in our summer, semester, or year-long programs, don't hesitate to stop by the Atrium at the Keefe Campus Center.
Entre Maria Muñoz et Bach, un grand classique qui se transforme en histoire de famille ! Une véritable osmose lie depuis vingt ans María Muñoz au Clavier bien tempéré de Johann Sebastian Bach. La chorégraphe fait plus qu'interpréter la musique, elle EST musique, sublimant préludes et fugues, dans la vivacité et la profondeur de son geste […]
Eugène Onéguine raconte une histoire d'amour qui ne fonctionne pas". Ainsi, Ralph Fiennes résume-t-il la trame de l'opéra de Piotr Ilyitch Tchaïkovski, inspiré de l'oeuvre de Pouchkine. Jeune dandy blasé, Onéguine enflamme au premier coup d'oeil la timide Tatiana. Surmontant sa réserve, elle lui écrit une lettre d'amour passionnée. Las ! il lui oppose un […]
For our semester weekend trip, we traveled to Colmar and Strasbourg. In Colmar, a guide accompanied us around town and showed us the beautiful Alsatian architecture rooted in French and German history. After a full afternoon, we took the train to Strasbourg and enjoyed the sunset before sharing a typical meal from the region: choucroute […]
Students had the opportunity to visit Martin Parr's exhibit "Global Warming" at the Jeu de Paume.
Un regard décalé sur la rencontre romantique, pour dire le caractère universel de la sensualité. On aime Sylvain Riéjou pour son humour, sa douceur, sa délicatesse, son autodérision.Adolescent, il savourait Dirty Dancing et autres films populaires où, invariablement, les hommes séduisent les femmes. À travers eux, il commença à sentir que sa propre nature amoureuse ne […]
Du souvenir d'un festival libre et cosmopolite à un acte transculturel et hypnotique. Shiraz, ville de parfums et de soleil. Et, dans les années 1970, lieu d'un Festival des arts ouvert à l'avant-garde. Le chorégraphe Armin Hokmi s'inspire de ce rendez-vous entre les continents pour inventer une danse, à la fois contemporaine, personnelle et intimiste. […]
Encadré par la précision quasi-picturale de Strauss et le souffle exaltant de Sibelius, le diabolique Deuxième Concerto de Bartók crépite sous l'archet de Renaud Capuçon ! Inspiré de poèmes inachevés de Nikolaus Lenau, Don Juan est un poème symphonique qui témoigne des dons prodigieux du jeune Strauss. Le caractère ombrageux et épique de l'Hidalgo, mais aussi la […]
Every semester we have an apéro where we invite CUPA students, CUPA alum, friends of students, host siblings, interns, and French students. We play music and taste various cheese, charcuterie, and wine — a classic French apéro ! This semester we had a heated game of music trivia before coming together for some karaoke classics.
Portée par Shakespeare au rang de mythe, l'histoire de Roméo et Juliette dut attendre le XXe siècle avant de s'incarner en ballet grâce à la musique de Sergueï Prokofiev, en 1935. Dans la production créée pour le Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris en 1984, Rudolf Noureev s'empare de cette partition brillante et énergique pour […]
Our second edition of movie night ! We watched the classic coming-of-age French movie, LOL (2008) directed by Lisa Azuelos.
CUPA classes are on break for two weeks, though the center remains open to students who wish to study, print, or pass by. Students taking classes at French partner universities have varying vacation calendars.
To creatively capture the semester's activities, each student creates a junk journal / scrapbook filled with receipts, movie tickets, opera brochures, train tickets, business cards.... all the remains of a great semester.
To celebrate the end of the semester, students and staff shared a wonderful dinner at Les Temps des Cerisiers.
In the French way, we welcome our summer students with a classic apéro. Wine, cheese, charcuterie, and fruit are of course on the menu !
As a first introduction to the city center, students and staff embark on a cruise around the Seine under the early June sun.
Paris offers many free cultural events, such as the yearly Nuit Blanche. Museums, churches, and cultural centers open until late with installations, concerts, and festivities to celebrate the incredible art scene. Though the Paris city website (https://www.paris.fr/) gives a great overview of ongoing events, CUPA's student life coordinator often personalizes suggestions for students.
Every Tuesday, we try a different French speciality : éclairs, crêpes, tartes... a small moment to relax together and try new foods !
Every semester we take a weekend trip to a different region of France. For this summer's session, we explore the Normandie region! We arrived in Caen, visited the Mémorial de Caen and learned traditional lacemaking. In the evening, we shared a wonderful meal at the Château de Caen. On Saturday, we visited Sword Beach and […]