Students made the most of their final days of their program at the American University of Paris, wrapping up their minor classes before celebrating Bastille Day with an evening at the stunning Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte.
This year, Paris began its Bastille Day celebrations a day early. Our Champs-Élysées residence is situated in the heart of the festivities between the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde. Students spent the day with their minor classes; in the evening, we traveled together to the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte for a Bastille bash!
Streets of Paris
This morning, our Streets of Paris class explored locations that reveal different layers of the city’s history and identity. We began at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, a spectacular 19th-century park created from former quarries that illustrates Haussmann’s transformation of Paris. From Place du Colonel Fabien, we admired Oscar Niemeyer’s Communist Party headquarters, a striking example of modern architecture. We then followed the Canal Saint-Martin, once vital for transport and water supply, before ending at Place de la République, a symbolic gathering place that highlights the importance of public space and civic life in Paris.
French Cuisine
During our final cooking session, students worked together to prepare French food and practice basic kitchen skills. The activity encouraged teamwork and confidence while helping students connect traditional French recipes with modern home cooking.
History of Art & Architecture
For our final History of Art and Architecture minor class, we looked at diverse examples of modern and contemporary art. We started at Place Igor Stravinsky, near the Centre Pompidou, where we had the chance to discuss the museum’s modern architecture, a series of 16 moving sculptures by Niki de Saint-Phalle and Jean Tinguely, inspired by Stravinsky’s modernist music, Jef Aérosol’s looming Shhh! street art mural, encouraging us to observe and listen to the bustling streets, and Shepard Fairey’s The Future is Unwritten mural, inspiring viewers to unite knowledge with action. These rich artworks are situated just next to the flamboyant Gothic Church of Saint-Merri, allowing us to review our study of Notre-Dame on our first day. Finally, we visited Claude Monet’s monumental Water Lilies paintings at the Musée de l’Orangerie and discussed how they contributed to the development of modern art. Students took their notebooks home as tokens of our work observing and analyzing art and architecture together in Paris!
Photography & Digital Storytelling – Business & Entrepreneurship – Paris & the Creative Imagination
Students from three minor classes came together today in the Beaubourg/Marais neighborhood. Inspired by French photographer Sophie Calle and her juxtaposition of words and imagery, Business and Photography students explored concepts of beauty with diptych Polaroid portraits. Paris & the Creative Imagination students visited Saint-Merri Church and the Stravinsky Fountain by the Centre Pompidou. Next, we all went to a special viewing of the film Cocotte (Hen), focusing on innovation in perspective, creativity, and international business in film production. Our final gathering ended with bánh mì sandwiches at a local Vietnamese café!
Evening Adventures: Château Vaux-le-vicomte!
We departed from Paris by bus to enjoy dinner and fireworks at the beautiful Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a historic château and the site of one of the most extravagant parties in French history. Students got dressed up for the occasion. Together, we relaxed in the garden, toured the château, and watched a beautiful drone show accompanied by famous classical tunes.
À bientôt!