UNB Intersession in France 2012
The UNB Intersession in France is designed to give students an opportunity to live in France and to appreciate, study and explore the layers of literature, history, art, politics and economy of Poitiers and Paris.
Classes will be held in French universities, political and economic institutions, museums, churches, cafés, public gardens and in other parts of the city. You may choose to audit the courses or take them for credit.
With this program, you visit not one but two magnificent cities (one week in Poitiers, two weeks in Paris), as well as explore the French countryside during several day-long excursions.
Poitiers, a medieval city
On its rocky promontory between two rivers, Poitiers displays 2000 years of history. This glorious past is still visible everywhere, cleverly combined with the contemporary city.
Poitiers is a city of art and of history. Its cobbled streets lead to a series of romanesque and gothic churches dating from the Middle Ages.
From this area, the first French settlers left for Acadia. It also served as a refuge for the deportees of 1755.
It is therefore a city where we have “cousins” who know Canada and who are eagerly waiting to show the beauty of the city to “visiting relatives”.
Poitiers offers the opportunity to experience first hand the local economy and politics of the Poitou-Charentes region. Far from being a city fixed in stone, Poitiers seduces by its youth and dynamic culture with restaurants, bars and discotheques.
Poitiers will also allow us to have many day-long excursions in the French countryside with visits to old castles and abbeys, seaports and cognac distilleries and, of course, good restaurants.
Paris, the city of light
Paris, known as the City of Light, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the world’s most popular city destination. Many people fall in love with Paris and why not? The treasures of Paris are legendary and inexhaustible.
Paris is more than the political capital of France. Since the creation of the nation, and most certainly since the age of Louis XIV, it has functioned as the hub of the national wheel. Paris, as seat of the national government and links to international trade and investment, serves as a model of a modern and dynamic city in the new global economy of the 21st Century.
In the arts, Paris set the standard for the whole of Europe and gave the example. That long and creative history has made it a place of incredible artistic creation and a place of dreams for over 2000 years. At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, it witnessed the birth of modern art in its cafés, studios, and ateliers.
Paris now sits as the repository of all that activity. The museums of Paris contain masterpieces and the cafés and streets still resonate with that creativity. Paris probably has more familiar landmarks than any other city in the world.
Paris has the reputation of being the most romantic of all cities. The restaurants are superb, the gardens are beautifully manicured and the boutiques and stores display the finest in fashion, food and design. It is a must for anyone wishing to experience the best of both contemporary and age old European culture.
