Publishing, Passion, and Paris: My Study Abroad Experience in Paris

This past fall semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Paris, France, an experience largely supported by the Sigma Tau Delta Long-Term Study Abroad Scholarship. As a chronic worrywart, I had never thought of straying far from my family and my home university until last year, when I was struck with a certain compulsion to explore the world outside of what I already knew while also being able to complete my French degree. However, the condition I had set for myself in pursuing and preparing for this experience in the spring was that I would find all means of financial funding on my own—the first step to becoming confident in my ability to take care of myself.

I was, to say the least, overwhelmed by this decision of mine. Then I remembered the numerous awards and scholarships that Sigma Tau Delta offers each year and immediately applied.

And oh the places this funding has gone!

It took me to Annecy where I shivered in the rain as I hiked through the French Alps, to Lille  on a little solo trip, to Giverny with Monet’s gardens. It sent me to Brussels, Belgium, where I ate waffles and chocolate, and to Helsinki, Finland, a marvelous city of culture and history. In Paris, it led me to comedy shows, operas, a Wasia Project concert, and perhaps most importantly, to a children’s publishing exhibition.

Since I am determined to pursue a career in publishing—particularly in children’s literature—after I graduate, this was my Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory moment. There were many different types of publishing houses, each with a specific target in children’s literature, and a myriad of authors and illustrators present to sign their books for people of all ages. To see these books that included both French works and translated works (especially given the numerous authors translated from English to French) was an incredible intersection of language and culture to witness. So this is how a love of literature is nurtured and shared, I thought as I meandered through the booths. Having had the chance to interact with both the enthusiastic salespeople and the lovely authors, I felt my passion for the book world reignite, and I could not tell which position I wanted to be in more—the bookseller’s or the author’s. I decided that I would find a way to be both in the future.

Of course, I did not leave unscathed: half of one small suitcase coming home was filled with books that I had purchased from that exhibition. They are my souvenirs, my French language helpers, and my reminders of both my passion for literature and of our, as a society’s, passion for literature. Now, though I am much too far from freshly baked baguette and oranais (a wonderful pastry with apricots and custard I highly recommend), I use these adventures to propel me on my journey to enter this book world that I so love.