Paris Internship Program

The Paris Internship Program is a 16-week semester program for undergraduates who wish to improve their French and gain international work experience.  The first eight weeks are dedicated to improving their French through language classes and liberal arts courses in politics, economics, art history, literature, and civilization.  The following eight weeks are spent in a full-time internship with a wide variety of French and multinational institutions and businesses.  Courses are taught in French at Boston University’s Paris Center by faculty drawn from Paris universities.

Fall and Spring Semester

Students studying in Paris during the fall or spring semesters must register for 16 semester-hour credits (three courses plus the internship).

During the first eight weeks of the semester, students must enroll in three courses and also begin the internship placement process. All courses are conducted in French.  The three courses conducted during the first eight weeks have both an academic and a practical character and serve to enhance students’ candidacy as interns, by helping them improve their French.  They learn in depth about the French/Parisian society, mentality & current events.  Students must successfully complete these courses before being allowed to start their internships.

During the final eight weeks of the program, students work as interns full time, Monday through Friday, and complement their internships with individual writing workshops with their language instructor. The internship is an opportunity to observe and to learn about a Paris enterprise, be of service as appropriate, and reflect on what it means to work in the designated business or agency, in a foreign country, and in a global economy. The internship report is a substantial paper that undergoes considerable drafting and is defended before a jury. In other words, we deliberately professionalize the academic work and intellectualize the internship.

CLASSROOM FACILITIES

Classroom facilities for the Paris Internship Program are in a newly renovated complex. The building includes air-conditioned offices and multimedia classrooms, as well as a small computer facility, with wireless Internet.

TEXTBOOKS AND COURSE MATERIALS

Textbooks and course materials will be distributed in Paris and are included in your program fee.

LIBRARIES

Public libraries can be found in all 20 Parisian city districts.  There is also a library located at the Cité Universitaire and a small lending library at the program office. Keep in mind that many libraries, including the university libraries, allow you to consult works, but not borrow them, so you will need to adjust your work habits accordingly.

Le Centre Pompidou has a good library open to the public: www.bpi.fr/fr/index.html

Nothing in Paris resembles the posh library and library services that you have grown accustomed to on your home campus. The French reserve their research libraries for researchers, which means advanced doctoral scholars.

Academic Policies: Teaching format & Grading & Attendance

Methodology for Elective Courses: A few hints about the French way of thinking

(4-Semester-Hour Credits for Each Course)

Level I

CAS FR 300 Advanced French Grammar Practicum
Taken in tandem with FR 301, this practicum is designed for students seeking to maximize their written skills in the French language in order to transfer those skills to the electives and, subsequently, to the internship.  Syllabus Group A: French Syllabus Group B: French Syllabus

CAS FR 301 French Communication Skills
This class trains you to optimize your communicative skills in anticipation for your internship interviews, to succeed in your elective and to become more quickly conversant with your French environment.  Syllabus | French Syllabus

Level II

CAS FR 304 Travaux Pratiques
The diversified approach of this practicum is intended to make you progress optimally towards acquiring skills necessary to succeed in your electives, as a prospective and active intern and as a fledgling participant in French society.  Syllabus | Group A: French syllabus; Group B&C: French Syllabus

Electives

CAS AH 356 French Art: Contemporary Art in Paris
This course is an occasion to better understand contemporary French society through a study of various cultural manifestations that have marked the Parisian art scene since the middle of the 19th century. It enables visiting students to understand that Paris is not only a city with a brilliant and prolific artistic past, but is still an important cultural place today. The seminar offers the opportunity to experience contemporary visual art in its various expressions (painting, sculpture, photography, installation art, video art). It gives students the tools to investigate the various meanings of a work of art and ultimately prepares them to argue and defend their own perspective on the most recent cultural productions.  Visits include Le Musée d’Orsay, Le Centre Georges Pompidou, Le Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and several contemporary Parisian art galleries.  Syllabus | French Syllabus

CAS EC 361 Economic Development of Europe: from economic to political union
This course offers a broad understanding of the European Union, its history, and its prospects of growth beyond the current member-states.  The course covers the following areas: Europe in search of new structures; institutions of the Union; instruments and systems of organization; economic policies of the European Union; social dimensions of an integrated market; monetary policies; and relations with other free market nations. Visits to places such as the European Parliament in Brussels and the L’Union de l’Europe Occidentale can also enrich the course perspectives.  Syllabus | French syllabus

CAS LF 342 Paris Aujourd’hui: French society and civilization through the performing arts
This course is conceived around current literary, theatrical, musical, and cinematic events that mark the cultural calendar in Paris during any semester. The selected titles are inevitably the object of media coverage, and students read the works themselves as well as critical reviews in the press. They also have the opportunity to meet authors, directors, and performers.  Syllabus | French Syllabus

CAS LF 343 La France a Paris: Paris in literature
Using the city of Paris as a unique text, students will read its monuments and buildings and interpret selected texts devoted to the city (fiction, history, politics). The course aims to teach students not only how to engage critically with and interpret textual material, but also how to read and analyze the physical space around them. Authors include Hugo, Baudelaire, Zola, and Modiano. Visits can include places such as the Palais Royal, Montmartre, and the Musée d’Orsay.  Syllabus | French Syllabus

CAS LF 344  Postcolonial Paris; a cultural and political history of colonization and immigration in Paris
Paris, after being the capital of the second largest colonial empire in the world, is now (i.e. after decolonization) the centre of important flows of immigration, especially from its former colonies.  It is difficult and almost impossible to understand French history without taking into account its colonial past. It is even more difficult to understand today’s Paris without thinking about its postcolonial condition. This course aims to introduce the students to this lesser known but quite real postcolonial Paris. They will discover physically, during visits tailored to the course, how this heritage of colonization, decolonization and immigration is seen and understood in Paris’ monuments (Vincennes, Musée du Quai Branly) and urbanism (slums, suburbs, projects..).  Syllabus | French Syllabus

CAS PO 450 Paris Politique
Analyzing the political life of France beginning with an historical overview of the French political system, the course includes issues related to administrative organization and civil service, issues of regionalism, French governing system and actors, and France’s role in the international community.  Visits may include Le Panthéon Le Mont Valérien or L’Historial Charles de Gaulle aux Invalides Syllabus | French Syllabus