Evgenia Prikhodko Participates in the Institut d’Avignon
Evgenia Prikhodko, one of our doctoral students in French Language & Literature, participated this summer in the Institut d’Avignon, with funding from GRS and the Ernest A. Jackson Fellowship. Evgeniya tells us about her experience:
“I consider being a participant in the summer program Institut d’Avignon a unique experience that I was lucky to have. First and above all – the location. To live and study in Avignon, the heart of Provence, for 6 weeks, to have classes in the 16th century building just across the famous Palais des Papes – I don’t know if I would have ever had such a possibility in my life!
The program itself offered a range of intensive courses in literature aimed both at undergraduate and graduate students, which allowed me to mingle with students from different universities from all over the world (but mostly US institutions). I also learned new approaches to French language and literature, thanks to the fact that the faculty come with different backgrounds from a range of French and American institutions. I should stress that this program was also a perfect possibility to improve my language skills since all the classes, excursions and in-between classes interaction was all in French.
On top of that, the Institut d’Avignon administration and faculty made sure that our life for those 6 weeks was full of events and activities: Every Saturday, we had an organized excursion to explore the region of Provence, we had multiple chances to get together with faculty and students for a cocktail on a boat, a picnic on the river, or a visit to a local cinema with a great selection of art-house movies.
And last but not the least, the program also offers a unique possibility to attend the Avignon Theatre Festival, a world-renowned event that attracts thousands of theatre lovers and professional actors. We were more than lucky to experience Avignon before the hustle and bustle of the festival and to see the sudden transformation of the city as the festival began. Together with students from the summer school we went to a few plays of the official program (tickets are not easy to get) and for some of the students that was the only possibility to witness such a grandiose event.
In spite of an exhausting heat and sometimes an overwhelming amount of work, I am very grateful for the overall experience I had this summer in Avignon learning the geography and visiting beautiful places in the South of France and getting to know people that I hope to keep in contact with.”