“I just love European living. It’s so slow,” remarked Amaya Flores, a political science student at Columbia College. “In France, there is this really heavy emphasis on prioritizing the day-to-day enjoyments and coexisting with nature.” She likened leaving the U.S. to “stepping out of the Matrix,” noting that despite Paris being a bustling city, she never felt disconnected from the world. Her semester abroad has confirmed her desire to return to Paris, ideally as a participant in Columbia Law’s year abroad program.
Amaya’s time in Paris had a profound impact on her. “I've never felt more in touch with my identity than when I was here in Paris,” she reflected. Being in a new environment highlighted the freedoms she enjoys in the U.S. while also revealing the resilience and spirit of the French people. She was particularly inspired by how French society mobilizes and sustains movements, observing that “moments and movements don't just die out in France. They persist.”
The contrasts between French and U.S. cultures were apparent in both public life and academia. Amaya found it “eye-opening” to explore different political systems during her “Political Life in Paris” course at Reid Hall. Having experience in U.S. political spaces, she noted that “political involvement seems more accessible in France.” A memorable moment was casually encountering Marine Le Pen, former French presidential candidate, during a class visit to the Assemblée Nationale.
Amaya thoroughly enjoyed the interactive coursework at Reid Hall. In her French “Academic Writing” course, their instructor, who is also an actress, incorporated theater exercises to improve pronunciation. “It might sound silly, but it was actually quite enjoyable,” she recalled. In her “Sex-Trade Economy” course with Professor Christelle Taraud, whose work she was already familiar with, she focused her final paper on researching human trafficking and prostitution in border towns like her hometown of El Paso, Texas.
Amaya fully embraced the opportunities offered by the semester program. She jokingly described the maracon workshop, where she made a snowman-shaped macaron, as possibly “the reason why I applied to this program.” Following a visit to a cathedral in Reims, she enjoyed their program orientation excursion to a family-owned winery in the Champagne region. Eating grapes directly from the vine and tasting champagne in the vineyard owner’s childhood living room was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Outside of class and program excursions, Amaya reserved Wednesdays as her “personal field trip days." She discovered Noir, a coffee shop with an underground space perfect for studying, and recommended Ferdi and Steam Bar as great restaurants. “I learned I really love French pastries and French bread and French cheese.” After trying pain au chocolat all over Paris, she found Meli Melo, a boulangerie along her daily walk to Reid Hall, to have the best one. “When you go in the morning, they’re right out of the oven” and the breakfast menu is just 2.50€ for an espresso and a pain au chocolat.
