First Day at the Abbey

Although I am not an American in Germany yet, I am officially an American in Paris...well, Pontlevoy anyway. Though this blog is for my internship in Berlin, I will probably post a few things during my time in France.

From May 16th (yesterday) until June 12th I am taking a U of M sponsored course, titled UARTS250: Creative Process, which will basically consist of "creating" things. I am staying--as I mentioned earlier--in the region of Pontlevoy, which is this incredibly picturesque medieval town in France that is about 2.5 hours south of Paris near the Loire Valley.

The class seems pretty low key, which is exactly what I wanted. There will be two mini projects and a final with little activities along the way. We are also required to keep a journal.

Elona Van Gent is a professor from the School of Art and Design whose specialty is animation and sculpture, and Herb Winful is a professor from the School of Engineering who works with optics. The two of them, along with our regional "guest artist," Jeffrey Blondes, will be teaching the course.

Here is a picture of where I am staying:

These are some examples of Elona's artwork:

Still at Home

I am still in the United States right now but I thought I would publish my first post today just so that I have something to look back on. As of now I still have no accommodations set up in Germany but this is not from my lack of searching. I must have contacted 30+ people between WG-Gesucht and Studentenwerk. I finally bit the bullet and e-mailed my boss in Germany to ask if she could help. She said she would pass on my question to a colleague who might have a room free. I hope this works out because I REALLY need a place to stay.

I leave for France in a little over two weeks and am nervous and excited for my summer ventures. I'm going to buy some luggage this weekend and compose a list of items to bring/items to buy in Europe.

I probably won't post again until I arrive in Europe so...until then!