Paris, Normandy and the Loire Valley
Why this Honors Summer Program is such a good value in 2012
I don’t pay tuition during the year. Why should I pay to take credits during the summer?
Many of you came to Barrett at ASU to benefit from its unique combination of access and excellence;
here you can find all the resources of America’s largest university at a very low cost. It is precisely
because you save money during the year that you have resources to invest in adding value to your
education. In a competitive employment market, maximizing summer opportunities brings quality and
depth to your undergraduate degree. Let’s do some college costs comparison shopping. As an undergrad,
I went to Columbia University. Currently tuition there is $1280 a credit, not including the costs of living
in New York. Our France program offers you seven credits at ASU all program costs including
accommodation in Paris plus what you’ll pay for a plane ticket … for $7500 -- the price of just six
credits at Columbia. That is why we can claim this program is such an extraordinary educational value.
Why study abroad now? I can go when I graduate.
Your years in college are a precious time. Living in Paris early in your college career can change the way
you look at your education and your life. When Ernest Hemingway says “If you are lucky enough to
have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for
Paris is a moveable feast” he is right. Your college experience adds up to far more than paying tuition to
accumulate skills. All true learning must be transformational. Meeting the challenges of living in such
a world-class international environment early in your education fosters personal and intellectual
growth in a way no other classroom or work experience can.
Eiffel Tower from gardens at Invalides
How do the costs of studying in France compare with other educational opportunities?
Given the quality of the experience – including your own shared apartment at a three-star hotel in the
heart of Paris – our summer together delivers extraordinary value. The metro pass we purchase for you is
in itself a ticket to more cultural experiences each day than most cities could offer you in years. Most
importantly, studying abroad transforms the concept of “education.” Living in Paris on a Sunday
means visiting the street market just steps from our hotel in the morning to buy farm-fresh fruits and
croissants or perhaps a dozen oysters to enjoy with champagne next to the fountains in the Place des
Vosges. Then choose between a visit by train to Versailles, or a walk to Montmartre to watch the street
theatre, or listening to free jazz in the Bois des Vincennes, or a free visit to the Louvre using your pass, or
just rambling along the Seine river, ending up at a café by sunset to finish your Hemingway reading
and watch the City of Light. By living in Paris you become the person who can make these choices.
Paris is not a classroom; it is an education.
How do costs compare with traveling on my own?
The French government subsidizes student groups studying French culture. For example, we will buy
museum passes offering unlimited visits to the world’s greatest collections. Moreover, we’re a large
group benefiting from economies of scale, so we can offer an apartment in Paris, metro passes and all
program-related travel within France for much less than a normal budget traveler would pay. Plus we
provide you transportation to locations difficult to reach by public transport, such as the D-Day beaches
and the world-famous Mont Saint Michel.
Put it this way: A typical tourist package to the Normandy beaches runs $280 for one day in a
minivan with pick-up and drop-off in Paris (meaning you pay for your own hotel). We provide
six days of travel with visits to more than 12 major monuments and cultural sites, all hotels
included. We offer experiences typical tourists could never access such as the “Clos Luce,” the
house in which Leonardo da Vinci lived and worked (with fascinating full-scale models built
from his encoded notes) and a private group tour of Chartres, Europe’s greatest gothic cathedral
built in 1360 and visited by you in 2012. Six days, twelve visits and accommodations paid for -that is just one week of our five together -- and the low rates we pay are all included in the
program cost.
I don’t speak French and I haven’t traveled abroad before.
Only tourists talk about the “language barrier.” You will not be a tourist; you will be a European traveler.
Virtually all college-age students living in Germany have made a visit to Rome, Barcelona or Paris during
school holidays. Very few of them speak Italian, Spanish or French but that doesn’t keep them home.
Their secret is not language skills but travel skills. It takes years to learn French or Italian; all it takes
to learn TRAVEL SKILLS is our HON 191 immersion course. Your first assignment is to get from
the Paris airport to our hotel on your own. Scared? So are lots of Americans who have no travel skills.
Each summer, after five weeks of living in Paris, our students laugh at themselves for ever having been
frightened of a challenge which now seems so simple. This small example illustrates the personal
growth that only comes with the excitement of actually living and learning in a foreign environment
while benefitting from the support and security our program offers.
Contact Kevin Dalton: dalton@asu.edu or Eric Susser: eric.susser@asu.edu
I want to maximize the money I invest in this program. Where else can I travel?
We hear you. Travel is expensive and you may not be back in Europe soon. So we have designed this
program to maximize value. Our class schedule allows you free time from Thursday evening to noon on
Mondays. Since Paris is the nerve-center for high-speed rail connections throughout Europe, all you need
is a baguette and a ticket for an overnight train to arrive early on Friday in Amsterdam, Florence,
Rome, Barcelona, or the Swiss Alps. By traveling back to Paris on Sunday night you don’t pay for a
hotel on either Thursday or Sunday and you get three full days at your destination. Don’t know how to
use trains in France? Our immersion course includes a class in a train station. Worried about security?
Paying for a secure private compartment for a group of four on an overnight train costs an extra
$16/person; women can choose all-female compartments. Youth hostels in major cities are cheap and
easy to find online. Moreover, cheap air travel is increasingly available for web-savvy travelers; our
students have found and bought return tickets to Rome for as little as one euro (other costs apply, but the
grand total for that ticket was $48). Keep in mind that you’re not just ticking off sights. You’re not a
tourist. You’re designing and accomplishing your own travels, building the skills you can gain only
from a truly global education.
But why go to France and sit in class?
As we’ve said, international travel expands the concept of “in class.” Although we assign some
readings for class discussion, we feel the country and its culture is our best text. Standing on “Bloody
Omaha” beach, for example, before visiting the American Cemetery makes an unforgettable history
lesson. This year includes visits to the Bayeux Tapestry made by monks in 1066 to record the Battle of
Hastings, the Mont Saint Michel, Louis XIV's great palace at Versailles, Chartres Cathedral and tours of
the magnificent chateaux of the Loire Valley with their sumptuous rooms, bloody dungeons and
mazelike gardens. In Paris itself, we’ll have classes at the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and its crypt,
Sainte Chapelle, and the artists’ commune at Montmartre. Class discussions focus our guided visits to the
astounding new impressionist collection at the Orangerie as well as visits to two of the world's most
important museums: the Louvre and the Musée D'Orsay. We use guided walks to introduce you to every
aspect of this great city: this year we’re beginning with a “medieval Paris” visit to the 12th Century
“Donjon” recently excavated beneath the Louvre and ending with a guided walking tour of Parisian
literary landmarks where artists like James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote.
How does this credit help my program of study?
One of the best features of this program is that when you arrive back home with an amazing summer of
memories and you’ve turned in your final project, you’ve also got six upper-division Honors credits!
Fitting classes offering Honors credit into your four-year ASU schedule can be a challenge. Our program
makes that challenge easy.
But is there time to travel in France itself?
Yes, definitely. Just get on the train. In addition to paying your respects to Eurodisney (a subway ride
away), Cannes, Nice, St Tropez, Monaco or the French Alps are all three hours by train. Any of these
destinations makes a great final weekend once the program is over. Alternatively, your new travel skills
will enable you to stay in Europe to explore the cities you haven’t gotten to yet. Most of our students do
stay after the program to travel in groups. The education we offer is designed to give you the confidence
to say that there are no limits but the ones you choose.
Ok, sign me up, but what’s it cost?
The program begins May 12 at 4 PM and ends June 15 at 10 AM. Program costs include a shared
apartment in Paris, metro pass for Paris explorations, visits to Normandy and the Loire valley and all the
program-related activities we describe above – that is a lot of bang for your eurobuck. Total costs for the
program will be about $7500 this year – that’s everything but airfare and personal costs. Seven Honors
Credits included. Be assured that our long experience as program directors, the size of our group and the
strong relations we have developed with our hosts guarantee you exceptional value for your travel dollar.
And remember, unlike a commercial travel-package this is a non-profit enterprise – every dollar you give
us goes straight to program costs.
“PARIS IS A MOVEABLE FEAST” - HEMINGWAY