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Each year 100,000's of dedicated study abroad students make their way to learn French in France. What they find are a people that have made a national religion out of the pleasures of daily life, taking great efforts to make the commonplace artistic and beautiful. The spirit of France is a beauty borne of simple expectations - that clothes should showcase the figure, that food should both nourish and please the senses, that life is art. France is the place for those that take exquisite pleasure in the texture of a crusty baguette or in taking long sips of Pernod in a village cafe. Romance lingers in the streets of Paris. A walk from the Champs Elysee to the parapet at the top of the Arc de Triomphe will bestow among the most breathtaking of views.
The landscapes of France are reminiscent of a Monet, Cezanne, or Van Gogh. Impressions gleaned from the masters mingle with the reality that is Provence, Antibes, the Rhone Valley, Paris. As the country of the Mistral wind, of gently rolling hills dotted with vineyards and Chateaux, of the Pyrenees Mountains in the south and the Alps in the east,
France has inspired some of the greatest painters for centuries.Truly, the literary and artistic contributions made by France cannot be overstated. Influencing Western cultural development throughout the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, France continued to innovate in
movements such as dada, surrealism, and existentialism throughout the 20th century.
Paris offers an exceptional survey of artistic treasures. Spend mornings at the French language school and afternoons in awe-struck gazes over the impressionists, the architecturally inspired Musee D'Orsay houses a rich collection showcasing works from Van Gogh, Sisley,
Monet, and Turner as well as Picasso. And of course the famed Louvre is the resting place of immortal works such as the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory. Displaying and promoting modern and contemporary art is the Centre Georges Pompidou. An extensive renovation completed at the millennium has made the Centre Georges Pompidou the most visited site in Paris.
As the world capital of savoir faire, the French are very proud of their culture. From the chateaux of the Loire to prehistoric cave-paintings in Dordogne, France leaves a long and wealthy legacy. And as the great provincial cities Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille and Nice all
jockey with Paris and each other for ascendancy, France remains alive and ever provocative. One must only surrender to the smells, colors, and sounds that permeate the atmosphere. Starting with the morning croissant straight through to the after dinner digestif, the French, it seems, have divined the right combination to both whet and satiate the appetite
for life.
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