only me

Here's the update:

As of 6:03pm Eastern Standard Time today, upon receiving a confirmation e-mail from CEA, I am no longer a registered student at the American Business School in Paris. Since ALL of the classes that I had been planning on taking for credit (other than one french class) were cancelled due to low enrollment - similar to what UMass was forced to do last spring - I decided that it wouldn't be worth it for me to go.

That's the bad news. Kinda.

The good news is that after spending the past month trying to find any sort of solution, with options ranging from changing my study abroad location to Grenoble to not going at all to taking two summer classes to dropping one of my double majors to setting up two independent studies... And after trying to figure out what works for my mom, CEA and my THREE advisors - french, business, and study abroad - (in terms of what credits will transfer back)... We have found a solution.

As of 6:03pm, I became a student at the University of Paris IV - Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne! I will take an intensive French course, plus two elective courses taught in French. One of these can be anything I want, and the other is Econ-focused.

The University of Paris IV is one of the most prestigious and oldest universities in the world. It was founded by Robert de Sorbon in 1253 and has attracted thousands of students each year from around the world. It is often referred to as the “Sorbonne.”

The University is located in the Latin Quarter. Fashionable cafés, restaurants, movie theatres, classy boutiques and street vendors play an essential role in the vibrancy of the 5th arrondissement. The overall student population at the University is 25,000, with an international student population of 3,000.

I'm actually pretty excited. The fact that I'm going to be studying at the Sorbonne is crazy. Everything seems to be working out.

The only little hiccup is now the program starts a week later than my old one. CEA has already purchased housing for me for that week. Should I go as planned and bum around Paris for a week not knowing anyone or anything? Or should I change my plane ticket and arrive in time for orientation with the rest of the students? Hmm..