For those just coming across my posts in the Honors blog community, my name is Laura Dibble, I am a rising senior at Pitt about to move back to Pennsylvania next week! I have spent an incredible 18 weeks in Paris with CEA CAPA, studying at a partner university, l’Institut Catholique de Paris. I am a Biology and French student, though I only pursued my French studies while abroad, taking a twelve-hour language intensive course and a three credit History of French Feminism elective. My language fluidity and vocabulary size have vastly improved, and I have been quite gratified by the compliments on my fluency in the past few weeks from other francophones.
As a result of my French feminism class, I plan to take a feminist theory course back at Pitt and would love to further research and compare their differences, especially in regards to attitudes surrounding sexual harassment boundaries and women’s reproductive healthcare. Our final project involved curating a photography presentation of visual representations of feminism seen on the streets in France, such as in graffiti and posters. I loved researching French advocacy groups and discovering new street artists from Nice, to Lyon, to Paris. This semester has inspired me to recommence language instruction (I tutored French in high school), as I am doing an internship this fall with a local high school as an assistant to their French teacher. I hope to continue this postgrad during my gap year in some capacity, either as a teaching assistant or doing comparative cultural research abroad.
I am still very determined on my premed path (starting MCAT studying this June!), thought I would like to incorporate my love for travel and bilingual identity into my future healthcare career. I expect I will eventually transition to an instructive role, hopefully in a teaching hospital or medical school setting. Certainly, my academic adaptability has grown this semester, especially after experiencing first hand a unique teaching model and grading system. I had to adjust to a hands-off style, not knowing my updated grade average in my classes until the end of the semester, and not able to lean on graded homework or small assignments, only large exams and projects. My previous experience in the US with French courses has been homework-heavy, so this spring definitely taught me how to really study for an intensive language exam. I have also developed my appreciation for learning outside the classroom: practicing conversation and learning new vocabulary from French friends, making connections to my classroom curriculum while in museums, reading books connected to my studies (old childhood classics translated in French, Simone de Beauvoir, and some feminist fiction).
Currently, I am luxuriating in two weeks of my parents visiting. We’ve just spent a week in the Loire Valley (wine, castles, gardens, more wine). It was wonderful to get very familiar with a new region of France, though we are back in Paris this week and I am loving showing them my favorite spots in the city! The nostalgia for this spring is already potent but I am looking forward to finally seeing my friends and enjoying an Oakland summer. À bientôt, see you back in France one day!
My email is lfd6@pitt.edu (or personal: lfdibble@gmail.com) if you have any studying abroad or Paris questions 🙂