Yesterday went on a field trip. I haven't been on a field trip since senior year of high school, and that was to a university library to work on a research paper. Needless to say, I was long overdue for a classroom adventure (as if studying abroad doesn't count as one gigantic adventure).
This semester I'm taking a course about religion and its role in French society. At the beginning of the class the professor taught us about Clovis, the first Catholic King of France. After teaching us a bit more about Clovis and other early Catholic French monarchs, my professor told the class we would be visiting St. Denis Basilica to see some of their tombs in la Nécropole Royale.
It’s really something to see the tombs of people like Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette on a field trip. It’s something even more remarkable to see the actual heart of Louis XVII, who died at age 10. Did I mention the magnificence of the stained glass at la Basilique de Saint-Denis? The picture I've included in this blog post doesn't really do it justice, but it gives you the general idea. I never would have thought my first field trip after a three-year hiatus would be to an ancient, Gothic cathedral in Paris filled with the remains of the majority of France’s monarchs. And I never would have thought I could enjoy a course about religion as much as I am. Consider me more than pleasantly surprised.
I'm thrilled to say that my visit to St. Denis Basilica won't be my only field trip the semester. l have the pleasure of going on a few more, and I'm sure they will be just as wonderful as this one was. At the end of the month my religion class is going to Saint-Joseph des Carmes, followed by a visit to the Jewish Museum of Art and History in April. As someone who idolized Anne Frank at the age of nine (I have textual evidence), I couldn't be more excited. So here's to field trips, and here’s to learning.
This semester I'm taking a course about religion and its role in French society. At the beginning of the class the professor taught us about Clovis, the first Catholic King of France. After teaching us a bit more about Clovis and other early Catholic French monarchs, my professor told the class we would be visiting St. Denis Basilica to see some of their tombs in la Nécropole Royale.
It’s really something to see the tombs of people like Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette on a field trip. It’s something even more remarkable to see the actual heart of Louis XVII, who died at age 10. Did I mention the magnificence of the stained glass at la Basilique de Saint-Denis? The picture I've included in this blog post doesn't really do it justice, but it gives you the general idea. I never would have thought my first field trip after a three-year hiatus would be to an ancient, Gothic cathedral in Paris filled with the remains of the majority of France’s monarchs. And I never would have thought I could enjoy a course about religion as much as I am. Consider me more than pleasantly surprised.
I'm thrilled to say that my visit to St. Denis Basilica won't be my only field trip the semester. l have the pleasure of going on a few more, and I'm sure they will be just as wonderful as this one was. At the end of the month my religion class is going to Saint-Joseph des Carmes, followed by a visit to the Jewish Museum of Art and History in April. As someone who idolized Anne Frank at the age of nine (I have textual evidence), I couldn't be more excited. So here's to field trips, and here’s to learning.