Joie de Vivre

Juleus ’09 can’t wait to experience everything France has to offer

Kaitlin Juleus ’09 has been dreaming of studying abroad for a long time.

“I’m very close to my aunt, who spends a lot of time traveling,” she explains. “She’s encouraged me since I was young to study abroad some day. She brought me to Paris when I was 13, and a few months later, upon starting high school, I decided to take French so in college I could study abroad there. It’s exciting — I’ll be setting off for an experience I’ve been preparing for since I was very young.”

Prepare, she has. Juleus, a history major with a concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies from Succasunna, N.J., plans to accomplish the following during the one year she’ll spend in Dijon:

• Join a women’s organization at the school where she’ll be studying, L’université de Bourgogne.
• Volunteer at a historic site or museum.
• Develop a topic for her honors thesis/Women’s and Gender Studies capstone.
• Take French history, art history, and a sociology course related to gender issues in France.
• Tour as much of France as possible, including Paris, Lyon, and Chartres.
• Meet students across Europe, “and find out all I can about them and their countries,” she says. “I’m hoping to meet people I can talk about politics with — I want to hear what they think about U.S. politics, and the politics of their own countries.”
• Visit friends studying in England, Greece, Ireland and Spain.
• Visit Austria and Italy. “I love art history, so Florence is at the top of my list!”
• Record her experiences with art in a sketchbook.

Juleus has plans for the future, too. She’d like to explore the opportunity of becoming a teaching assistant in the country following graduation. Last year, six Holy Cross students garnered the competitive awards, several of whom studied abroad in France.

One thing’s for sure: her trip won’t be boring — and neither will her blog. Before she leaves on Aug. 31 through the end of her trip next spring, Juleus will take us along for what she plans “to make the most of this experience, get over a lot of my fears, and travel through Europe until I’m broke.”

Bon voyage!