Sophie

My mother is French, and so even though I was born in California and lived with my family in Virginia, I’d always considered France my second home, and frequently visited my grandparents and cousins in Vendée, on the western coast of France. When I turned 16, I left for Paris, and never looked back. I spent my gap year auditioning for different ballet companies but after 17 years of dance, I was starting to realize that this wasn’t the career I wanted for the rest of my life. I did some research, found out about AUP, applied and was (thankfully) accepted! 

I wanted to major in Psychology until I fell deeply in love with Art History after a Firstbridge class and decided to dig deeper. I couldn’t be happier with my choice, since the Art History department here is absolutely wonderful. All of the professors display an immense passion and drive for what they teach and take the time to make sure that you’re just as motivated as they are. They also encourage questions so that you never feel uncomfortable or foolish when you ask.  

The small class sizes are a major advantage to being at AUP, since you’re really able to develop close relationships with your professors. I’ve also loved all of the trips we’ve taken to museums like the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, since there’s nothing like getting up close and personal with a piece that you’ve been reading about. My current favorite class is on Versailles: we visit the palace on an almost weekly basis, while listening to Professor Gabriel Wick’s seamless dissection of its history.  

I still do ballet outside of AUP and this past summer, took part in an internship at a gallery near the Musée d’Orsay, where I worked with a very small team—three people, including me—who taught me everything I needed to know about running a gallery. I’ve been asked to come back next summer, for which I’m extremely grateful since the whole experience was fantastic.   

AUP has helped expand my love of art, which began when I was taken to museums every day as a child, an experience I enjoyed, even though I never truly understood what I was looking at. At AUP, I’ve really begun to discover what I like and am learning to keep an open mind about what I don’t like, a task that’s made easier by professors who make what they’re teaching as interesting as possible.  

Thanks to all that I’ve learned both in and out of the classroom, I know that I want my future career to be within the art world, perhaps as a buyer of paintings, or working in an auction house or gallery. I will never move back to America—Paris and France have my heart.