Lilly

I was born and raised near Cologne, Germany before attending a boarding school in England, where I obtained the International Baccalaureate. After a gap year, when I took a three-month make-up course in Munich and spent four months in Singapore at a sales and lighting design internship, I started looking into my university options. I wanted to continue my education in English, but I also didn’t want to stay in London or apply to English-speaking programs in Germany, which were mostly for business and economics. My two older brothers had graduated from AUP and loved it, which intrigued me, as did the idea of a liberal arts education so after some consideration, I made the leap as well.  

I’d initially planned on double-majoring in Economics and History but soon abandoned that course of action when I fell in love with my Philosophy Firstbridge and Professor Michelle Kuo’s “Politics of Immigration” course. Once I’d switched to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, I also exchanged History for Art History, so that I could better integrate my love of museums and my experiences with creative make-up and body painting into my studies. As I adjusted my program of study, I appreciated how I was being encouraged to try out classes in multiple subject areas, since it pushed me to really think about what I wanted and why.

My favorite academic moments are when unexpected connections occur between different classes, like when we focused on the development of the state in “Foundations of Modern Politics” at the same time that I was exploring how Versailles fit into Louis XIV’s approach to shaping the French state in “Versailles: Absolutism to Enlightenment”. I’m also lucky enough to have a lot of my classes taught in museums, including the Louvre, where I don’t get lost nearly as much as I used to. I also like attending AUP’s evening events, where I get to learn from and about other departments and majors.

I love the small classes here because it makes each classroom’s atmosphere feel far more compelling and also makes it easier for our professors to provide detailed feedback and share their own academic pursuits. For example, Professor Gabriel Wick, who taught the course on Versailles, just published a book on the gardens of the Duc de Noailles at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His research brought him into contact with the owner of the de Noailles residence, so we got a guided tour from the owner through the de Noailles apartments—it was incredible!

AUP has made me realize just how fascinated I am by art and its expression in various social, cultural, and political contexts: I know that no matter what I do next, art has to play a role in it. It also helps that I’ve gotten to study Art History in a city like Paris, where so much of the artwork that I’d only seen in textbooks is almost literally right on my doorstep. For a crash course in 20th century art, head over to the Centre Pompidou, for Impressionism, it’s all about the Musée d’Orsay, and if you’re looking for Monet, check out the Marmottan. And let’s be honest, how great is it that my Versailles class requires that I go to Versailles or to one of the other castles around Paris almost every week?