Alex Brito writes of her time in France during the summer of 2015
I could spend my entire life in Paris and not see all the City of Light has to offer. I made my third trip to Paris this summer – this time longer than the four weeks I had spent with my host family in high school – and made myself at home among the French. My purpose in Paris was two-fold. Firstly, I was there to participate in a summer program with Duke University, studying the neurohumanities, which I found to be one of the most interesting fields as it combines my love of French culture with my interest in the brain. Secondly, I was there to experience the language in an immersive context. My courses in Paris seamlessly wove aspects of French literature, art, and dance into complex neuroscience concepts. Taking a trip to the French countryside, we traced the footsteps of Van Gogh and Cezanne in two cities outside of Provence, examining their works of art and how they were represented in the brain through the visual system. I even had the opportunity to present with my group at a conference in Paris on evidence of Marcel Proust’s neurological disorder as seen in pieces of his fiction writing. While I was able to see some amazing sites in Paris-the Catacombs, the Sacre Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe—my most cherished memories come from more intimate and habitual moments like getting to know the baker who sold me bread most mornings and staring out the window of the bus looking down the angular rows of grape vines as far as the eye can see. None of this would have been possible, however, without the funding I received from the College Scholars Program, and the encouragement to reach beyond traditional classroom experiences and to pinpoint my passion.