Tanjier Belton '06 - Paris, France
“My trip to Paris, France allowed me to gain the cultural experiences abroad that everyone deserves.”
Tanjier was born and raised in Washington , DC with two older sisters and one younger brother. Involved in the Mock Trial Club and the Art Club in high school, she also had a particular interest in reading books about philosophy and going to amusement parks. Summers she worked at Grubbs Care Pharmacy, D.C. Summer Works, and Cooper and Secrest Political Research Firm.
Her most memorable influence is her father's teaching of their family traditions and his stress on the importance of a good education. “Information is power,” was an important lesson she learned from him.
Tanjier chose Trinity because it is close to home, has a favorable student-teacher ratio, and because she had heard wonderful stories about the staff from Trinity alumni.
Tanjier has been a student of French since Junior High and visited Paris as an IC Scholar, from June 28 through July 29. She thought that a “sejour” in France would be the best of all possible ways to enhance her language skills, which are certain to be invaluable in her future career. Her eventual goal is to attend law school, with the goal of finding a stable government career working in the Intelligence Community.
Her major is Political Science and she has been a very active participant in campus life. She is a photographer for the Trinity Times and the Trinity College Democrats. Tanjier also does photography and speaks at events for Young People for the American Way , a non-partisan advocacy group.
Paris was fantastique! as she explains:
“Bonjour a tous! My name is Tanjier Belton and I was accepted in the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence Program (IC CAE). One of the many benefits of being accepted into the IC CAE Program was receiving a scholarship to study languages and cultures outside of the United States . With my scholarship I was able to make dreams of mine become a reality. I always wished and hoped to go to Paris to learn the French language. This program has surpassed my hopes and aspirations in many ways and for that I am very thankful.
My experience in Paris was better than I expected and my expectations were already high. I went to Paris through Cultural Experiences Abroad. CEA's programs include unparalleled services such as pre-departure advising, tuition, housing placement, course registration, transfer credit and transcripts, on-site staff, airport reception, organized excursions and study abroad scholarship and financial aid assistance. I chose this program because they offered four weeks of intensive language classes in French at the prestigious University of Paris (Sorbonne.) They also had plenty of housing options, such as apartments, home stay, and on-campus dorm sites. I originally wanted a home stay but was placed in an apartment with a happy-go-lucky roommate.
When I arrived in Paris the CEA program required us to go to a mandatory two-day orientation. During orientation the CEA staff provided us with a lot of valuable information such as tips for phoning in France or to the U.S. , the perfect day pack in Paris , cultural awareness information, and how to deal with culture shock. They told us what to expect and how to cope. The orientation was very useful because without it my trip probably would have been a disaster.
After orientation was squared away it was time to take our placement test and start class. I went to class five days a week, three hours a day for two weeks. The class was broken up into a class discussion and correction of our homework, grammar, an exercise, reading current events, learning French culture, vocabulary, and reading a story in our textbook. Every week we were tested on Mondays and Fridays. I learned about important French figures like Becassine (cartoon), who celebrated her 100 th anniversary this summer, Christian Dior (fashion designer,) the culture of the restaurant business in France and so much more.
Learning was a fun and interesting challenge thanks to my French professor. He only spoke in French. He often said “while you're in France you must do as the French do.” There were people from all over the world that spoke many different languages in my class. So, if he translated something into English he would have to also translate it into Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese. That would be very difficult for him and that would take up too much time.
The last two weeks of my four weeks in Paris we had our three hours in class as normal, but we also had a one-hour phonetics class at a different location. I walked through the Luxemburg Garden every day to my phonetics class and saw the Statue of Liberty. In phonetics we were given oral practices and lessons. The French language is like singing – words may connect at times, which is called liaison. Also, in our phonetics class we had to master how to make those hard nasal sounds and other sounds that the English language does not have. My phonetics class was very vital for speaking the language in a way that the French could understand.
I took advantage of Paris and all it had to offer in addition to my educational experiences. In Paris I visited the Louvre , where I saw the Mona Lisa, the Champs Elysees , the Arc de Triomphe , the Tour Eiffel , the Palais des Congres , Sacre-Coeur , Montmartre , the Moulin Rouge and so much more. Outside of Paris I visited the Chateau de Versailles , Claude Monet's house and garden and the Musee d'Art Americain , Nice, Antibes and Monaco . I was like a little kid in a chocolate factory visiting these historical places. Paris is a very photogenic city and I have plenty of beautiful pictures to prove it. I learned so much so rapidly in Paris . It was very vital for me to learn and soak in everything, in order to communicate and understand the French culture and language. French was all around me 24/7; the exit (sortie) signs and all. I was in the best location to learn the French language.
My trip to Paris taught me a lot about how to live alone, travel and learn. I am so thankful for this once in a lifetime opportunity, words cannot express. I never thought my dreams would become reality so soon nor so early in my life. I owe it all to many people but primarily to Trinity for having the IC CAE program and for the wonderful staff at Trinity for helping me to make my most far-fetched dreams come true. Thanks to this program I can now say I have cultural experiences abroad and before this opportunity came I did not even have a passport. I feel strongly now that this was only the first of many trips to advance my cultural and linguistic skills.