Our program allows you plenty of time to discover your new country, culture and customs. Below are some of our recommended highlights. Some tours and packages can be organized when booking your program, please see the program price page for more information.

city tour
The student can choose their own Paris. The nostalgic should wander around the mansions of the Marais district, past the Musée Carnavalet and Place des Vosges, home to the Maison de Victor Hugo. Monet's Water Lillies can be glimpsed at the Musée de l'Orangerie.

Those interested in modern design should opt for the Centre Georges Pompidou, place Beaubourg or the Grande Arche de la Défense with its high speed glass lift offering a spectacular view of Paris. The Grande Arche, which lies along the same geographical axis as Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées, was built a century and a half later. This incongruity - the modern city juxtaposed with the old - is all part of the charm of Paris. Paris is overrun with museums, ranging from the vast collections of the Louvre to the small and quirky - such as the Musée des Arts Forains, a shrine to fairground art. Those who have not been to Paris for a few years will be surprised at the number of new additions.

tour eiffel
The Eiffel Tower literally towers over the Champ de Mars in the smart seventh arrondissement. The top (third) floor offers a sweeping panorama of Paris. From directly underneath there is a fascinating view of the delicate ironwork of Gustave Eiffel, commissioned to build the tower for the Exposition Universelle in 1889, the Revolution's centenary.

conciergerie and sainte chapelle
The building dates from the Middle ages, when it was an administration office of the Crown, but is most famous for its days as a prison. Sainte Chapelle, built in 1246, it housed the holy relics only for a short while before they were transferred to Notre-Dame.

cathédrale de notre-dame
The stocky Notre-Dame Cathedral, on the Ile-de-la-Cité, could not be more different from the filigree Eiffel Tower. Bishop Maurice de Sully began construction in 1163 to outshine the new abbey at St-Denis; work was completed in 1345. The result is a Gothic masterpiece, with three stunning rose windows.

arc de triomphe
The largest triumphal arch in the world. Commissioned by Napoleon in honor of his Grande Army and its 128 victorious battles.

sacré-coeur
A long, wide series of steps lead to the snowy white domed Sacré-Coeur that dominates Montmartre. A mishmash of styles, the Catholic church was built between 1870-1919 to atone for the 'sins' of the Commune. The interior is bright with neo-Byzantine mosaics and the domed tower offers a spectacular view over Paris.

musée national du louvre
The Louvre first opened to the public in 1793 following the Revolution, a showcase of the art treasures of the kings of France. The museum is organized into three wings on four floors: Richelieu (along rue Rivoli), Sully (around cour Carrée) and Denon (along the Seine). The vast permanent collection includes Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Egyptian and Oriental antiquities, French, Spanish, Italian and northern European sculpture and 19th-century objets d'art. The painting collection is the strongest, with French, Italian, Dutch, German, Flemish and Spanish masterpieces from the mid-13th to the mid-19th centuries. Most famed French works include David's Coronation of Napoléon, Ingres' The Turkish Bath, Géricault's depiction of disaster, The Raft of the Medusa and Delacroix's ode to revolution, Liberty Leading the People. The Mona Lisa, in a bulletproof case, will be given its own room by December 2002. Until then, it is temporarily on display in room 13 on the first floor of the Denon wing.

musée national picasso
Paris-based Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) owned most of this collection, the largest worldwide, housed in a 17th-century mansion in the Marais. All phases of his art are represented, with preparatory sketches and paintings covering the Blue Period, Rose Period, Cubism, Classicism, Surrealism and sculptures ranging from a huge plaster head to a small cat. Memorable works include the Blue Period self-portrait Paolo as Harlequin, the surreal Nude in an Armchair and poignant paintings of Marie-Thérèse. Photographs are displayed alongside the works they inspired and African masks with Picasso's 'primitive' wood carvings. There is also a glimpse of the artist's personal taste in paintings, with his Matisse and Cézanne paintings displayed.

nightlife
When planning an evening out in Paris, it is more important to decide where to go than what to do. The Champs-Elysées and Trocadéro areas are full of tourists and overpriced nightspots, but if wishing to impress, may be worth considering. Pigalle is the seedy sex centre of Paris but home to some good music venues and the Moulin Rouge cabaret. Bastille is buzzing with bars and clubs but is a bit too hectic for some. The best area for an evening's café-hopping is the Marais district, (also the centre of the gay scene), closely followed by the increasingly fashionable Oberkampf, which suits a younger crowd. Most cafés in Paris are considered bars as well - by virtue of their long opening hours and the fact that the same place you might have a coffee, you could also have a beer.

shopping
The Parisian ideal is elegant rather than funky. Trends may come and go but Paris is always at the forefront and there are few cities where you can find so many top-quality designers. The exclusive designer shops are in the 8th, enclosed in the golden triangle formed by the avenue des Champs-Elysées, avenue Montaigne andrue François 1er and along the rue de Faubourg St-Honoré. A less rarefied but typically Parisian shopping experience is to be had at the main department stores on the boulevard Haussmann, 8th - Les Galeries Lafayette with its huge coloured dome and Au Printemps.

giverny
Monet lived in countrified Giverny, 80km (50 miles) northwest of Paris, from 1883 until his death in 1926. The house, in which he painted his last, vast water lily canvas, is open to the public as Musée Claude Monet. Although the house retains much of its charm, the artist's studio is now a large and over-commercialised gift shop - Monet is, after all, big business. Although many of the original paintings are now at the Musée d'Orsay, the inspiration behind them remains here: the famed water lily pond and Japanese footbridges.

excursions
Château de Versailles: No sooner had Louis XIV set eyes on his finance minister's château at Vaux-le-Victomte, than he decided to build one bigger and better. The result is one of the three most visited monuments in France. Construction began in 1664 and continued until Louis XIV's death in 1715. Much of the palace can only be visited with a guide, with the notable exception of the 73-metre (240-ft) Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) where the Treaty of Versailles was signed, bringing World War I to an end. It is worth queuing for a guided tour, if only to recapture the ritualistic atmosphere of the reign of the Sun King, whose actions were considered as miraculous as the movements of the sun itself. The honored elite among the 20,000 courtiers and royal ministers were obliged to relocate to the palace and observed these banal rituals with awe. The château is set in the landscaped park designed by Le Nôtre, open daily from dawn until dusk and free.