Stepping out and Settling in: AUP Welcomes its Newest Parisians

Classes officially begun on August 31, but by the time they set foot in a classroom, AUP’s newest students already had a head start – after a full week of Orientation activities designed to help them feel at home before the semester even truly takes off. 

Students began arriving on campus on August 20, coming from 43 countries and representing 50 nationalities. While 67% of new undergraduates came from the United States, the remaining third arrived from across the globe, from as far away as Japan and Australia, with graduate students showing a similar spread. In addition, a third of the incoming class already speaks more than one language, and many are looking forward to adding French into the mix during their time in Paris. 

While settling into their new neighborhoods in AUP housing, orientation also provided them with tips for navigating  Paris and AUP campus – from locating the nearest boulangerie and supermarket to quirky local facts and where to find the sunniest cafés around. Information sessions also obviously covered the essentials of daily life in France, walking students through opening a bank account, getting a student metro card, setting up a French mobile contract, and troubleshooting their devices, alongside plenty of other practical advice for navigating a new city and a foreign country. 

New this year, first-year students were also given a picnic set, complete with a blanket and a bag, to encourage them to get outside and explore Paris’s parks with their new friends. 

To help students get their bearings and start discovering the city, Orientation Week also included boat rides along the Seine and guided walking tours. Campus tours ran throughout the week, as well, ensuring students could confidently find their way through the 7th arrondissement and around its monuments from day one. 

One of the week’s highlights was Welcome Day, held amid the greenery of the Parc Floral de Vincennes. The day featured talks, team-building exercises, live music and lunch, giving new students a relaxed setting to connect with one another before classes began. Parents were treated to their own welcome, gathering for a garden party at a beautiful hôtel particulier close to campus. 

The Student Government Association also got in on the festivities, hosting an open mic night where students took to the stage to share their musical, lyrical and comedic talents. Students also have the chance to discover the 100+ clubs and associations that exist at AUP thanks to the Student Involvement Fair. 

It must be noted that Orientation isn’t just for undergraduates. Master’s students were given their own welcoming, including information sessions tailored to graduate life and a graduate cocktail featuring an address from the President. And for all students, the introduction to AUP doesn’t end after the first week; orientation workshops will continue in the weeks ahead covering topics such as writing skills and time management. 

Guiding students through it all are their assigned Student Advisors, upperclassmen who help new students navigate their first weeks at AUP. For Sophomore student Advisor Max Jordy, welcoming the new class is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. “It’s really exciting to see all the new students come in and get acclimated to the whole environment,” he said. “It’s their first time at university for most of them, so it’s a big thing, and I want to help out and make it a bit more fun and comfortable for them.”

Senior Student Advisor Sofie Mihaylova agreed, noting how meaningful it is to watch new students grow over the course of a semester. “That idea of being able to help incoming students, and also at the end of the semester being able to look back and see how far I’ve come and how far they’ve come, is very wholesome to me,” she said. 

We asked some of our students what advice they’d pass on to new students, and their answers centered on one theme: getting involved. “One piece of advice that I would give to new students is to say yes to invitations,” said senior Student Advisor Azul Espinosa. “That first year you can be lonely and feel homesick, but it’s really important to show up for yourself and get out there and just say yes to as much as you can.” 

Bolutife Owoborode, Senior Resident Advisor at the AUP Champs-Élysées residence, offered reassuring perspective, suggesting that students should “not be so worried about knowing everything right now.” “You’re still in your twenties, you’ve been alive literally two decades – it’s okay to not know a lot of things right now. You have the rest of your life to figure things out,” she said. 

After stepping out of their comfort zone, with a full week of exploring, connecting and settling behind them, AUP’s newest students were ready to begin the semester feeling a little more like Parisians, and we hope, a little more at home.