“Mom , Dad, I want to go to Paris for the summer.”

How many U.S. partners’ hearts sink when their college students propose the expensive sejourn in Paris or Europe for the summer? With the U.S. dollar at an all time low, Americans may we right to be cautious about funding a college summer fling in Paris. However, Towson University students from Baltimore, University of Hawaii students and a group of students from Knowledge Exchange Institute participating schools have found a way to enjoy the pleasures of Europe and earn undergraduate upper-level credit. The American Business School of Paris hosted its second summer partnership with U.S. universities this summer.

The ABS/ U.S. partnerships combine a program of French cultural  and political history with a sensible course of European economics, European tourism or European marketing. Towson, Hawaii and other participating students from diverse regions including California and South Carolina learn about the impact of French history on current-day politics and economics while also learning about the developing French and European institutions which govern business and economic realities in Europe. Any company hoping to hire young Americans with a familiarity with the European Union and the politics of business in Europe and France will be well served by hiring students who have participated in the ABS program.

Two highlights of the ABS summer program included a trip to the historic Versailles Chateau and a guided visit to the European Commission in Brussels. Even the most knowledgable French and Americans admit that the European Union is a complex supra-national organization. A visit to the executive branch of the Union, the European Commission, offered an expert lecture on the structure and function of the European Union.

Towson students enjoyed sitting in the Commissioners’ seats and asking questions about the details of the European Union. Perhaps the most shocking information for franco-philes was the fact that France will have to submit to European agricultural practices in the near future. Compliance with European agricultural production rules threatens traditional artisinal practices for producing some of the most esteemed French foods including the bacteria rich Roquefort cheese.

Do not be mistaken, the ABS program allows U.S. students to balance their dualing identities as tourists and college students. Towson students enjoyed 5-day Eurail passes which carried them to Germany and Amsterdam. Hawaii students benefited from competitive plane tickets to visit Spain and Switzerland.

The strength of the ABS program lay in the fact that U.S. students traveled in institutional cohorts which provide familiarity and comfort. At the same time, they partnered in classes with students from other U.S. regions and institutions while interacting with French students enrolled in ABS degree programs. The summer has offered rich inter-U.S., inter-French, and international exchanges.

Vive la France. Vive l’Amerique! Summer 2008.