City College’s Study Abroad Program will be taking its students to Paris and Rome to study art, photography, and film in the Fall of 2019.

“I had never done a fall trip before,” Michael Stinson said, the program director. “Rome around the holidays is really festive and wonderful. There are lights up everywhere, they sell presents in their little markets, and it’s really magical.

“October in Paris is really great,” he continued. “September and October are when the leaves start to change, the weather gets cool, and it’s a magical time to be there. When it starts to get cold and rainy in Paris, we will head south to Rome.”

Classes offered in Paris will be the Contemporary World Cinema with a focus on French Cinema, Art History and European Art, while Rome offers the Contemporary World Cinema with a focus on Italian Cinema and Beginning Italian Conversation or Intermediate Conversation with all 15 units being transferable.

There will also be a new option for Intro to Photography with an emphasis on street and travel photography, due to Stinson’s background in photojournalism.

“You’re learning in your classes what most people go there to see,” said Robert Coronado, a City College student who has joined a previous Rome trip. ”You’re learning why is this significant and what is groundbreaking about this type of art.”

Students will stay in double or triple shared rooms in student apartments in Paris, and Rome.

“You do a lot of location scouting,” Nicole Walther said, senior program assistant of the International Education Center. “You go out as a group at night on the streets of Rome. You get a really intimate look at Paris and Rome because he’s [Stinson] just so familiar with the area, he’s lived there for many years.”

The only prior class requirement students must have for this trip is the completion of English 110, with no language requirements nor major requirements and do not have to be currently enrolled at City College.

The program costs $7,255, not including airfare, however the organization ACCENT, that this trip is through, offers a group flight option to keep down costs. Students can use their promise grant or Financial Aid money for Study Abroad trips.

Stinson used to live in Rome and Paris, he had been on many study abroad trips and knows the cities very well.

“Study abroad gives me a refreshing change of pace,” Stinson said. “The big reason I started doing study abroad is for me leaving the United States and moving abroad was life-changing. It totally changed my perspective, my perception of the world, my perception of myself and my goals.”

The next informational meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 and 2 p.m. on March 19 in the Luria Library 137

The trip will run Sept. 4 through Nov. 30 with the application deadline on May 17.