What does it mean to come of age? Traditionally, coming of age is the shift from childhood to adulthood, which happens at different ages in different cultures. For example, in the Jewish community, 13 is the year one leaves childhood behind marked by the bar/bat mitzvah, for the Mexican community it is 15 for girls having their quinceañera, and for Americans it can be 16 linked to their driver's license or 18 when they become a legal adult.
In the backrooms of the Westfield Forum des Halles Mall lies an open community space for underground performers, rappers and dancers. Curated for artists of all ages to explore their craft, record music, engage in dance battles and perform, La Place Hip Hop is a culture center and concert venue hidden from those not searching for it.
“It took us 40 minutes just to find the right entrance," said Corrie Delva a Junior at AUP. "The mall is so big and La Place doesn’t exactly have a huge sign that says come dance here.”
Since the launch of Vivre last year, musicians, actors and dancers have been able to display their talents in recitals, musicals and plays. This semester, Vivre presented Dryland, a play written by Ruby Rae Spiegel, which tackles social issues and womanhood that are tragically represented when two high school girls are challenged with handling an unwanted pregnancy. This women-led playwas directed by Marteena Mendlssohn and opened on November 16 on the AUP campus.
As the largest ever group of first-year students entered the first Fall semester after stringent COVID restrictions were in place, campus life erupted. Classrooms, library spaces, study rooms and the Amex have been full all semester, and in-person events have become more frequent. But some students feel as though AUP's facilities and infrastructure weren't prepared for the influx of students that came in AUP's largest ever incoming class, and others have raised the question if AUP was prepared for the return of its entire student body.
In Spring 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chloe Delesbeck and Serena Leilani, two upperclassmen at AUP, noticed that while first years get lots of guidance and resources to help them settle in, sophomores have less support while still trying to figure out life, both on campus and outside of university. They wanted to create a program where sophomores could feel more supported by receiving help regarding their majors, life at AUP or life in Paris.
From that idea, the Sophomore Mentoring Program was born.
As the fall semester came to a close, so did an exciting semester for one of AUP's oldest clubs on campus - the debate and politics club.
With winter rolling in, and the price of energy ballooning in part because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, students are facing more costly electricity bills alongside increases in cost of living due to inflation.
When I close my eyes and envision the internet of tomorrow, the language is complicated, the faces are male, and the world is virtual. In truth, when I discovered Apple had decided to join Facebook and Microsoft in developing its own 'metaverse', I was confused. Why are we pouring millions of dollars into virtual reality technologies when the world right in front of us feels like it’s on the brink of crisis? The ins and outs of Web 3.0 were lost on me, but I wanted to understand.
Beyond it being tragic, the belief that women cannot be multifaceted is dangerous. It assumes that her destiny carves out a space just big enough for her to embody one role. Our thought constructs are directly influenced by the information and narratives we consume, and I believe that the reason we are unable to view women as multidimensional comes down to the deeply problematic ways in which they are portrayed in the media.
The Winter season is finally here, and for many Americans one of the distinguishing events which marks this change is Thanksgiving celebrations. Though students in the U.S. most often celebrate this holiday by returning home and spending time with their families, studying abroad poses a logistical challenge for students attending AUP. To combat this, and to keep the holiday spirit high, first-year students organized Fall Fest in honor of Thanksgiving and all who could not return home for the holiday.
