Global May Paris is a two-week study abroad program associated with a GE course in the Lived Environments theme open to all OSU students. In May 2026, 19 students joined Resident Directors Kate Schlosser and Ryan Joyce on a trip to the City of Lights. While May is often a prime time of year to visit the most popular tourist destination in the world, this year it was the city of rain and heat. As a result, our students were asked to flex their resilience muscle, and they managed to find joy in learning how to live in a major metropolitan city abroad, umbrellas and fans in tow. This program aims to help students learn about the city throughout history by exploring the different neighborhoods or arrondissements, but also to give them a better understanding of the many people who live in Paris today and who helped it create it. From the Latin Quarter to the Louvre, to the former village of Versailles and Monet’s home in Giverny , our students had the opportunity to see the cultural highlights of France’s capital while also thinking critically about the context in which they came to be. Highlights for the RD’s included student-led site presentations and metro trips, live re-creations of artwork in the Louvre, and a Monet inspired painting contest in a field in his village. While this program does not require the ability to speak French, many of our students took full advantage of the opportunity to practice, c’était magnifique! We had an amazing group of dedicated and thoughtful students, and we look forward to GMP 2027.