Strasbourg Study Abroad Program celebrates 20 years helping UMSL students broaden horizons, gain confidence

Strasbourg Study Abroad Program celebrates 20 years helping UMSL students broaden horizons, gain confidence

by Burk Krohe | Sep 24, 2026

Over the past two decades, nearly 130 University of Missouri-St. Louis students have traveled to France as part of the three-week Strasbourg and Paris Study Abroad Program offered through UMSL Global and the Department of Language and Cultural Studies.

But Teaching Professor Sandra Trapani didn't have up-to-date contact information for all the former participants as she began preparing for the program's 20th anniversary celebration in August. Trapani scoured LinkedIn and other social media platforms to cobble together a guest list for the event.

"It was almost like marching through time as I'd gather the list, and I'd put together year by year which participants there were and who I could find through the different years," she said. "Many couldn't attend, but getting messages back from so many of them, dropping little notes about how much the program had meant to them, was a really great experience."

Trapani helped launch the popular study abroad program in 2006 with Beth Landers, a former UMSL faculty member who now teaches French at the Whitfield School. It has run almost every other summer since then, and Trapani continues to lead the three-week summer expedition with Associate Teaching Professor Violaine White. The trip has evolved over the course of 20 years - the Paris component being added in 2024, for instance - but it typically includes language classes paired with numerous cultural activities in Strasbourg, a historic French city bordering Germany.

On Aug. 6, about a dozen past participants joined UMSL students from the summer 2026 cohort for a celebration in the Anheuser-Busch Hall. The event was centered on the students' final projects, photo diaries on a theme related to the city or region. This year, students were inspired by a variety of subjects, from storefronts to street art, as they immersed themselves in the culture and surroundings of Strasbourg.

"They present a series of photos, and they talk in French about where they took them, when they took them and why it was meaningful to them," Trapani explained. "That's one of the things that has remained constant through the whole 20 years, this one final project. It's a nice little reunion when they come back, and it's nostalgic for them because they're walking through different things that they've experienced together."

Program alumni Andrea Miller and James Bragado offered their own fond recollections, as well. Miller was charmed by the unique culture of the Alsace region in the northeastern corner of the country, which is influenced by both French and German traditions.

"For me, it was the wonderful field trips we had to these quaint towns and villages and their wineries on the outskirts of Strasbourg, along with tasting the local cuisine," she said. "It was so interesting to see some of the architecture in these small towns, highly resembling German-style houses."

Bragado enjoyed exploring the winding cobblestone streets at all hours, especially during the Festival des Arts de la Rue de Strasbourg Eurométropole. The annual carnival brings performance art to the people, and at every turn, Bragado witnessed something delightfully kooky. However, the most enchanting show was an acrobatic interpretation of Copernicus' heliocentric model of the universe, complete with an enormous mechanical solar system held aloft by a construction crane.

"Copernicus and fellow acrobats strolled on Earth and Mars, jumped from Saturn to Jupiter and twirled around Mercury and Venus, while the cosmos crept up and up," Bragado said. "By story's end - once Copernicus' sun-centric world was finally accepted by the masses - the solar system was perched several stories above the ground, spinning with performers dangling and twirling from bungee cords. In a glorious finale, accompanied by triumphant music booming overhead, the model erupted in a shower of white fireworks precipitating on us onlookers far below."

These transformative experiences are what have fueled the program for two decades. It initially grew from a brief conversation between Trapani and Landers. They recognized many UMSL students were precluded from spending an entire semester overseas due to family and work responsibilities. So they endeavored to create a program that would enable students to travel to France for a shorter term, making studying abroad more accessible.

During the planning phase, the pair narrowed potential options to four cities where UMSL had existing relationships with universities through the Center for International Studies, which would later become UMSL Global. Angers, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg were in the running, but as soon as Trapani stepped foot in Strasbourg on a scouting trip, it won her over.

"Within the first day that we were there, we thought, 'Oh yeah, this is absolutely where we should create the program,'" Trapani said. "Historically, it's so interesting having the French and German influence, having changed hands between both cultures a number of times. There's the old and the new. There's this historic city center. There are Roman roads and Medieval buildings still, but then there's a very modern European quarter, where there's the European Parliament."

Trapani recalled being struck by the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, a stunning thousand-year-old masterpiece of Gothic architecture surrounded by half-timber buildings. Navigating the city center felt like walking though time, which she knew would appeal to students. The cathedral, apart from its beauty and cultural significance, has also served as a landmark for students traversing the city.

In the early years of the program, students spent about five to six hours in French class with UMSL faculty. Trapani retooled that aspect in 2017, partnering with a local language school for classroom instruction. Now, students attend class in the morning and regroup at the dormitory for lunch. Then, Trapani and White prepare the students for their daily excursion with any background and vocabulary they might need.

The cultural activities include visits to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, a trek to Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, a scenic boat tour of the Ill River, a cooking class with chefs at Cuisine Aptitude and a day on the AlsaceWine Route with stops in picturesque towns such as Colmar and Kaysersberg.

"They all universally love the cooking class," Trapani said. "That's always a fun experience for them. One of the things that we always get a lot of good feedback on is, they work with a conversation partner, who's a native speaker and usually a young person, while they're there. That's been something that they really love because they get the insider's view of the city."

Students are learning more than French customs and history, though. Travel is a tool for building confidence. Students get to Strasbourg on their own, not as a group, and through that process, they see just how self-sufficient and resilient they are. Trapani believes this fosters tremendous personal growth in a short amount of time, which leads participants to dream about what else they might accomplish. The day-to-day immersion during the three-week experience is also invaluable in advancing their language skills.

"It's always a little win for them if they're able to go and make a purchase or have a conversation with someone," Trapani said. "We can't replicate that in class."

Even after 20 years, the program continues to evolve and grow. In 2024, Trapani and White added a Paris component at the tail end of the three weeks to coincide with the Summer Olympics. It remained in place this past summer, but looking forward to 2028, they plan to reduce time spent in the French capital. The decision is based on feedback from students who've loved the feeling of living in Strasbourg.

Ultimately, the program has been so durable because of that enthusiasm. Since the beginning, UMSL students have been the heart of the Strasbourg and Paris Study Abroad Program, and they continue to help it flourish.

"The students themselves are really the best recruiters for the program because they come back excited about the experiences that they've had," Trapani said. "They really talk up the growth that they experienced, or they'll come to our study abroad fairs. By the time those next couple of years roll around, the word has spread."

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