The 2025 winter trip to Paris was the first trip that Citrus English professor Nicholas Henson went on with the college.
Henson has been an educator for 18 years, and has done plenty of traveling long before even working at Citrus.
Citrus Psychology professor Erin Tate, who has worked on campus for 16 years is much the same to Henson when it comes to traveling.
Both of these professors used their experience and knowledge to help guide the students during the Paris trip.
Although his trip to France was his first with Citrus, Henson has been on many trips before.
Henson said that he found his love for traveling when he was a college student himself. It was during his undergraduate study abroad trip to London with UC Davis.
He signed up for the school’s four-month program. After initially boarding the plane to London, Henson said he admittedly felt nervous. He did not feel like he knew what he was doing.
“The internet was there, but it was pre-Google Maps and pre-smartphones and that sort of thing,” Henson said.
He also said he had concerns of not being able to navigate well around the country he was not familiar with. Fortunately, despite his worries, he ended up gaining a lot of experience from it.
”It builds a lot of confidence,” Henson said. “And also just a lot of realizing, you know, being abroad and being patient. Knowing not everything’s gonna be perfect, but it’ll work out in the end.”
Since then, Henson has done a lot of personal traveling to places like Italy and Kenya. He has even gone to France long before the winter trip.
A personal highlight for Henson was seeing Notre Dame after its reopening from the 2019 fires. He said that it was extremely powerful to walk through the building during its reopening because the Los Angeles fires were also occurring at the time of the trip.
He notes that there was an added display in Notre Dame that honored all of the people who came to help rebuild the building. He said he thinks it was significant because it made him think of the tragedies that were also occurring in Los Angeles. It also gave him a lot of hope that things can be rebuilt and rise from the ashes.
Another highlight for him was seeing Edmond Rostand’s play “Cyrano de Bergerac”.
”It was a French performance where they had subtitles at the top of the stage, which was fascinating to see,” Henson said. “I think the students also found it to be a highlight just to see it because, you know, in some ways it’s like watching a show with subtitles. In other ways it’s like the emphasis is different there and the whole atmosphere is different.”
Henson said that teaching in France was different from the typical classroom experience. It wasn’t just trying to recreate what Paris would be like, but actually putting the students in different areas as well.
Henson taught English 272: Introduction to World Literature: 1600’s through Twentieth Century. The course goes over older literature within the context of the work’s culture and time.
Being in France helped contextualize any of the works from French authors the students read.
Former study abroad student Connor Cockrell was one of many who took Henson’s class. Cockrell said it was his first time traveling, but he would like to do it again in the future.
He said he was nervous for months leading up to the trip, but everything had gone better than he could have ever hoped for. He also said taking a class with Henson was “awesome” and “dope”.
”He understood that the whole reason we were there was, of course, to live in Paris,” Cockrell said. “He would say, ‘I know you guys are probably gonna wanna be at the discotheques,’ so although there was work, it was manageable and often related to France and its history. We also went on a bunch of cool excursions with the class.”
Cockrell said he has a lot of fun stories he wishes he could share at once, but he wants to encourage everyone to travel while they still can.
Professor Tate has had a great experience on the trip as well.
Tate’s first experiences with study abroad was in London when she was a student attending Pepperdine University. Unlike Henson, who went for a shorter duration, Tate stood in London for a whole school year, in other words, two college semesters.
She said that Pepperdine has a big focus on study abroad programs, and that was one of the main reasons she chose that school.
“They do it while you’re in your sophomore year so that you can get your general ed out of the way,” Tate said.
Out of the three options her school provided between London, England, Heidelberg, Germany, and Florence, Italy, she chose London since she considers herself to be an “Anglophile”, which is someone who is very fond of the culture of England.
Tate said that she had always wanted to travel, so participating in the program during college was a great first step for her. She explained that because it was such a big program, the students were allowed an extra 10-day break to travel the continent. They also got a 10-day break for each semester.
She said she thinks that it is especially awesome to do that kind of trip during the years when someone is just becoming an adult, as it makes students see the world differently and makes them more flexible.
”You have to be more independent because you’re relying on yourself to make decisions,” Tate said. “Travel always goes wrong at some point, so you have to learn how to just like, roll with things, y’know? And so all of that, I think, really helps you grow a ton as a person.”
Tate’s first experience was different from the experience that typically only lasts for a few weeks or months.
She said that staying for a few weeks is just “ticking off the list” and doing all the things other tourists do. It’s just all the highlights instead of really getting to know the city. Staying there for a year really lets someone learn how to live in another country.
Tate said that any student will have to fight through their discomfort and homesickness on a trip like that.
Likewise to Henson, she was also a little nervous on her first trip. The lack of technology during that time 20 years ago really only allowed her to contact her family through email or a phone booth. Tate said it really separated her from her home and created even more homesickness.
Being out there forced her to get used to being independent since she was by herself. Having so many things to do out there as well helped with adjusting to the country.
Her first time traveling with Citrus College was in London again for fall 2022 for the whole semester.
Other traveling highlights for her include a personal trip to Thailand and visiting an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai.
Tate taught Psychology 205: Developmental Psychology when she went to Paris during the winter session. The class primarily focuses on the different stages of life and how humans are affected during those stages.
At the end of the class, she said she talks about death and dying. That was the focus of some of the field trips the study abroad group attended, such as the Catacombs of Paris and the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Tate said one of her favorite places to visit in France was the Musée de L’orangerie, which is a museum known for housing French painter Claude Monet’s water lily paintings.
“I was super excited to see that because I studied art back in the day,” Tate said. “I’ve never seen those before, so that was a really fun spot.”
She also enjoyed visiting some of the gardens, the neighborhood of Montmartre and the couture exhibit of the Louvre museum, which she said knocked her socks off.
Despite being in a country that speaks primarily French, Tate said a lot of the people were accommodating and most of them actually knew English. The experience may vary from person to person, but she said nine times out of 10 she would find someone who spoke English.
“You don’t really have to know French, but it did feel good to try speaking French, ” Tate said.
Citrus Study Abroad specialist John Morris works hard to make sure he can plan out new trips through the program. His process also involves picking out the staff who will attend the trip.
He said the process works by putting out a memo to recruit any faculty members. Afterward there will be a meeting and anyone interested will have to fill out an application. After the applications are reviewed by Morris and Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences Dr. Jack Beckham, two to three of the faculty who applied are selected.
Morris agreed that selecting Henson and Tate were the right choices for the previous trip.
“Yes, 100%,” Morris said.
He was already familiar with Tate since she went on the 2022 London trip. Although Henson was new to Study Abroad with Citrus, Morris liked that he had previous experience.
“He had travel experience and he’s an English instructor,” Morris said. “And those two disciplines could be applied to so many different areas abroad.”
He also said he would select them again in the future since the students love their courses.
Henson and Tate both agree that studying abroad brings such great opportunities and students should not pass it up, especially if students are concerned about being away from home or paying for the trip.
Henson said that going to one of the information sessions is great for things like financial aid or scholarships to help pay for the trip. He also said the sessions give a good feel for each area and what the future might hold.
“Don’t let a price tag or like the concerns about being, you know, away from home stop you from just getting the information,” Henson said.
Tate simply says to just go for it.
“Do it,” Tate said. “Do it anyway.”
She said part of the growth is from being uncomfortable or homesick. Otherwise we would not take many risks.
Morris said that although he has never personally been outside the country, those kinds of experiences help a lot. Not even just for cultural experience, but for work experiences as well. Going to a different country for some time looks good on a resume.
In addition to that, Cockrell said he urges students to travel as much as possible.
”Because then you too can find yourself wondering how you wound up three shots and four vodka Red Bulls deep in a grimy club, at 8 a.m., thousands of miles from home,” Cockrell said.
The Study Abroad program will continue with their intended schedule. During the summer session, students will be attending the trip to Osaka, Japan.
