Xin Miao
UChicago Center In Paris
Director of the French Language Program in Paris, French Language Instructor, Center in Paris
Xin started her career at the Center teaching French in 2006 and later joined the administration team for Student Life. Currently serving as the director of the French Language Program, she oversees all French programming, which includes four course levels per quarter, as well as an exchange program with direct enrollment students studying at Sciences Po, Université Paris Cité and Nanterre. In addition, Xin works with the conversation assistants who are hired from various universities in Paris and who meet with our students once a week to practice the language and to talk about the French culture.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your work?
As an alumna and former international student at the University of Chicago, I love teaching and working in such a stimulating community as the University. My daily exchanges with the students, colleagues, and faculty are sparkling.
Q: What is your commute like?
I bike every day in the mornings and evenings. While crossing the Seine River, I enjoy watching the national library shaped as four half-open books and the Notre Dame Cathedral in the skyline.
Q: What is one thing about Paris that the average tourist/visitor wouldn’t know?
Although the public transportation is great, Paris is surprisingly walkable, you just need to put on comfortable shoes and be a flaneur (French for stroller). There are delicious boulangeries (bakeries) everywhere and you may smell the baguettes that just get out of the oven during rush hours.
Q: What is one thing – cultural, social, economic, or political – that everyone is talking about in Paris?
The JO: Jeux Olympiques 2024!
Q: What surprises visitors to the Paris Center the most?
The Paris Center is in a quite atypical neighborhood of Paris. It is in the 13th arrondissement (or municipality) by the Seine, where there is the traditional Chinatown on the west side. The Center is surrounded by the French universities such as Université Paris Cité and INALCO, and the neighborhood’s modern architecture and academic ambiance make an interesting contrast with the traditional part of the arrondissement.