Train travel in Europe.

Recently, Turner Classic Movies aired the wonderful 1951 film, “An American In Paris,” and if some of Virginia Vanneman’s students saw the movie, it must have whet their appetites, because the Pensacola Junior College adjunct professor is planning a trip to Paris with some of her photography students.

Vanneman teaches beginning and intermediate creative photography as well as the history of photography. She has 60 students, 10 of whom will be on the next European trip May 17-June 1.

Last year, her students saw Paris inside-out over 14 days, but the upcoming 14-day trip to France will be quite different.

Vanneman said she and her students will be in Paris for six days, “soaking in the art of its grand museums, architecture, monuments and gardens.’’

Then they will take a bullet train to the Provence region, “where we will be in the midst of two large festivals that are alive with French traditions: the gypsy pilgrimage in St. Maries de la Mer and the Fete de Pentecote in Nimes. We will then travel to medieval Cathar castles in the region of Languedoc-Rousillon, view prehistoric cave art in Niaux, visit the wine-soaked hills of Banyuls sur Mer, the dramatic coastal home of Salvador Dali in Cadaques, Spain, and at last to Barcelona,’’ Vanneman said.

Shelly Short, one of the students going on the trip, believes the firsthand experience is a learning process not to be missed.

“My dad was in the military, and I caught his excitement about traveling. Both parents helped open my mind to enjoying new places,’’ Short said.

This is her first trip with Vanneman, and she recognizes that each student has a different level of travel experience and that the two weeks are going to be a “lot of fun.’’

Vanneman developed the travel program because several of her photography students expressed the desire to travel to some of the same areas that their teacher has visited previously.

“My intention is to build an International Travel program that can enhance the cultural and aesthetic references for students in their perspective as artists. These experiences shape and form a better understanding of the student artist and their relationship as a citizen of the world,’’ said Vanneman, who is hoping to get other teachers involved in such a program in the future.

“I’m just setting the groundwork,’’ she said.

During the two-week period, teacher and students will be working both to build a body of photographic work that can demonstrate both the depth of their experience and creative abilities.

“We plan to exhibit a selection of this work in the gallery at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for the Visual Arts at Pensacola Junior College in late summer,’’ Vanneman said.

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WHY DOES TRAVEL BENEFIT YOU?

Virginia Vanneman offers the following benefits of traveling to a foreign land. Being exposed to new ways of thinking and living, which encourages personal growth and independence.
• -- Experiencing the challenges of other languages and the perspective of being a foreigner.
• -- Creating a direct understanding of multiculturalism and the influence of globalization upon ethnic and traditional aspects of culture.
• -- The pure joy of seeing something new: different food, different architecture, different traditions, creates a constant learning experience.
• -- For visual artists, a chance to experience the historical and contemporary artifacts and references from the humanity of arts in the world’s finest museums and environments.