By Benito Solomon Fernandez ’14
My name is Benito Solomon Fernandez and I am a senior majoring in Public Policy and Law. I spent the spring semester of my junior year studying abroad with the Office of International Programs’ Trinity-in-Paris Program. I was approved by Trinity to take courses at the renowned Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in the heart of the Latin Quarter of Paris. I was extremely lucky. I registered for two courses there: French Contract Law and Law in a World of Multiple Legal Orders. Both my social and academic experience there was phenomenal and that success is attributable to the instruction I received from Trinity’s Public Policy and Law Program. Because of this, I was able to hit the French ground running.
I eventually hope to practice international law both here and abroad, with an emphasis on Commercial Law and Transactions. I was exposed to these areas of the law in courses I took with Professor Fulco, Professor Cabot, and other PBPL faculty at Trinity. At Sciences Po, my Trinity PBPL education was the foundation that allowed me to successfully further my studies. It was a pleasure to go to class everyday, even though my classes started barbarically early in the morning. The faculty was extremely knowledgeable and the material was intense. The fluency I had in French, which I developed in French elementary school, allowed me to immerse myself to a much greater degree that truly paid dividends.
Benito (left) with fellow students in the Sciences Po program
While my language fluency and Trinity PBPL preparation helped ease my experience, the French academic structure was a cultural shock. It is worth noting that while students at Trinity form personal relationships with members of the faculty, at Sciences Po one is expected to work in an entirely independent way. I became aware of the challenge before me at the first meeting for the international students where the President of the Student Body explained the grading system. He said that Sciences Po uses a grading scale of 20, and “an 18 is for the best the teacher has ever seen, a 19 is for the teacher, and a 20 is for God.” I took this warning to heart, and at the end of my semester I ranked at the top of my classes.
Now I am working on an Honor’s Thesis in Public Policy and Law. In it I will be expanding on a paper I prepared at Sciences Po about Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure. While in Paris, I kept in touch with Professors Fulco and Cabot to inform them of the richness of my academic experience at Sciences Po. By immersing myself in the study of comparative law, I am well prepared to undertake my honors thesis project.
I urge PBPL majors to study abroad. It’s an amazing experience and, if done well, it prepares you even further to be the global citizen that Trinity and the Public Policy and Law Program expect us to be.