About us
What is this experience?
It’s a six-credit class, open to Michigan State students. We will explore what it means to be in sports and media in Paris and Rome, and the many elements of culture in these two important cities. We are about real life, experiencing things.
Where we go:
We start in Paris, and spend two weeks. Then, we go together to Rome for two weeks. It is intense, and life-changing in many good ways. You will live in the real in both places, in the core part of city in an apartment.
What we do:
The class is a combination of hands-on through going to media outlets and seeing how sports media work; meeting athletes, teams, experts; and going deeper into the culture of two iconic cities.
How we do it:
You’ll be led by Professors Joanne C. Gerstner (MSU) and Jane McManus, award-winning and nationally-recognized sports journalists who have extensive experience in global sports and Europe.
THINGS WE’VE EXPERIENCED:
• Classes at EuroSport, L’Equipe and AFP, touring their state-of-the-art facilities and meeting with their top journalists and executives. • On-site experiences at French Open tennis tournament (aka Roland Garros), meeting on-set with the Tennis Channel anchors and reporters, media communications execs with ATP and ESPN. • Going inside the Vatican offices to meet with the head of Athletica Vatican, aka the Athletic Director for the Pope • Meeting with Olympians and top athletes to discuss what their lives are like in and out of competition • Touring Italian Olympic Committee HQ and learning about its history with fascism • Learning how to be a real Parisian or Roman, by living like they do – normally in terms of doing shopping, cooking and laundry! • Walking tours of top sights in Paris and Rome, and learning about their sports history • Meeting privately with top journalists for American outlets to discuss how they work as international correspondents • And, a trip to the Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo, for a tour and our own day at the beach!
Michigan State Sports Media Education Abroad 2026 