This week’s Campus Cutie is –drum roll, please– Soline Demenois! Soline is a French exchange student with a good sense of humor who doesn’t shy from displaying her good taste in fashion and can be seen walking or biking around campus at Southern Miss.
Just to get the basics, what’s your major and age?
Soline: I am an exchange student from France, doing research on the influence of the French culture over tourism in Louisiana. I am 22 years old.
Relationship Status: In a Relationship
I think you said you were from Orleans, France, but what’s your hometown like and what was your favorite thing to do there?
Soline: I am indeed from Orleans, France. My hometown counts 113,000 people. It is quite a small city but it is very pretty. It has cobbled streets and a Gothic cathedral. Jeanne of Arc saved the city from the English in the 15h century and the city celebrates this every year since 1429. The longest river in France –La Loire- passes in Orleans. The thing I miss the most about it is its old buildings. There are very pretty buildings in the city, and that is something I miss because it is not quite common in Hattiesburg. I also miss its fabulous macaroons that you can find in a bakery called Les Musardises.
Why did you pick your major?
Soline: I picked my major because I am interested in the image that foreign people have about my culture. I wanted to apply it to tourism because USM is close to Louisiana, which is the state famous for its French influence.
What do you think of Valentine’s Day?
Soline: I think Valentine’s Day is only a commercial thing. I still celebrate it but I am aware of the fact that it is a pure commercial event. It is as if it was the only day of the year where couples should do something romantic or be thoughtful.
Where do you love traveling most and why?
Soline: I have already travelled to 10 different countries. My favorite destination is the United States. I already spend one year in the US 3 years ago, doing an internship in a French Immersion School in Minnesota. I wanted to come back to the States at the end of my internship, this is why I finished my degree last academic year and worked hard to come back to the US as student this time. My favorite place in the US is San Francisco, California. I love the atmosphere of the city, its people, its cosmopolitan people.
Who was your childhood idol?
Soline: My childhood idol was Emma Bunto from the Spice Girls. I loved her because I listened to their album all the time and I identified to her because of her blond hair and blue eyes.
Do you have a favorite quote/life motto?
Soline: My favorite quote is “one’s destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Soline: The best advice I’ve ever been given is: “better [to] feel regrets than remorse.”
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Soline: If I had to describe myself in 3 words, I would say smiling, funny and clumsy.