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Student placement: Gaia Gabbai at EnsAD, Paris

Head and shoulders shot of Gaia with a text caption of her name and BA Textile Design, Chelsea College of Arts
  • Written byKat Smith
  • Published date 08 September 2021
Head and shoulders shot of Gaia with a text caption of her name and BA Textile Design, Chelsea College of Arts
UAL student Gaia Gabbai

Gaia Gabbai, a BA (Hons) Textile Design student at Chelsea College of Arts did a study exchange at Ecole Des Arts Decoratifs Paris (EnsAD), Paris, France from September 2019 and January 2020.

Living in Paris

"One of the things I enjoyed the most was that I could meet people from all around the world that were doing Erasmus like me. And I was put in contact in the very beginning with them, so it was very easy to make friends from September. What I really liked about it was that they were all studying art subjects but not mine, so that was very inspiring to see other people’s work.

"Meeting other cultures like the French culture was very interesting. Even though maybe your experiences are not always the best, I think it’s very important to have another approach of life sometimes. I was pretty lucky because I already spoke the language and I knew friends who were living there at that time. So for me it was very easy to just start my routine there. But despite that, I think it’s very important to study abroad and to go away for a bit and change all our habits. But of course you need to want that. You need also to be friendly to everyone. Because not everyone will be friendly to you maybe

“It’s very nice living there. You can just find inspiration everywhere - there is beauty everywhere...there are a lot of exhibitions going on all the time, so that was also very helpful for my projects.

Looking ahead

This experience taught me so much because I could experience another learning approach and so also see another point of view in the process making. And that was very helpful even for the future if I want to work in France or in another place, it’s very helpful to have different approaches and not just the UK one."

I think also maybe for the CV it’s very important to have another university name on it - it can really make a difference. I think that’s very good point also for doing Erasmus.

— Gaia Gabbai

More information


If you’re looking to go abroad on an international study exchange or industry placement, we will support you with all stages of the process, from the initial application to your return flight home.