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Study Abroad Program Review of AIFS: Paris - Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne

Submitted by Shelly (International Relations,University of Hartford) on February 3rd, 2009

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Academics
Language
Housing & Food
Culture & Health
Final Opinion

Personal Information

Participation Year:

2008

Term:

Fall

If you enrolled at multiple foreign universities, please list them here:

Sorbonne, International College de Cannes

Academics Overall

**Overall educational experience:

**Comment:

I didn't think the education system in France is as difficult as the US. I did very little work to do well in the classes. French was difficult, that took as much effort as a US class, but there was no reading or text books for the lecture classes.

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Course Title:

Franco-American Relations

Instructor:

Professeur Galichon (I think)

Language of Instruction:

English

Please comment on the course:

This was the class I disliked the most. The teacher was nice, but very formal and it irritated me...probably because this was also the class that was at 8:30am with the 45 minute commute. I learned a good deal in the class, but there was no outside reading. At times, she was pretty disorganized and went off on a lot of tangents about France....she would go off on tangents that had very little to do with Franco-American relations. The part I liked most was an assignment we had twice where I and a partner explored the city, we went to locations she gave us to learn more about an important figure in Franco-American relations. We also went on walking tours to look at sites where monuments stood or something took place regarding the US and/or France.

Please rate the course overall:

Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

Didn't receive transcript yet.

Course

**Course Title:

French Literature in Translation

**Instructor:

Professeur Brunel (I think)

**Language of Instruction:

English

**Please comment on the course:

Very intelligent teacher. He was my favorite teacher. Learned a lot about French literature.

**Please rate the course overall:

Course

**Course Title:

Architectural History in Paris

**Instructor:

Professeur VanDerbhovkev (really difficult name, I don't know how to spell it)

**Language of Instruction:

English

**Please comment on the course:

This teacher had the most difficulty speaking English, she would sometimes use French and she was also the teacher that was consistenly late. I actually liked this course the most because the teacher was the friendliest and we did a lot of walking tours. Most of the classes were spent walking about the city of Paris and actually looking at the all architecture instead of just learning it from a book- so that was awesome.

**Please rate the course overall:

**Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

Didn't receive transcript yet.

Course

**Course Title:

French and Phonetics

**Instructor:

...I can't remember

**Language of Instruction:

French

**Please rate the course overall:

**Please comment on the course:

It was really difficult, but I learned how to speak French! It's sad I didn't stay longer for this reason only because I think I was really starting to get the hang of using the language, finally starting to understand more, and getting comfortable using it. The teacher was hard on me sometimes, but she was very nice and funny. The day of class we had a Christmas lunch together, we all only spoke in French and it was my truly international class. So that was very memorable.

**Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

Didn't receive transcript yet.

Course

**Did you have any credit transfer issues upon return to your home institution? If so, what would you suggest to other students?

Didn't receive transcript yet.

Language Overall

**Language acquisition improvement?

**Comment:

I didn't stay long enough to become fluent, I was just getting comfortable speaking when I left. It's frustrating. I did learn a lot though and I decided because I want to learn more, I am taking a french course, just for fun, at my home university.

Host Country Program Administration Overall

**On-site administration of your program:

**Please explain the program's strengths and weaknesses:

they were a little unorganized but I think they just had a lot of complicated things to do, running a study abroad program can't be easy. they planned fun activities and were very friendly, I confided in them a lot. overall, they did what they needed to do for me, I was satisfied and miss Danica(head of operations), Jon(culture), and Claire(housing) very much!

Housing Overall

**Housing satisfaction:

**Comment:

everything was good, just a few times there was miscommunication because we couldn't speak to each other well and sometimes I was lonely living alone, but then again it got me out of the house more. it was safe, neighbors were friendly, it was pretty far away from where my classes were, always at least 20 minutes, but nothing to complain about.

Food Overall

**Food satisfaction:

**Comment:

It's french food. Red wine is cheap and delicious and I can never drink anything else now.

Safety and Health Overall

**How well were health issues addressed through your program?

**Safety:

**Comment:

I have awful anxiety flying but British Airways is such a good airline, I had good flights. I lived in a safe place. I got sick in Cannes, but apparently thats normal. Something about the microbes there are different than Paris. The water is not as clean I think in the Meditteranean sea, so it's easier to get sick.
I love the healthcare system there, the US needs to get on top of that, asap.

Money Overall

**How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

General Assessment Overall

**Words of wisdom:

Blend in. Be a chameleon. Be a part of the culture and people. There is nothing better than doing and seeing completely different things. Do something new or scary everyday. Eat and drink weird things, you'll probably like it.

**Overall satisfaction with your study abroad experience:

**Was your study abroad experience worthwhile?

Yes, very worthwhile. Don't regret anything, even if I do have a few minor complaints. I think I still have a lot to learn about myself and what I gained from the trip, I don't think I will entirely know for a while. I still need to see how things have effected me. I don't want to jump to conclusions on such an amazing once in a lifetime experience. I just took it for what it was worth. for now.

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Study Abroad Program Review of AIFS: Paris - Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne

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