Aix en Provence: You have captured my heart Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The workload was completely different that what I had in America. First of all, I would normally spend quite a bit of money on books for the semester, but for my classes in Aix I spent 25 euros on two workbooks that I used constantly. It was hard to get used to the grading system at first, because everything is graded out of 20. When I was receiving papers and homework assignments back and I had earned a 14/20, I had to remind myself that that was not a C-, like in America, but in fact a B+/A-. I really enjoyed the way I was taught at my university in Aix. We tested into different levels at the school, and I was tested into 3A which was right in the direct middle of all of the levels. I had 12 hours with one professor to work on oral, written, listening, and comprehension, which is definetely different than my school hours in America. After the 12 hours of my core French class, I also choose 3 other classes that met for only 2 hours a week. At Westminster I take 4 classes each semester, totaling 4 credits each, and we metet for 3 hours each week. I LOVED my core French professor though. She was absolutely amazing. She took her time with our class and made sure that we understood everything before we moved on to another topic. All of my classes were in French, and in my core class 10/13 of the students were Asian, so it was harder for them to recognize words that I easily recognized because they resemble words in English. All of my classmates were wonderful though, and we all got along and worked hard together. At Westminster I was used to having a heady emphasis on reading texts and then writing papers. In France we concentrated on French culture by reading French articles, listening to French songs, and creating conversations about specific topics. On top of that though, we talked about all of our different cultures in French and compared them on a daily basis. I really enjoyed learning about the different Asian cultures, because before I studied abroad I really did not know much about them. Overall I would highly recommend the study abroad program in Aix. I feel like my French progressed in leaps and bounds due to my classes at IEFEE, and it is not helping me today because I am now an English language assistant in Nantes, and it is because of my wonderful experience at my university in Aix that made me determined to come back to France.

On-site administration of your program

My host country Program Director was absolutely AMAZING. She was SO incredibly helpful. She had weekly activities planned for our program and she knew everything there was to know about Aix, and she was extremely knowledgeable about France as well. When I missed my connecting flight from Germany to Marseille due to complications, she immediately told me not to worry and she arranged a different ride for me from the airport to my apartment in Aix. Also, I would mention things in passing that I thought would be cool to do, and all of a sudden our program would have a rendez-vous at the end of the week to do just that. For instance, since Aix is the home of Paul Cezanne I mentioned that it would be interesting to learn more about him, and she arranged a personal tour guide to take us around Aix to see all of the important places pertaining to Cezanne. She was there for us not just scholastically, but personally, and she helped me to find cheap flights around Europe and we became really close. She actually has inspired me to want to become a Study Abroad Director in a country somewhere. I want to be able to help students learn the culture and language of a foreign city. It also helped that there was only 11 people in my program. That meant that we were not restricted to what activities we could do because our group had too many people. She was familiar with American higher education because she works directly with a program specifically for Americans. My expectations were met and exceeded.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in a Student Residence, which meant that I had a small apartment that I shared with another American girl in my program. Housing was arranged for me through my program because I had to fill out a housing sheet about what I wanted and about my personality so that I could be placed in housing that would best match me. My neighborhood was extremely safe and very cute and French. It took me 12 minutes to walk to class and about 5-10 to get to nightlife. Aix itself it extremely walkable. I got along exceptionally well with my roommate and we grew close. Since the residence was for students, I made friends with not just the Americans from my program who were living there too, but also many French students, and British students, and also a guy from Luxembourg. We all helped each other out language wise. My French friends made sure to correct my French and I would do the same for them in English. At first I had been disappointed that I was not going to live with a host family like I had requested, but it worked out to be so much better than what I could have imagined. My program provided me with sheets, a comforter, cleaning supplies, furniture, dishes, and a hair dryer.

I love all French food. There is a brasserie across from Place de la Mairie with green awnings that had 32 some flavors of hot chocolate. I do not remember the name of it but it was my favorite place to go and sit and read or write in my journal.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We went horseback riding in the foothills of Mt. St. Victoire, took a tour around Paul Cezanne's workshop, took a weekend trip to Avignon, saw a religious service that only happens twice a year in St. Marie de la Mer, we went to a beaujolais nouveau party, and those are only the first attrations, cultural events, and field trips that were arranged by our program that came to my mind!! We did so much and I experienced so much. I consider myself very lucky.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I was not sick when I studied abroad so I don't know anything about the health system; however, I can say that I felt EXTREMELY safe in Aix. Of course as a female I needed to have common sense and pay attention to my surroundings, but I never once had a bad incident walking by myself or even with my friends.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

All of my classes were in French, with French professors. On top of that, my university was specifically for foreign students, and I had 10 Asians in my class who did not speak English so we were forced to communicate in French; however, there were other foreigners who did not speak English either. I had a group project with three Russian women who did not speak English and we communicated just in French. It was difficult at times, but a great way to use French both with my classmates and also with my professors.

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