France Study Abroad Past Review

By Katherine J (French and Linguistics, Western Washington University) for

CEA CAPA Education Abroad: French Riviera, France

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

I loved studying abroad, however I would have liked the opportunity to meet more French students and more students at my own level of French. Almost everyone in my program (the people I normally hung out with outside of class) were below my French level and not interested in speaking French outside the classroom.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program?	6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	There were no tests and no real homework assignments. I don't think the teachers really cared if you did the work or not. You got as much out of the class as you wanted to get. There are pros and cons to this system. If you wanted to work hard, there was the potential to learn a lot.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	I love love LOVED the program advisor. She was wonderful and very helpful.
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?	I didn't want to be placed in a host family and I still was. The host mother was a very nice lady, but I would've felt more comfortable living on my own as I had previously indicated before the beginning of the program.
* Food:	The food was lovely. Although I met a woman on the program who was vegan, and she did find it pretty difficult to stay that way on the trip as there is cheese EVERYWHERE.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	We had a lot of fun field trips, including sea kayaking, that made my time in France very memorable.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:	We got a packet explaining what to do if we felt sick, who we could call, and what we should watch out for in order to keep ourselves safe while there. Our program advisor did a great job with this.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	No

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget? (1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	Yes
If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition?
Language acquisition improvement?