Paris, and amazing city, Ciee, eh Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Heavy workload if you're not familiar with French already before taking the program. French teacher is nice, but just starts off teaching the entire class in French, without going over basics such as alphabet and sound. If you really want to learn French and make use of your time here in the summer, you better have taken a beginners course at home first.

On-site administration of your program

Host university didn't do a thing.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The location of our hotel was great; however, it was really messed up that our program was split into two, and half the group had amazing furnished huge hotel/apartment space while the other half had small hotel rooms that we had to purchase basic cooking supplies for. That was really unfair, especially when we all paid the same price. This information should be disclosed, very sneaky how we found out about this arrangement.

The inclusive meal plan was terrible. Paris is a city where culinary exploration should be part of the cultural experience here. To build in the cost of breakfast everyday $10 euros, and then to also bill in the cost of the awful sandwiches we were given meal cards for is a bad way to spend meal times in Paris. If you choose not to use those cards, you are essentially throwing money away since they already charged you for it. This needs to be soemthing where ppl can choose whether or not they want to be part of a meal plan. However, for a student who is just interested in eating anything, just to satisfy their hunger, than their meal plan is perfect. You have adequate quality and quantity. I know for vegan students, they did not have reasonable accomodations, and those students had to pay alot outside of class to be able to supplement themselves nutritionally. I just didnt like coming all the way to France so I can have cold hard sandwiches and toast everyday. I can do that in a dorm room!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

It was great to visit some of the bigger sights throughout town, but the most educational outings were those done by the french teacher for her classes. Those were great for cultural experiences. The only thing that didnt fit in there was the contemporary museum.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

You felt safe there, no problem getting around at night. Just watch your belongings as there are expert pickpocketers

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

Depending on whether or not you're a beginner, your usage level will differ. The advanced group pretty much spoke French the entire time, and the beginner group spoke English. (during classes). It'll help obviously if you spoke the language, but you can get around without it.

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• Apartment
• Hotel

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• International Students

• its in paris

• better staff, better organization, clarity and disclosure of certain program details