Paris: As Rewarding As You Make It Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The workload was manageable, but challenging enough that I felt that I was learning a lot and my French was improving. Class sizes were small, which was great and facilitated a lot of interaction with the professors and personalized attention. The courses were well-organized and covered a comprehensive amount of material. The most notable difference between the educational system at Reid Hall and in America was the grading system--assignments were sometimes graded on a different scale, but they were stil graded fairly. There was a nice mix between coursework in the classroom and work that required that we explore Paris.

On-site administration of your program

The administration was great, and ran things smoothly. Most of the staff appeared to be native French or perfect speakers, and knew the country and immediate neighborhood well. It perfectly met my expectations; the only weakness I found was that there weren't many events to facilitate interaction amongst students in the entire program. There were some students that I never met by virtue of not being in their classes. The program could do more to support its students in getting to know one another.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My homestay was great: in a very safe and nice neighborhood, a beautiful old apartment building and a spacious apartment, just a 15 minute walk from Reid Hall, also walking distance from nightlife and just about everything I needed was provided for me. My host family was very kind, but treated me more as a long-term guest than a family member. They gave me space to have an independent experience in Paris, and although they were certainly willing to engage in conversation (especially during meals) we didn't cross paths very much otherwise.

Paul, a chain patisserie, has great small sandwiches. There's also a slightly expensive but great organic foods deli a few blocks down Montparnasse to the right called Exki that's a great change of pace. A lot of the places recommended in guide books are worth trying, but I recommend going after small treats that come highly recommended as opposed to full meals, because eating can become expensive. Reid Hall itself didn't provide food, although they had very nice and inexpensive vending machines.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The weekend trip to St. Malo and Mont Saint Michel was excellent. The wine and cheese tasting was also something that shouldn't me missed. Otherwise, it was very easy to plan fun, inexpensive trips and activities. Even though I was there for 6 weeks it felt like there were still many, many more activities and experiences to be taken advantage of.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Paris is pretty safe, but it's also a city so street smarts are handy, especially at night (the metro closes around 2 am). The culture in Paris was also notably different for women as well, which is something to be aware of; men were much more vocal about cat calling on the streets. There were also horror stories of pick-pocketing floating around. I didn't have any health-related issues, nor were there any major health issues in the host city at the time, but I felt aware of the safety resources available to me in case of an emergency.

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

I could practice language with other students and professors, but mostly professors because outside of the program, most students reverted to English. None of the Reid Hall staff spoke English. A large part of my language improvement came from interaction with my home stay family, and being committed to sticking to French during day-to-day interactions (even when others, including Parisians, wanted to use English).

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans

• Professors
• Campus
• Cultural Excursion Options

• Student social support
• More group activities between classes
• More regular extra-curricular cultural options