Great experience, but not recommended for advanced art majors Past Review
By Brittany B (Studio Arts, The University of Texas at Austin) - abroad from 01/26/2013 to 05/19/2013 with
Institute for American Universities (IAU): The Marchutz School of Fine Arts, Aix-en-Provence, France
I loved my experience and I gained a great connection with my host family and abroad friends! Would I chose it again? I would say "yes" because of all the good experiences that I wouldn't want to miss. However if I were to go abroad again for a second time, I would search for a program with a larger variety of art courses and more integration with the French community. I would also look for a university that was mostly French and/or non-American students. This is something I wouldn't have felt comfortable looking into before IAU. The IAU program was great for building my confidence with speaking French. Also it was easy to connect with other students since everyone was in the same boat.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I enjoyed my non-art courses. I also very much enjoyed painting outside in the beautiful Aix landscape, and in Venice during our painting trip. Also my classmates in the Marchutz program were wonderful people that I'm glad to have met. However, I would not recommend this program for art students. Pro: The amount of paintings I had to do helped me to paint quicker and improve on life studies. However, the work you come back with are studies (quick and messy and not completed works). The program seems more tailored to students who have not taken many art courses, as the art classes were at a foundations course level. I would recommend the Marchutz art program for freshmen taking foundations courses or non-art majors only. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My host mom (and family) were above and beyond what I was expecting. My host mom was kind and understanding (she had been housing US students for 15 years). I would recommend staying with a host family, because this is where I got the majority of my practice with the French language. It also allowed me to experience the French lifestyle. |
| * Food: |
Breakfast and dinner were provided by my host family 6 days a week. Lunch could be expensive but there were great sandwich and crepe places in town that were fairly cheap. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
There were extracurricular activities to meet local French students, but since most of the classes were taught in English there wasn't much of an overlap between American students and French students. I wish I had been more integrated with foreign students my age. However, it was up to the American students to seek out contact with French students on our own. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
My program's administration was very helpful with setting up a doctor's appointment when I got sick, and even sent someone to go with me to the doctor so that there wouldn't be any miscommunication. They also helped with the paperwork needed to get reimbursed for the medical charges. |
| * Safety: |
The city felt very safe, even walking home at night. Still I would recommend always traveling in groups of two or more. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* 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) |
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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
In my experience, I had to use French with my host family as they spoke no English. I also had to use it around town, as English-speakers were not very common. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Three semesters of college-level French |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Watch movies in French, first with and then without English subtitles (or with French subtitles). |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Wish I knew more about the art program and courses, since I chose this program due to it's art school - and I ended up being disappointed with the offered classes and the way they were run. Also wish I had taken more courses that were taught in French. This was something I was scared to do, but I ended up picking up the language more quickly that I expected and looking back I think more courses in French would have been helpful. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Painting/Drawing |
| Course Department: | Studio Art |
| Instructor: | John Gasparach & Alan Roberts |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | I learned how to paint more quickly, and I came home with a large amount of work. However, the work I (and other students) ended up producing were "studies" and not complete and unique work fit for portfolios. Advertised as separate classes, but all-levels of the drawing and painting classes are combined into one large class. Students consisted of art majors and non-majors of all skill-levels. Furthermore, the class is set up so that you do a bit of life drawing (all short poses) during the first few weeks, but then switch over to painting for the rest of the semester. I enjoyed being able to go out into the Aix landscape and paint (it was really beautiful) and I immensely enjoyed the spring trip to Venice to paint. However, I was disappointed in the way the professors seemed to push the students to paint in one specific style - many of the paintings looked the same at the end of the semester. Also it was advertised that materials would be covered in the tuition fees - but the materials we were given to work on for most of the semester were gessoed pieces of cardboard (although great and cheap for painting studies are not useful as sellable or portfolio pieces). Later we were able to switch to canvas paper if we chose to buy it. Again, I felt like I did learn how to paint quickly and get the needed information down quickly onto the paper, but the courses felt very much like first-year foundation courses, and not courses meant for students majoring in art. |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
Creative Nonfiction Writing |
| Course Department: | ART |
| Instructor: | Cathleen Keenan Church |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This course required quite a bit of writing with multiple small papers due each week. Despite the workload, it was a ton of fun and a great way to reflect on my experiences abroad. The class got to go on small trips around the city and write outdoors so to better put to paper our experiences. |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
French 301 |
| Course Department: | French |
| Instructor: | Professor Schaaf |
| Instruction Language: | French |
| Comments: | Entire class was taught in French, Prof. Schaaf was very knowledgeable about the area and the surrounding cities. The lessons were fun and related to the places we would be visiting. The entire French department took trips around Provence. *Tip: There are two buses during these trips: the English speaking and French speaking bus - take the French bus, the lectures on this bus are all in French but it really helps to improve your listening skills. The class focused on grammar, culture, listening, and speaking. |
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