Past Review
By emily w (French & Linguistics, The University of Texas at Austin) for
IES Abroad: Paris - French Studies
It was definitely worthwhile. I know I don't want to live in a big city now. I improved my French a lot, but I really tried - not everyone does.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Compared to UT, classes were easy. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
I google-mapped the IES school before I left for France and thought it was a mistake. But no, it really is in the lobby of a somewhat grimy apartment building. It didn't feel like a real school at all. The staff, however, is very nice and I liked the intimacy of my small program. I think there were about 30-40 of us in the Intermediate/Advanced program. A lot of my expectations about the programs and Paris in general weren't met, but I don't regret going. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
13th arrondissement in a townhouse. <br /><br /> IES does a great job, for the most part, matching students with really well-off families. Most of the students were in the 15/16/17 arrondissements. I was in probably the worst homestay situation, although it wasn't terrible. The 13th is sort of an average neighborhood, no tourists at all, just a little run-down and grimy-looking. My host family was a mom, dad, and daughter that was my age. They spoke almost no English. Did not change my sheets, clean, or do laundry once. The host mom cooked really weird, not even really French, things. The father was very condescending and mocking. They didn't try to include me in conversation. I went to a friend's homestay and it was a totally different situation. I requested a family that would treat me as a family member, and they treated me like a strange tenant. Proximity to school was pretty good. No nightlife in the 13th - had to call a cab wherever I wanted to go. I'm making it sound bad, but everyone else I knew LOVED their host families with IES. |
| * Food: |
Food is just weird over there. No familiar comforts. And there are cafes every 5 feet. Near IES, the Daguerre Cafe is really good, and there are patisseries everywhere that sell good salads and sandwiches for pretty cheap. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Saw ALL the sights, made lots of friends, the field trips sponsored by IES were just day trips and not all that amazing. With my friends, I traveled to Brussels (highly recommended), Cannes (awesome), Aix-en-provence (relaxing) and Barcelona (the BEST - HIGHLY recommended!) so the trip gave me a great opportunity to travel elsewhere in Europe. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Paris is dangerous if you put yourself in certain situations. As mentioned before, you are harrassed almost daily in some way. Don't walk on the Champs-Elysees at night. If you're at a bar, have a taxi pick you up in front. No lie, the men are already gross and agressive and when intoxicated it's magnified. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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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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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Total, the program cost me 10 grand (for 5 weeks!). 7500 from UT and 2500 from my parents. Euros are like monopoly money when you're there, it feels like you're spending dollars but actually it's 1.3 or whatever, and that adds up. food, nightlife, transportation, travel, and shopping is so much more expensive. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | I took six semesters - just finished 322E when I left. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
The first day, they make you sign a pledge that you won't speak English at IES. Yeah right... that lasted about a day. My French improved mainly from listening to it being spoken all day and using it in everyday interactions, like in taxis. People don't really speak a lot of English there. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Someone who's street savvy and has a good sense of direction... |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Contemporary France |
| Course Department: | SO 321 |
| Instructor: | Feldjan, Sofie |
| Instruction Language: | French |
| Comments: | Definitely interesting. I learned a lot about French culture and the differences between U.S. views and French views. The teacher was knowledgeable and very laid-back. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | I don't think I will. |
| Course Name/Rating: |
19th and 20th Century French Literature |
| Course Department: | LT 340 |
| Instructor: | Eric Loret |
| Instruction Language: | French |
| Comments: | I dislike literature to begin with, and the class was at 9am, so I really dreaded it. But Professor Loret was very nice and tried to keep us interested. There were only 5 students in the class, so we all had a chance to interact. We had to read an excerpt every night, and basically every other word had to be Wordreferenced because of the range of vocabulary. It took way more time than it was supposed to because of this.. like 1-2 hours a night. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | I don't think I will. |
