Doing my best to avoid the Toulouse accent, and other cultural revelations Past Review
By Andrew K (Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin) for
INSA de Toulouse: Toulouse - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
Yes, it was worthwhile. I learned and experienced a lot. I feel more confident now with who I am than ever before. I relate to people better. I better understand what I need to have to take care of myself. I know how to deal now with sudden complications while traveling and administrative complications. I have a more mature view of developing my own skills. And I feel like I understand other cultures much more, and have a better view of what they think of the US.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Honestly I didn't take too much to French academic organization. The workload was not bad at all, but I always felt like my schedule was incredibly loose and subject to change, and I had no way of finding more information about classes online. I felt like secondary education in France was similar to highschool in the US, in that students had classes from 8 am to 6 pm, and much less free time. Also, I felt like it was hard to understand the subjects do to a lack of homework. However, I did find that my host university was incredibly welcoming and was very accessible to foreign students. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The international office at INSA Toulouse was great. They were accessible, respectful, and competent. Moreover, they helped a lot in my search for an internship after studies. Also I feel that they went above and beyond to welcome us. They definitely helped make the program an enjoyable experience |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The housing location was fine- right on campus, around other students, near the metro, etc. However, my apartment management company was horrible. They had had bad experiences with some american students before, and thus felt it reasonable to profile all american students as undesirable. I was soured first by unreasonable (and utterly unfounded) demands they made on me with respect to other american students, and again when they overcharged me for rent. I found them incompetent. That being said, they were not openly hostile, and all my problems were resolved by the end, but I had to be ever vigilant with them. |
| * Food: |
The dining on campus was great, and a good price. Dining anywhere else in town was incredibly expensive, as well as groceries. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The international office had a "welcome drink" just for the american student soon after we arrived, which was great. They also had some other cultural events throughout the semester which were great. Also, I had lots of time to travel...almost every weekend was equivalent to a 3 day weekend, and Toulouse was a great point to travel from. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
|
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
|
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) |
|
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | No, I felt like my program was pretty good about providing useful experiences in terms of cultural events and such. However, it would have been nice to get more useful class credit. It was worth it regardless. Find a big, cheap grocery store and go there to get most of your food. Laundry was very expensive at my apartment building. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | an upper division (junior/senior level) french history class |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
|
| Language acquisition improvement? |
My classes were actually in english, so that unfortunately discouraged me from speaking french, and moreover trying to change classes over to french proved too difficult in terms of administration. Nonetheless, my classes still had french students, so I was able to talk to them. My french as foreign language class was quite interesting and had good instruction. Also, although it was a little difficult to break into groups of french students, many were very welcoming and wanted to meet foreign students (particularly americans) |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Exchange |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Beware of Promologis- you'll probably not have big problems, but watch out regardless. Always leave plenty of time for french bureaucracy, and take responsibility yourself to make sure things are in order. They don't tell you if something's wrong, as in Texas. Utilize the international office at INSA- I found my summer internship through them! If you have any french skill whatsoever, get into an Erasmus french class (an FLE or francais langue etrangere class). Make friends with foreign students as well as french students, turn in your BEE parrain form early, and go to BEE events. Toulouse is in a great location for traveling- take advantage of it! Don't worry too much if you can't travel before the program starts (it'll be REAL winter in Europe), you'll have time to travel on the weekends, and you get 2 long breaks as well as time afterwards. Go couchsurfing! |
