Five Weeks in French Canada Past Review
By Victoria P (Information Technology., Illinois State University) for
Laval University: Quebec City - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
I gained a lot of fluency from using French every day rather than two days a week in classes in my hometown. I appreciated speaking in my native language more after speaking French for five weeks; it's even become a little bit easier for me to communicate verbally in English than it was before I went to Quebec. I applied for dual citizenship with Canada (at Laval I was classed as an American because my proof of citizenship arrived too late - I couldn't prove I had Canadian citizenship). But I might work in Canada one day when I find full-time work and Quebec seems like a nice place to live. It's useful to me to be bilingual and this study abroad experience really helped. (If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same program? --why do it all the same? There are different activities I might have liked to do; I could do the program again and pick some different things to do.)
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Two of my three classes were three hours long (with a short break in the middle) and there was a fair amount of preparation necessary to succeed on exams. Most of the grading was based on examinations and oral presentations given in French. |
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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? |
Had to buy some plates and silverware, as well as dish soap; those weren't provided when I was there. |
| * Food: |
Everything is relatively expensive in Quebec due to taxes, even food. But there are some nice restaurants in Quebec City that make it worth paying a little more. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Canada has public health care and Laval's campus has a very good security system; nothing catastrophic happened to anyone I knew. |
| 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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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | It ended up being around $200/week, but I ate out a lot. I could perhaps have saved more if I had cooked for myself more often. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Laval University forced me to buy their school insurance in order to get my transcript sent to Illinois State University; it was because I was a classified as a non-Canadian student. (~83$ CAN) Going to pubs is fun, but drinks are expensive relative to my hometown. To get any value out of it, you almost have to go with a group of friends and share pitchers. |
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? | 200-level |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
I was in Quebec City; most people know English to some extent but they have a tendency to speak French automatically. The purpose was to be immersed in French and I spoke French every day. |
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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