A series of wonderful misfortunes Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The academics, while rigorous, felt unnecessarily difficult. Students were pushed to take too many classes, regardless of the course load their home institution normally gave. A student who is used to taking 4 classes cannot handle the workload of 6 classes. Additionally, it was difficult to gage, ahead of time, the difficulty of the course or the willingness of the professor to have foreign students in his/her class. This made, often, for an uncomfortable experience. The difficulty of the classes made several students, including myself, become depressed and have to seek out therapy. And while the administration at Middlebury was really wonderful about helping me find a therapist, the program shouldn't be so difficult that students feel they have to see a therapist. I think the Middlebury program underestimates how difficult transitioning to a new culture can be, and adding academic stressors on top of that only exacerbates the cultural tension. Additionally, the time spent studying took away from actual cultural immersion experiences. There was so much of Paris that I was unable to see because I was either studying or depressed. And I understand that Middlebury has a reputation of being an academically rigorous program to uphold. But the rigor isn't going to go away by reducing the required minimum in-class hours. I found that all the students on the program were a self-selecting group of scholarly kids, with a genuine interest in fully integrating with the culture and taking the program seriously. Reducing time spent in class will allow them to facilitate the integration by exploring the city, meeting new people, and staying healthy.

On-site administration of your program

The administration was really wonderful. Always very helpful, engaged in the lives and wellbeing of their students.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I was very satisfied! I didn't care to do a home stay, knowing my personal needs, and the International Foyer was very nice.

I mostly cooked for myself and ate out, which was nice. And, I mean, it's Paris. One can't complain about the food in Paris.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt mostly confined to the American students. That said, I made really close friends and felt I had a strong support system in Paris. Which is preferred to making friendships with the local students.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

All of my health issues were very easy to manage.

I never felt unsafe in Paris, even despite several city-wide issues.

I would do the program again, but I would take art classes, or something along those lines that are a lot less work intensive. Definitely no L3 classes. And I'd try to take as many long classes as possible to reduce the overall number of classes I was taking.

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

I found it mildly difficult, but it's a relatively expensive city, so there's not much that can be done.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

We were required to speak in the language constantly.

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• Dorm

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• International Students

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• Local Students
• International Students

• The other students
• The ability to travel to other countries
• The program trips to the opera/ south of France/ etc

• The academic structure

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