Bad housing situation overshadows an otherwise good semester February 08, 2023

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I enjoyed the classes that I took at Paris 1 with Alya Aglan and Bertrand Simon, and the one class I took at Middlebury with Marion Gaillard. I received adequate academic support in terms of tutoring and methodology courses, as well as proofreading/grammar help

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived with a host mom from August till mid-November and in an all-girls foyer until the end of December. I had a very bad time with my host mom. She was going through a divorce and was emotionally unstable and also very stressed because of the energy crisis. She constantly made snide comments to me about the amount of energy I was using- how much water I could use to boil my potatoes, when I could charge my electronics, etc. I also had an incident where I had to go to the police about a man that tried to follow me home, and she was angry that I had given the police our address even though the policewoman taking my statement had said multiple times that is was confidential. My host mom then asked me to promise that I speak with her before going to the police if another incident happened again, proceeded to insist that it was not confidential, and that there had been women who had been hunted down and killed by their abusers in the past when it was not confidential. I considered all of this incredibly inappropriate and selfish, and her words made me feel unsafe. She had also one time complained that "Paris has too many Romanians" (knowing full well that I am Romanian), and made racially insensitive comments about Asian people and comments against gay people. And all of this is on top of complaining about her ex husband to me, which also made me feel uncomfortable. I was much happier when I moved moved into the Jerôme Lejeune residence in mid-November, but the way that all of this was handled by Host Families in Paris was truly unprofessional and disappointing. I would give my housing experience zero stars if I could.

I cooked most of my own food. Grocery shopping was pretty affordable, which was nice.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt very integrated for a few reasons: 1. I took a masters level class at Paris 1, which was a lot smaller in size; 2. I took a sports class at Paris 1, which also allowed me to meet people based on a non-academic interest; 3. I moved to an all-girls foyer in mid-November, which helped me meet more people my age.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I visited an allergist through GeoBlue. The allergist, Dr. Edouard Letellier, was helpful and kind enough to accommodate my American allergy shots. Middlebury Staff was accommodating in showing me how to get a visit prepaid and how to request reimbursement. The office was pretty far from where I was living in the 15th arrondissement.

I was pickpocketed once but adjusted my way of carrying my stuff around the city and that did not happen again.

I did not have much of a choice to choose another program because I am a Middlebury student, and as I result I had very high standards which were not met. Looking back, I would not do the program if I were housed with a host family, but would only do it if I could have been given a spot in a foyer. i did not feel very supported by the program staff in Paris regarding the issues I had with my housing, and was sometimes made to feel like I was being too dramatic in my complaints about Host Families in Paris. Although my experience did have a lot of positives (which I talk about below), just knowing how much stress I went through due to poor choices made by the middlebury program and its associates, and anticipating an uphill battle to get my credits to transfer, I am not sure that in hindsight all of the stress was worth it

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

Food when I was cooking for myself was affordable, but when I went out to eat it was quite expensive. Transportation is also very expensive- 75 euros/month which is about 18 euros a week.

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

Select all that apply

• Dorm
• Host Family

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• Local Students
• International Students
• Host Family

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• The course programming at the centre madeleine
• cultural activities organized by kelly
• academic internship

• screening for host families
• accountability for HFP

The Academic or Linguist