A wonderful semester outside the comfort zone Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Courses were difficult but not rigorous: I learned a lot, but the difficulty of the course work stemmed from the difference in methods of teaching and evaluation. The material itself was not as in-depth as it would have been at Middlebury (for final-year coursework), and the value was placed more on just "knowing the material" rather than fostering an understanding of it and curiosity about it. I didn't have any choice in the science classes that I took, as it is a pre-determined "parcours" for the local students. The schedule changed every week, making things somewhat unpredictable. The electives that I managed to squeeze worked with my schedule by sheer luck.

On-site administration of your program

It's a small program and we're far away from the Middlebury staff in Paris, which was fine 99% of the time. I had some major surprises/problems/conflicts in my first ~72 hours on site during which I wish I'd had more guidance. Nobody (faculty, administration, even the international office at the science UFR) had any knowledge about non-Erasmus international programs or any desire to help. I really wish I'd had a document from Middlebury with some guidance on how to enroll at the university, register for classes, what signatures were needed from whom and in what order, etc.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My room was in very good condition and fairly reasonable. The location was excellent. However, I was treated quite poorly by the administrative staff at CROUS: they gave very sarcastic and unhelpful responses to my questions about how the housing system worked, and occasionally directly insulted my language skills.

I fed myself quite comfortably on about 30-40€ a week without giving any thought to buying cheap groceries (as in I could have spent less). The Saturday market is also an incredible resource for local produce/cheese/baked goods.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

There are very few international students or English-speakers in Poitiers, so it is delightfully easy to avoid English and fully integrate in the local fabric. I really felt like a part of the city by the time I left. I made a friends in my courses as well as through the extracurriculars that I pursued

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I (thankfully) didn't have any experience with healthcare, but both the international students office and Middlebury provided very comprehensive information and I think I would have known what to do if something had come up.

I never felt unsafe in Poitiers, even when my morning commute was in the dark (in the winter)

I loved the city of Poitiers. It's relatively small and free of tourists. I loved that there weren't very many English speakers around, and that I was able to really get involved in local activities. It was a really great chance to experience another educational system, improve my French, and meet new people. My only complaints are about the administration-related aspects of the program.

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

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

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• International Students

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• Local Students

• the Language Pledge
• the city of Poitiers
• the extracurricular activities that I pursued

• Middlebury was not very helpful on some crucial topics (first few days: course registration, enrollment procedures, etc.) and weirdly hand-holdy about trivial things later on. They need to re-allocate their supportive energies.
• Knowledge about the program beforehand, specifically about course choices and geographic challenges (ie surprise 35 minute bus commutes)

The Academic or Linguist