PARIS, JE T'AIME Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

work load was drastically less. most classes had a couple of small assignments. 2 of my classes had nothing due at all until the final project, when i assume they realized they had to fit some sort of assessment in. students showed up late, didn't complete assignments, and teachers didn't bother to hold them to higher standards. my favorite class was my french language class, which says something about the design curriculum. overall, i feel like my portfolio suffered at a critical stage in my design education (second semester junior year) BUT if it had been any more challenging i wouldn't have been able to travel and enjoy paris. my experiences outside of the classroom were where the most growth occurred for me as an individual and i really was able to step out of my comfort zone. i wouldn't have traded that for the world.

On-site administration of your program

i was really hoping there would be more support. while orientation was awesome, student life pretty much ceased to exist once school started. no trips at all were available to students, shocking when there are so many things around to see or do. while i was able to go out on my own to do them, it would have been nice to have some guidance from parsons. i ended up getting sick and needing hospitalization during my stay there, and the address given to us for an "english speaking" hospital was incorrect, a potentially dangerous inconvenience as my roommate and i got dropped off there and had to walk blocks away to the correct address. during my hospitalization the director of student life was "out of office" and unavailable. i really felt on my own in a foreign country at a time when i should have had some support from my school. overall i feel like the price of tuition was high for what i "received" i have a friend who is attending a study abroad institution that provides stipends for groceries, a cell phone, etc. i only wonder where all the tuition is going... one last quip. when i attempted to take sorbonne language classes through parsons paris as part of the study abroad program, i found the administration to be completely unhelpful, even a hindrance. very little communication was given about placement testing, location, and (most importantly) class schedules/dates/times. when i asked about it, the people "running the show" were completely clueless.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

i found an apartment right by campus in a very safe and touristy part of paris (15 arrondissement) it was the perfect place for my first time living there, i felt like i got the quintessential paris experience. everything (metro stop, monoprix) was close by and easy to get to. the apartment was pre-furnished, which was really necessary. the only thing i purchased to add was a coffee pot. it was somewhat difficult to get electricity set up and communicate with our landlady (who knew very little english) i would have been amazing to get some help with this part...

french food is amazing. but super expensive. i dined out only a handful of times for budgetary reasons, opting to eat on a budget (stuff like pasta and croque monsieurs) at home to have money to go out at night and be able to buy clothes and books.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

pretty much non-existent (as mentioned above.) while parsons paris did a nice job arranging our orientation week, there was nothing at all organized for students outside of the academic environment after that.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

i also mentioned this above. staying in a hospital abroad for a week was a very scary experience. i am grateful that my friends were around to be there with me, otherwise i'm not sure what i would have done. there was definitely a language barrier. i had no clue what was wrong with me while i was there, they told me at different times they told me different things. it wasn't until i saw an english speaking doctor a week later that i found out what the problem was. because of the language barrier i was forced to learn french very quickly to communicate about things like blood tests and medication. i found out later that there was an american hospital just a few blocks away. i highly recommend that students studying abroad take their health into their own hands and print out the us embassy pdf of recommended hospitals/doctors. parsons paris did not help at all, only until after i was out of the hospital did they even email me and my (very concerned) mom back. overall, paris was an extremely safe city. perhaps this was my bias coming from a place like baltimore, where you are always on alert? i felt comfortable walking around by myself and late at night. the only thing you really have to watch out for are creepy parisian men. they are another breed of who knows what...

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

within the parsons paris community, french was not a necessity at all. while most people did speak english, i found it common courtesy to speak french in everyday interactions (at stores, restaurants, etc.) and enjoyed testing my knowledge of the language out. outside of my french class, i really had conversations with people en francais when i would go out at night to bars and clubs. this was the best way to get out and actually meet french people. still, most french students are just as eager to try english out, too.

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• Apartment

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• Americans