Unforgettable Times and Adventures In Paris Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The grading system id very different if you take english classes or french. The french classes are much harder and the professors give much lower grades, while the english classes are also hard, but teachers tend to give higher grades. The bureaucracy at Sciences Po is horrible as well (getting into the right classes is near to impossible, it takes a week to get your student id and you have to stand in many lines etc...)

On-site administration of your program

Well I honestly have nothing good to say about the administration. Just to get anything done, you need to stand in never ending lines and fill in never ending forms. After standing in line for an hour, I was told they run out of student ID, and would mail mine in a week and a half.... you need that ID to open bank accounts as a student, and other student discounts (insurance) so I couldn't do anything till they sent me my student id. The only administrative thing that was helpful was the American Center, they were quite prompt and knowledgeable. Besides them the rest is a disaster.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I had absolutely no help whatsoever in finding a place, but thankfully I found an add at a church offering a tiny maid's room, 9m squared. While I searched for this room I stayed with a friend I met from before that lives in Paris. Living by myself was very challenging, having to deal with internet, land lord, electricity etc... all in french. I led in the 17th, and it was a very safe area, but very expensive. I had to buy few things, the place came with a desk, bed, microwave and mini fridge.

Student CROUS food is much better than regular cafeteria food back in the US

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The only cool thing is that you get to meet a lot of people during orientation, that's where I met most of my very good friends. The boat ride on the bateaux mouche was unforgettable. Besides that Sciences Po did not seem to arrange much of anything except for the BDE (student organizations). I attended their first party and it was horrible, but later I went to the Gala they hosted and it was actually fun so I recommend that. BDE also organized some trips to other Sciences Po campuses and I heard those were fun too.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

FIRE SAFETY!!!: Please please please make sure that there is a fire escape in your building. Two Sciences Po exchange students had to jump to their deaths because their old building did not have a fire escape when it caught on fire. Please be very aware of how easily buildings catch on fire in Paris, I know it is very hard to find housing, but it is not worth your life. Further Safety: please refer to the sexual harassment mini rant I wrote earlier. I honestly did not feel very safe to walk down certain parts of Paris alone, much less at night. Please only stay near safe areas (avoid barbes-rochechouart in the 18th arr, and certain suburbs) and always have a walking buddy at night. You must always be on guard and make sure the creepers keep their distance. As for pick-pockets, they are definitely around but thankfully nothing has happened to me. Always be on guard of your possessions, and watch out for gypsies. My friend got her purse cut open from the bottom and 5 kids jumped on everything that fell out and ran away. Healthcare wasn't too bad. Sciences Po referred us to a clinic they work with and I always heard very good things about it, but it is only open on certain hours of the day, and the one time I needed it, it wasn't open... so I looked online for a general doctor and found a good one in the 13th that only charged me 20 euros and saw me right away. I do highly recommend talking to UT Pharmacy and telling them that you'll be studying abroad for *blank* and they will give you your medicine for all those months in advance. The only thing was that the medicine they had that I needed in my case expired in May, while I planed to stay till August so I had to buy expensive medicine here, so make sure that doesn't happen to you.

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

Most people did speak English but not to me. I have a good French accent but with a lot of grammar mistakes, so no one really knew where I was from and just decided to continue speaking in French to me. In class and most of my friends spoke english, but because I was on my own I had to constantly interact with French speaking people for services (groceries, internet, land lord etc...)

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