Montpellier - beautiful city; laid-back school Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Université Paul-Valery Montpellier III is an interesting school. First of all, one must understand that university is essentially "free" for French students (they only have to pay about 200€ in social security), so there is little motivation for students and for professors to learn and to teach, since they can fail and retake classes for essentially no money. The grading scale is 1-20, with about a 15-20 being an A. It is virtually impossible to get over a 17, no matter how hard you try on something. Getting a 9 is "passing", though, so it's not hard to be an intermediate student. The campus itself is neglected and ridden with graffiti. It really needs to be updated; it's kind of stuck in the seventies. The only redeeming quality were the coffee vending machines which my friends and I frequented. I did not realize that it would be in this state before I went to France, so it was sort of a shock. Montpellier itself is a very beautiful city, so I was surprised with the school's campus. We were required to take integrated classes with French students as well as classes geared for international students. The international student classes were beneficial and helped improve my French. Professors were nice and spoke only in French to us, and the workload was easy. I would have actually liked a little more homework to keep myself occupied. However, the international/integrated classes were confusing (professors wouldn't show up; tests were unclear) which was discouraging. We did not find out when our final exams were for integrated classes until about a week before the exam, so it was hard making travel plans, and we were forced to kind of sit around and wait.

On-site administration of your program

Administration at UPV III tried their best. It is run by the international office, and they have lots of students to deal with, and are a bit understaffed. It would have been nice to receive more guidance, especially upon our arrival in France. We were sort of pelted with a huge stack of paperwork to fill out, and had to open bank accounts and fill out social security forms which was overwhelming. Offices are only open a few days of the week at specific times, but administrators were quick to answer emails.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

We were able to choose dorms, a full homestay or partial homestay. I chose a partial homestay, where I stayed with an older woman but was able to cook for myself/do my own laundry and shopping/etc. It was great! I would definitely recommend a partial or full homestay, as the dorms are pretty bleak (they only have a range for cooking and a refrigerator - no microwave/oven/etc., and they can lose electricity and water heat from time to time). My friends who did a full homestay LOVED it, and their French improved the most, so I would definitely recommend that.

Food was GREAT! I mean, you're in the South of France for God's sake. Lots of cheese, bread, olive oil, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, couscous, artichokes, fish, etc. I did my own shopping and spent about 20€/week on groceries. They are more expensive than the United States (particularly meat) so I pretty much became a vegetarian.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I spoke French regularly and everyone there accepted it and responded in French! Locals were very nice and friendly; overall a great experience in Montpellier. The city is great, and the perfect size for studying abroad.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I personally did not have any health problems, but my friend chipped his tooth during the program and had to pay 700€ out-of-pocket because it was not covered by any insurance. Insurance procedures in general were kind of confusing - I never received a social security card and it was fuzzy what to do if you had to go to the doctor.

I personally felt very safe in Montpellier. A few of my female friends had some issues late at night with creepy French men, but I always felt safe.

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

Géant Casino had the cheapest food! Carrefour was pretty reasonably priced too. Monoprix is the most expensive. Very easy to spend about 30€/week on food.

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

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• Host Family

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• Americans
• International Students
• Host Family

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• Local Students
• Americans

• Having the opportunity to travel with all the breaks UPV III provided
• Being able to speak French with my host family
• Location

• The school (choose a different one, please! Montpellier is perfect, but the school is not!)
• Being clearer on end dates - exams ended April 20th but we were told to buy plane tickets for June 6th. I traveled, but many people had to change their flights and incurred extra costs.
• Administrative aspects

The Outright Urbanite