Type of housing: On campus

Arranged by: Host university

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? I would choose to live in an apartment with other French students. The dorms were about a 25 minute bus ride from campus and downtown. The bathroom facilities were co-ed (pretty normal), but dirty and really not very safe. The toilets had no seats and everyone had to take his/her own toilet paper to the bathroom everytime. Finally, living with other French students would be nice because in the dorms all fo the Americans, Italians, etc all grouped together and spoke their native languages. Not conducive to learning French. The price was right 800ff/month=$110/month, but you paid for what you got.

Personal comments:
none

Describe host city: Students equally interact with the local and student community

Activities, Nightlife: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment

Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment

Personal comments:
The hot spots where students frequent are Pub d'etoile, and pretty much any bars found on la Grande Rue et Rue des Granges. BUT for real culture, try out la Cremerie (often live music in the centre ville) or le Marulaz (in the Battant quarter with lots of live music, hippies, reggae, jazz, culture man!) Also the best concerts are found in the "caves" in bars. Take time to stop and look at the flyers. Often they are inexpensive and unknown but the time of your life. Go to the xmas market in Granvelle and try the vin chaud. Also, try to walk up to the Fort de Bregille. it's a long walk, but if ou take bus #27 to Rue des Fontenottes, it's only about 1/2 hour. Go to the Citadelle, too.

Course recommendations:
If you want to study French linguistics, ask about courses in SLEC.

Personal comments:
There's no supervision and maybe one or two tests. The teachers were pretty easy on us foreigners. I got better grades than I deserved.

Language of instruction: French

Main source of funding:
Government assistance

Other sources of funding:
Family
Personal savings

Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options

Personal spending habits:
For cheap food,` try Lidl on rue Siffert. cheap food and there's a laundry mat just next door. Nightlife is more expensive because I went out more! All the time! Travel was more for obvious reasons, and telephone was less because I bought a cell phone with rechargeable cards. the best way to go.

Travel, Nightlife, Overall: was more expensive than at home.

Food, Telephone, Housing: was less expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
I wish I would have been prepared about my language skills, and about the way the French Academic system worked. I also wish I would have researched the town a bit more, and the weather in the town. But I'm not disappointed, in fact I feel lucky. I basically pointed and chose a place on the map because I was too uneducated about the regions in France. Besancon is great and the people are friendly.

In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!