Type of housing: Apartment/House

Arranged by: Independently - I had no other choice

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? I liked to be in an apartment with foreign roommates. we were living in an apartments/townhouse complex where a lot of students from all aver the world were there. So I met all kind of people and by this way, I had a lot of friends!

Personal comments:
the apartment was nice. I lived with 3 other roommates. The apartment was a little bit too small specially our room. And it was quite expansive: $435/ month (because we stayed 4 months). But we had housekeepers every week,a laundy room, it was close to the university, and i met alot of people. I dont regret.

Describe host city: Student life dominates the city

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

Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment

Personal comments:
A lot of night spots!! But my favorite was the "Twylow" on friday night (latin night). Otherwise, there is a lot to do but there is too much hip-hop and RNB clubs for me... Gainesville is a university town wtih a good nightlife, a lot of activities within the university: cinema, theater, sports... There is a lot of buses until 3 am (university/ downtown). All is very well organized! But there is not a lot to visit... If you want to travel, there is Orlando, St Augustin quite closed to Gainesville. Or there is a special bus for the weekend that goes from Gainesville to Miami, so you can spend the WE there. It is cheap and quicker than the Greyhound!

Course recommendations:
The advanced advertising was very good if you are interesting in integrated marketing communications. Mass communications is also an approval since there are more theories to explain behaviour of groups then I had ever thought of.Further my passion is dansing and therefore fundamentals of dance technique offers a great opportunity to improve this.

Personal comments:
A bit more academic teaching and less discussions in class would be ok.

Language of instruction: English

Main source of funding:
Family

Other sources of funding:
Family

Work opportunities:
It was not legal for me to work

Personal spending habits:
I spent less in almost every category because I was sharing the expenses with my roomates or my friends each time we wanted to cook or to travel. For example, when we wanted to travel, we shared a car with 6 people and we would go in cheap hotels on the way. It is also important to note thatr Gainesville is a student city and that all the prices are adapted to that fact.Nightlife was far less expensive than in any other town so that any student could afford to go out at night. Concerning food, it depends if you want to eat healthy food or not. Fruits and vegetables were more expensive than in France but it was easy to eat with a few dollars.

Housing: was more expensive than at home.

Food: was the same price as at home.

Travel, Nightlife, Overall, Telephone: was less expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
It is almost impossible to travel in Florida without a car because the rail system is less organised than in France. To go out of Gainesville, we had the choice betwen car renting or Greyhound buses, which are not very comfortable for long distances. If I had known this before, I would have buy a car with other students at the beginning of my stay.

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