NEOMA Business School

If you don't make the effort to mix with the french, you'll never improve. I found that joining sports teams and taking classes with the french helped me to integrate very well. The fact that my name is difficult for them to pronounce made sure that I was an immediate novelty for them. If you live with french people even in campus accomodation, speak french to them- many will try to speak english to you, but once you keep responding in french, they'll get the message. I made some very good friends that taught me a lot of french, most of which I cannot use in a professional environment however. The thing is, if the french don't want you to understand, you won't. They have a fairly weird form of slang 'verlang' which puts certain syllables behind others and such. Most people will never encounter it. Regardless, know what level you're at before you choose courses. A lot of the time, understanding written french is very important. A good standard across the board is required to really benefit. If you're learning and shy, stay with the foreigners- but you'll regret it.

I was really impressed by the fact that when I have applied for a semester at the ESC Rouen, I had to choose between 5 different types of accomodation all organised by the host university. And the selection is really tremendous, from a small appartment at ANGO ( 9m² for 200 €) up to a room in downtown of Rouen for 450€. It saves me really a lot of time because looking for a reasonable and affordable accomodation is not really easy especially in bigger cities where the real estate market varies enormously. And the services you get offered ( during my stay in the ARC) such as breakfast, laundry services, parking etc.) was really impressive. In general, having been at all different student houses in Rouen, the atmosphere is really fantastic everywhere.

Besides the academic aspect, having spent 2 year abroad really enriched my life.

Stay out of O'Kallaghan's. Buy yourself a six-pack for 2€ in the local épicerie.

Bars and clubs in Reims were pretty quiet. Personally I think this is because the town is very close to Paris. At the weekend most of the french people would go home so basically all the foreigners were left in Reims for the weekend. Most of the best parties were organised by the students themselve ie house parties, or the students union in college. Bars and clubs in reims are very quiet although the best club would be the Aquarium and the best bar would be the L'Apostrophe.

I spent my first year in a studio in a residence which i'd arranged before coming over here. It was a little more expensive than a normal studio or sharing an apartment with friends (like i have done this year), but was worthwhile for the peace of mind.