364 reviews
4.03 / 5 based on 364 reviews
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Ruth K
Student life
Describe host city:
Students interact with the local community without much university involvement
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Nightlife, Activities: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Travel: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Personal comments
Pont des Arts at night - bring a bottle of wine and plastic cups
Louvre on Friday nights
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Ruth K
Housing
Type of housing: Apartment/House
Arranged by: Independently - My choice
If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House
Why?
independance and some distance from university.
living in a real community with French families and children around rather than a student-only atmosphere.
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Personal comments
housing in Paris is very expensive and tends to be very small. most people rent studios - French people don't like sharing flats, and certainly not bedrooms. if you rent an old servant's room (chambre de bonne/service) you will most likely be sharing a toilet and shower facilities. it is also common for students to rent rooms at the top of six or seven flights of stairs with no lift.
You can find housing in fusac.fr (though this tends to be a bit expensive) and at the American church - you can sometimes get a room in exchange for about 15 hours babysitting a week.
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Ruth K
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Family
Other sources of funding:
Personal savings<br>
An ERASMUS grant
Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options
Personal spending habits
Nightlife, Telephone:
was more expensive than at home.
Overall, Housing:
was the same price as at home.
Travel, Food:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
Ebay is great in France
The Carte ImaginR (€276 for the year) is a great transport saver, and you can travel all over Ile de France on weekends
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Ruth K
Academic
Course recommendations
If you take Economics, get Schlacter as your maitre de conference; he's fantastic
Christophe Jamin is also brilliant for law / law and economics
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
You are worked into the ground and the admin is a disaster - we had end of year exams before the end of teaching. But overall fairly good feedback and lots of continous assessment, if you like that.
Signing up for courses is also a bit difficult - you have to be on line the moment inscription opens and have a priority list and lots of alternatives as you won't always get your first choices.
Courses with French students are marked harder than courses with just international students.
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My opinion of the university assessment
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
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Ruth K
Overall
I wish I had known...
In my opinion:
I loved it but I'm not sure everybody would.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
If you like working hard, you'll get a lot out of it. It won't teach you to think, but you'll learn lots of information.
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
Met people from other countries
Experienced a change in life
Advanced my studies & career
Final comments
If you get stabbing pains in your calves the first few weeks, don't worry, it's just all the stairs in the metro. At least you won't have to go to a gym.
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Ruth K
Languages
Language of instruction: French
Was learning French a key decision factor?
Yes, I wanted to improve my French
How much did you improve your French?
My level before: At ease in most situations
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
The French classes aren't great, but you can also learn a second language, which is good.
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