University of Southampton

The accomodation fees were a bit expensive (£ 200/month for a 9 m2 bedroom) but the atmosphere was fantastic. The majority of my hall of residence's students was international : there were students from Spain, England, Italy, Greece, France, Germany, Turkey, India... I met lots of different people, from different cultures, but also from different educational backgrounds. I am a scientist ( I have an aerospace engineering diploma), even if I am doing a further degree in High Technology / Industrial Marketing at HEC (Paris), and it was really interesting for me to talk and meet law students, litterature or drama students. I learnt a lot there, by living alone (I mean without my home friends and family) in a foreign country, in terms of ways of thinking and mentalities which are differents for each culture, but also in terms of socialization by living a whole year with the same people in the same "big house".

I do not remember the names of the cafes and bars I was going to, except for some, for example : - Lennon's for a drink in a "cool" bar with live bands playing (rock, celtic music...) - bridge on water (candles and jazz atmosphere for a pint of guiness or/and a romantic dinner in a corner of this cosy restaurant !) - the bar along Highfield Road, very big and familial, with several fire places (very nice during English winters !) - the one in front of Lennon's, an Irish Pub

GO and TRAVEL around the world, out of your home country fronteers : it opens your mind, your eyes, your ideas, your heart !

I had the chance and opportunity to work with very open and talkative people as well as to meet ENglish students whom I communicated a lot with. They are still good friends and we still write emails to each other. I already had a good knowledge of english before going to the University of Southampton, because I had been in the USA several times before, but it was on holidays (3 one-month stays), and I think the best way to really understand a language in details, the feel a language, is to live in the country, to live with the people, to live their culture : since then, you understand how they think, and you are able to think like them, to understand them, and so to best communicate with them.

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