University of Southampton

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.

I had a lot of international friends. For this reason, I couldn't improve my language skills that much as they all were no native speakers. I could only learn english at the university. That was quite a pity but the problem is that it is much more easier to get to know international students than people of the local community.

I think my language abilities have improved. I was not that bad before the exchange semester, but in a foreign country every day you are confronted with another language so you automatically start to think in another language.

It was hard at the beginning because I had never been to UK before; anyway, the professors spoke really well, without any slang, so I had no problems with lectures.

I experienced some difficulties at the beginning, especially in the social situations with mother tongue people, but then things have gone better and better

In Southampton, people have the same accent that what you can hear on the tapes you listen to when learning english at school, with makes it pretty easy!