French Field Study and Internship Programs

It was a second semester of my full year study abroad. Had it not for the faculty and support I received here, I would not have been able to define my academic and professional goals after college.
The program's strong academic rigor and passionate faculty and staff have pushed me beyond my intellectual horizon with their classes and final thesis with an expert all the while completing an internship with a local organization.
Strasbourg is an amazing city that you'll never get bored with ease of travels around Europe!

In spring 2023, I studied on the Institute for Field Education’s Paris Program. This program is a particularly enriching experience for students looking to blend multiple studies. As an English Literature major and a French minor, I was able to immerse myself in the French language while also furthering my literature education with an internship at the Sorbonne’s Department for Research in Comparative Literature. IFE has a great support system for finding an internship, preparing you for it, and working through it with students. I knew people who worked in a variety of fields: media production, marketing, science, architecture, political/social organizations, and more! The program has a strong support staff that works to build community and give their students a special experience. IFE is not a program for folks that are looking for a chance to be in a new place/explore; it’s an academic program that can be rigorous at times but still rewarding. It’s a very good chance to have practical, professional experience while immersed in the French language. The classes themselves are not always the most interesting, but they do help stimulate listening and speaking comprehension.
IFE offers multiple locations that all have their own perks, and I found being in Paris very lively. Paris is easy to navigate and full of exciting things to do—from the obvious tourist landmarks to lesser-known museums, parks, and other haunts. It’s a beautiful, intimidating, and politically evocative environment. I found that Paris gave me the opportunity to live in a very dynamic city full of different perspectives, activities, and events. A lot of museums, tickets, and landmarks are at a reduced price (or free) to students 18-24 with an ID card, so do everything that you can! I personally recommend trying a homestay if possible with IFE’s program. It’s a further level of immersion and can offer some unique opportunities that the student dormitories (foyers) may not. I had a great experience with my host Mme Dartigues, and IFE staff can help you if you run into any issues.
Other than the internship opportunity, the best part of IFE for me was the community. I know it can be a gamble with the group you end up with, but I found we were able to establish a good rapport, connect over shared experiences, and make some really special memories. There are other students from the IFE program that I would still consider friends, months after the fact. In addition to the students, the program directors are very kind and helpful throughout the program. It would not have been the same without their support and the environment they helped to build within the program. If you can, visit Etretat and other cities outside of Paris! You’ll have to organize trips like these yourself (maybe with some other students in the program), but it’s really rewarding and cool to see places outside of Paris and get away from the city every once in a while! Especially take advantage of the break between the preparatory session and the internship (it’s about a week to just explore and have a good time)!

The field research and internship program in Paris was truly such an amazing experience. I was able to develop my French language abilities extremely rapidly, gained confidence in myself in my ability to live and work abroad outside of my native language, grew my professional and communication skills, and took on perhaps my greatest academic challenge thus far through my research thesis. I was also making new friends and exploring an incredible city for the first time. I can't recommend it more!

I completed the IFE Strasbourg internship abroad program in Spring of 2023. This was by far one of the most meaningful and influential experiences in my academic career. IFE challenged me academically, allowed me to completely immerse myself in French culture, and helped me solidify my career plans through my internship. The small class sizes allow for meaningful discussions and the ability to form close friendships with classmates. Thomas and Tarek were incredibly supportive and I always felt comfortable asking for help. If you have the opportunity to go to Strasbourg with IFE, do it!!

While it's hard to speak of IFE's other programs, studying in Strasbourg was one of the best decisions I've made.

IFE sets you up with a preparatory period, and a 12-week internship. Unlike other programs, I felt completely immersed in the culture. However, there is always support around, so you never need to feel alone. This program is especially great for those studying Politics, History, and Sociology, but it was also accommodating for those in different subjects.

I came into the program as someone who was book smart but had great difficulties in speaking French. Differently from other programs, IFE avoids traditional French classes and treats you like a student in France. After the courses and the internship period, I felt fully immersed, and my language skills developed better than they would have a different way. The combination of classes and the internship made me feel like I was able to fully immerse into the culture, while also having an IFE community to fall back on.

IFE provides students with cultural activities. In the first few weeks, we had tours with our incredible advisor, Tarek, where he showed us the gorgeous city. It helped us to break the ice with each other while getting better acquainted with the surroundings. Other tours included visiting the European Counsel, a guided castle tour, and a wine route.

Strasbourg is an amazing city to live in as a student. It's incredibly easy to navigate, and there was never need to take any forms of transportation besides going to neighboring cities, like Colmar. Despite its quaintness, it still has a city feel with its popping student life. It was also surprisingly inexpensive! I would highly recommend this city over the others, especially during Fall semester.

While challenging at times, I could not recommend this program enough to students who are interested in immersing and learning about the culture that they're in. If you are not studying abroad to learn, this might not be the program for you, but I truly believe that IFE is the best program on the market.

If I could have done IFE for every semester of university I would have! The experience challenged me intellectually, personally, and, of course, linguistically. But this challenge coupled with the incredible support of the IFE staff created a learning environment that allowed me to grow and achieve things I never thought I was capable of.

At the beginning of the semester, I was hesitant to participate in class because I didn't feel completely secure in my French language skills, and by the end of the semester not only did I overcome this fear, but I also delivered an entire walking tour in French to my peers and supervisors. The IFE team encouraged me to take on this challenge, and I'm so grateful that they did. It's an experience that I often look back on when I face public speaking in my academic and work life. I always think: if I can give an almost 2 hour-long tour in French, I can definitely nail this 30 minute PowerPoint in English!

IFE is not your traditional study abroad program, but that's what I loved the most about it. It's something completely unique that allows you to improve your second language, gain real-world experience, and learn more about yourself and your capabilities. If you want to embody the cliché of "abroad changed my life," then IFE is 100% the program for you!

IFE was hands down the best decision I made while in college. The program challenges and cultivates your language skills while allowing you to pursue your own academic interests. This was also the first internship I held and being supported by the program while having my first, real professional work experience was a great environment to be in. IFE pushes you to be a better student and citizen of the world.

I participated in the Paris field study program in 2017 and would gladly do it again! Being able to experience not only a schooling opportunity in another country and language, but a research project and internship at the same time really forced us to be proactive and organized students. This program enabled me to become more confident in my French skills and certainly showed when I returned to my home university in the fall. IFE also changed my perspective on how I see the world and view myself as a citizen. It sounds cliche or trite, but this program truly changed my life and I am so thankful to the staff for creating such a wonderful, unique experience.

IFE was a terrific experience. Its immersive French environment and organized cultural activities massively improved my language skills and encouraged me to push outside my comfort zone. Further, the coursework on French cultural and historical topics oriented me to France and Paris, which gave me a greater appreciation of where I was living. Finally, the internship experience was very related to medicine, my interest, and the connections I formed there led to a Fulbright research grant two years later at the same lab of my original internship. It's worth adding that 2 other students from that same IFE class of 24 received Fulbright FLTA awards.

IFE challenges students and promoted more personal, linguistic, and professional growth than I could have ever expected. The support network is very strong and the experience is very well tailored to each individual student. The experience I had with IFE and the future consequences of receiving a Fulbright research grant and further enlarging my international experience was invaluable to my professional goals in the medical field. You'd be hard-pressed to find an experience abroad that promotes such personal, linguistic, and professional growth in just one semester as IFE.