The Extra Mile: A Full School Year in Paris

API Paris is wonderful, regardless of which school you choose to attend. However, if you are a language major or very familiar with the language prior to arrival, I highly recommend a direct enrollment program. It's like you're a real French student, a native, going to class with everyone else. Classes ranged from easy to difficult, but the API RDs were always there to help when you needed it, whether writing a French paper or extra studying. At Diderot, I was able to take fun courses like gymnastics and judo, and still take challenging courses like literature and translation.
Staying for a whole year was an amazing experience, and unlike some other programs, API allows you to revisit excursions that you may have gone on in your first semester. During my stay I attended a high-profile concert, lazed in parks, enjoyed many museums, and ate lots of great food. Some of my favorite memories are the simple things: my apartment with a monument view, visiting with the wonderful API Paris staff, and spending time with new friends.
I had fellow students from my university abroad in France the same time that I was overseas, and none of them were as well prepared for their stay as I was with API. API helps you in so many ways: airport pickup, housing arrangements, city integration, class registration and more. The other people I knew had to find out how to get to their cities from the airport, arrange their housing, and sign up for their classes.
It was so easy being abroad with API, and it's an experience I plan on doing again and again!