Aix-en-Provence, France Review (2023)

I am very satisfied with this program. As a Language Major, I felt as though I got adequate practice in throughout my semester abroad. I was able to speak with many French speakers while living in Aix-en-Provence. Something I really loved about the location is that it is not a huge city, so you get to see familiar faces day to day. This made it easier to make new local friends. Something else I really liked about the location was that it was only a 25-minute bus ride away from the Marseille International Airport. This made it very easy and convenient to travel around France and other countries.
I studied abroad with a program called CEA CAPA, which was very helpful. The people who were stationed in Aix with us were very accessible and helpful at all times. One of them, Aisling, was very easy to reach and even answered some questions I had after I had left France. The other, Isabel, showed me where there was an affordable grocery store near me. Both of them made my experience easier and more welcoming.
Something else that CEA provided for us students was excursions. These were very educational and fun. One thing we did that I liked was visiting a perfume factory in Grasse, France. We learned how to make perfume, and what it means to be a nose, and at the end, we even got to create our own scents. This was a very cool experience and not something I would have thought to do on my own.