API & UMass: Enrollment at Universite Paris Diderot

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!

My study abroad experience in Paris was wonderful. It allowed me to grow as an individual and to make decisions on my own. Direct enrollment is great because you are in classes with French students and you make a lot of progress learning the language in a short period of time. It also allows you to get a feel for the culture because you are able to make friends with French students and socialize with them outside of class. Joining the soccer team at my school was another great way I got involved. The API Paris staff was very friendly and approachable. I could come to them with any problem or simply for advice. Paris is a great city with lots to do and see. For people with a strong foundation in French, I definitely recommend the direct enrollment program!

I had a great experience with API. The API staff in Paris were extremely helpful in helping the students get used to the Parisian lifestyle. They helped us sign up for classes. This was a direct enrollment program, so we were assisted throughout most of the enrollment process.
The classes ranged from easy to challenging. It's good to take a couple easier classes along with a couple harder ones. The most difficult part, in my opinion, was learning how to write a French paper. The program RD helped us understand how to write one, but without her help I wouldn't have known how different it was from a paper I would have written in the States.
It's great to just be able to live in Paris and experience going to boulangeries and fromageries. The food is delicious and it's definitely worth spending a little more money and going to a nice restaurant for dinner once in a while.
There are also so many museums to visit, and most of them are free or have a discounted entrance price since we have our student IDs.
I definitely got a lot out of living in Paris for a couple months. I learned my way around a new city, made new friends and had experiences I wouldn't have been able to have back home.