Charming Little Town in France

I went to Pau, France for about 5 weeks during the summer of 2013 through USAC. I took many years of French in high school and wanted to be able to use some of what I learned in real world applications. I had also never been to Europe before and thought this would be a great place to visit for the first time.

Pau is a town of about 100,000 close to the Basque country in Southern France. It's quaint and quintessentially French--a lot of the customs are still observed in Pau, such as closing shops down on Sunday, that you probably won't find in a big city like Paris. Moreover, if you're looking to practice your French, Pau would be a great city since not a lot of people automatically speak English back to you. Even though it's a small town, there's still a downtown with bars, museums, restaurants and shops, so you won't get bored, especially if you're there for a short period of time.

The program directors were great--they addressed all of our concerns in a timely manner. The course instructors were very good as well--they were local French professors who taught foreign students. I definitely felt that my French improved greatly after my month abroad.

Pau is close to bigger cities such as Toulouse and Bordeaux--only about 2 hours away by train. The city is also close to beaches on the Atlantic ocean as well as the resort city of San Sebastian, Spain, and the program includes enough free time to visit all of these places. The optional Paris tour was great too--got to see all the major sites in just a few days.