Just Enough Guidance

Nantes was the perfect place for my study abroad experience. Going into studying abroad, I was looking to be fully immersed in French Language & Culture, and that is exactly what this program did for me.

When I was trying to choose a program, what stood out to me about IES is how they genuinely wanted to ensure that you had a good experience. They didn't just want you to sign up for their program and then completely disregard you once you got there. Their staff was involved from beginning to end making sure that every student had a good experience.

Another one of my favorite parts of the program was the home-stay experience. Everyone is required to live with a host family, which really helped everyone's french improved and allowed us to really get to know french culture. Almost all of my friends loved their host families, which is not something I have necessarily heard voiced from other people who have studied abroad. The host families in Nantes have been doing the program for years, so they are familiar with the student's experience. For me, having a host family was a great thing because it meant not being alone. I still had that home base to go back to every night where I was able to continue to learn about french culture and also build connections with a "second" family.

Academically, the program was great. Taking all of my classes in French definitely helped improve my french. The work load was a good amount. It wasn't so much that you had no time for anything else, but it wasn't too little to the point where it felt like you weren't even in school.

The IES staff and local french university teaching students also made this program stick out. The staff were always readily available to help you with any problem you had. There were also local french university teaching students who were there to help you with anything from academic problems to how to use the public transportation. Having other french students in the center were great because they helped hold us accountable to speak in french and they gave us an insight into the life of a french student. Not to mention by the end of the program we were all close friends!

The Nantes program was exactly what I was looking for in study abroad! They gave us enough guidance to feel comfortable living in a new country and city, but enough freedom to grow and explore on our own.