API And You

It is important to know the living arrangements that are best for you. If you need people around you, you don't want to live in an apartment alone. I was in an apartment and very lonely. I would have braved the public showers to live in the dorm if I had known how lonely it could be.

The only thing I didn't like in my program was that we were separated from the French students. API has different versions in Paris, so you want to verify ahead of time which program will be best for you. At my level, I wanted to be integrated in with other native french students, but it was mostly other foreigners who were advancing in their language skills. I also would have liked some conversation classes. I know that some programs did offer that, but I didn't find out until too late that mine did not.

The lectures were great and the grammar courses and phonetics were challenging and extremely useful. Overall, the program was amazing. The people who run the API office in Paris are fantastic and always their for you if you need them or just want to talk. The excursions were beyond words fantastic. I wish I could go back knowing now what I didn't know then.