Interexchange- Teaching Assistant France

My experience with the Interexchange teaching assistant program was a overall positive. I was placed at a boarding school in Northern France, and lived in an apartment with a german teaching assistant, another english teaching assistant, and two spanish teaching assistants. Living in the apartment with people around my age with such diverse backgrounds was one of the coolest parts of my experience. I also felt like I had a lot of freedom to travel around on my time off, something I valued.

PROS: I was in constant contact with my InterExchange representative, Sophie, and she was extremely welcoming and helpful. I felt comfortable reaching out to her with any concerns- about the program, the town I was in, or just questions about things to do in France in general. She looked after me very well and always made sure I was enjoying my experience. Also, the workload was not overwhelming in anyway.

CONS: I was in a very small town, and traveling around on the weekends was a little more difficult that I originally planned. I wished that I had voiced before I was placed that I would have preferred a larger city. I also had a goal of being very fluent and confident in my French, but spoke mostly English at the school and with my roomates. Even though my living situation was one of my favorite parts, doing a homestay might have helped with this.