Best Semester of College

The town of Pau is a quaint yet modern. The French streets and centre-ville are quintessentially French and this town turned out to be the perfect place to study abroad. It is easy to travel in the surrounding area to make for a weekend adventure but having Pau as a home base facilitates being in school throughout the week and being successful in class, including consistent attendance. My program through USAC as well as a course I was taking, accommodated dates and times as well as activities and guides for weekend visits to other towns and regions. Personally, my whole undergraduate career was leading up to my study abroad experience, and I was thinking ahead of time what it would be like once I returned home and how I could use the experience abroad to affect my life after I returned home, in work and school and my general outlook on life. Study abroad affected all of these aspects in a positive way.
Something important that I didn't anticipate was that my immune system would be affected and I would get sick while I was abroad. This happened twice where I had to go to a physician but I was able to use the University medical services and the people there were very helpful and understanding and the services as well as medicine were not nearly as expensive as they would have been back home. That was a pleasant surprise, but these services were also covered through the study abroad insurance. I also found that I needed to commute to school, while it is not easy to choose where a future host family lives, it might be useful to mention that proximity to campus is a key factor in your housing preferences. Getting lost is just something that happens and will happen often, if you are someone who has a great sense of direction I would offer your services or assert yourself amongst friends and classmates! International phone plan is also absolutely necessary, especially being able to use internet without wifi (which will happen often because there is not nearly as much free wifi in France as there is in the U.S.). If you have arranged for a host family, make this a priority, this is THE best way to improve your french outside of class, and only a couple hundred dollars more than the dorms (but includes more meals in a family setting, laundry and in most cases wifi at home, a kitchen, etc.). Also know that arrangements for housing aren't all clearly laid out ahead of time, each family is particular and will generally offer more than they are expected because I found that most French families are generous. The program will make every effort to match your specific and ideal requests with the right family and do not hesitate to ask for exactly what you would like in a home stay experience.