Pau, France

Pau is a wonderful little city—it’s not a rural village or a big city, but a great middle ground of the two. It’s a great place to study as the academics are intense but fun, and it’s also a central area from which you can travel to multiple areas: for example, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Biarritz, St Jean de Luz, Lourdes, the Pyrenees and multiple cities in Spain are all within three hours of Pau. The Pyrenees offer incredible views and beautiful areas which are all accessible in Pau. For travel, however, you have to really figure out the public transportation system. It is fairly cheap, but because it is run by the government, it can be subject to strikes or delays with no notice; however, overall it was still an effective way to get around. Pau itself is a quiet city, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you want to go clubbing every night. But if you want to learn the French language, make great friends, explore the world or just live abroad for a semester, I would definitely recommend Pau.