IES FRENCH STUDIES - PARIS

The IES French Studies program provided me a Fall semester full of self-enhancing opportunity. In a smaller program size of 47, I was able to connect with most, if not all, of the other IES students. The program evaluated us well based on our knowledge and proficiency of the French language. They provided us with a great list of courses, from which I selected History of Photography, History of Architecture and Contemporary France. IES also works with universities throughout Paris, at which a student can branch out and take exterior courses. I had the pleasure of following both a sculpture and a design course at L'Académie de la Croix Nivert. Honestly, my course load was not as intensive as that of my home university, but I don't believe that being abroad is about having such a heavy academic workload.

The staff and professors were willing to help in whatever way they could, but they weren't the most organized nor were they there to baby you. Having them be a little disorganized, a student did have to sort some things out on their own, which permits the student to grow and learn in their own experience. I see IES French Studies - Paris as a program that gives a student just as much as the student gives it. It was a program that introduced us to many doors, but wasn't there to open all of them or push us through. I saw the IES Center as a home base, but not somewhere that I needed to spend all of my time, and it definitely wasn't where the most crucial parts of my education in France came from.

The IES French Studies Program of Paris is a great program for any type of student, but not every student will profit from it in the same ways. It is a program that can be amazing for a social aspect and an educational aspect, but I believe it to be a program that is a guide, and it is up to the students to really utilize the guide.