What it is REALLY Like to go to University in FRANCE

This blog post has been a long time in the making.

I have been wanting to post this for about a month now, but have been waiting for a sunny day to take pictures, and this was the best I could do for you.

I am going to be really frank here and tell you that I am not the biggest fan of the University of Burgundy.

I am studying at the language institute at the University of Burgundy for the semester as part of a Wake Forest University study abroad program.

It is very different from Wake Forest, and not a good type of different.

For starters, we go to class in trailers, you can see them in the 1^stand 3^rdphoto on the right.

I am always cold, and I am really not a fan of wearing my jacket inside, but I have to do what I have to do.

My university is also pretty far from my host family’s house (click HERE to read about my amazing host parents). It takes me an hour to get to class every morning.

I am actually in class here in France way more than I am in the states. 

I am in 15 hours of class every week just at the University of Burgundy and then four hours after those classes every week for an Art History class and a French Contemporary class just for our Wake Forest group.

I am in class a lot, but I have a quarter of the amount of homework and studying I normally have at Wake.

There is also another positive, because I don’t have class on Friday’s and get to travel all around Europe every weekend!

However, I do have to sit for at least two hours straight per class, and I am really am not enjoying my classes.

It is a language institute, so all of my classes are in French, and we are really focusing on perfecting our pronunciation, listening, writing and reading skills.

We were placed in our classes by a writing test.

So, although I may be a strong writer in English, my French grammar skills are not where they should be considering I have been studying French for nine years.

I was placed into a middle level French class which is fine for the reinforcement of the grammar, but everything else is really too easy for me. 

The listening and reading activities are so easy they bore me. 

I go to Wake Forest University. I am a self-proclaimed nerd. I love school, and I love to learn.

But these classes besides the grammar class feel like a waste of my time.

I love to be intellectually stimulated but I am just not feeling that way in my classes at the language institute.

I did discuss with my professors about switching into a higher level, and they advised it would be best if I stay in this level to reinforce my grammar. 

So that is the story.

I am perfecting my grammar and reinforcing my ear and trying to look at the bright side: that I am abroad in France!!