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In so many ways, the program in Paris offers the perfect opportunity to get out of your comfort zone. Whether personally, intellectually, linguistically, or geographically, your year in Paris will offer you the opportunity to go places, do things, meet people, and find yourself in situations you never imagined before.
Students in previous years have used moving to Paris as the opportunity to join a local sports team (pictured, right), to try a new hobby through one of the workshops or fitness classes offered by the partner universities, and to make friends in a new city. These social settings push you to connect with people whose experiences and ways of interacting may differ largely from what you're used to. While this may seem daunting, these connections are for many students the most rewarding and valuable part of their experience abroad.Â
Coursework at the French Universities will also push you to learn in a style completely unlike anything you're used to. The learning style is much less structured, with many courses taking a lecture-exam format, and French students often push all of their work off until the end of the semester. Grading is often harsher, and many exams, essays and assignments follow a highly rigid structure that may feel completely unfamiliar for someone who grew up in the American education system. Incorporating personal experiences and creativity is often discouraged. Your critical thinking skills developed in courses at Smith may will set you apart and serve as an asset in the French classroom, but stay open-minded to their ideas, methods, and ways of thinking. Pushing yourself to be open to new perspectives on learning and thinking is an exercise in its own right and a capacity that will continue to serve you beyond your Smith career.
The Smith program in Paris seeks to offer students a true immersion experience through a language pledge. On the first day of orientation, students sign a pledge to only speak to one another and to their instructors at Reid Hall in French. The pledge, alongside casual conversation in host families, and coursework at the French University combine to push students to develop their language skills and "get by" in French, even when it's difficult or uncomfortable. Navigating challenging situations in French will push you to gain fluency in the language in a way that is completly unachievable within the confines of the classroom.
The year in Paris also offers students the opportunity to travel around France and Europe during their breaks from classes. France itself offers huge geographic diversity, and Paris is in many ways quite different from the rest of the country. Each region of France is worth exploring, and all offer unique and fascinating cultural and geographic landscapes. On a continent with 50 countries and 24 national languages, students can quickly find themselves in places and cultures completely unlike anything they knew at home, or have gotten to know in Paris. Through grants and fellowships from Smith, students have the opportunity to spend a month over J-Term or the summer immersing themselves in another European, North African, or Middle-Eastern culture.
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