Planning for Uncertainty: Preparing to Study Abroad in France

When I received the email confirming that my passport with my new visa had been delivered, it felt like the first true sigh of relief in the long, stressful process of preparing to study abroad. At that point, there was nothing that could prevent me from my upcoming semester in Nantes, France. 

I knew I wanted to spend a semester abroad even before I enrolled in college, and I have been planning it into my academic schedule since my freshman year. With a double major and double minor, I planned to prioritize my requisite courses during my first two years, knowing that I wanted to spend my junior spring abroad. I sought resources at my home institution to learn about curriculum and major requirements, and began to research abroad programs that appeal to my interests and offer classes that have been approved for credit at my college. 

I was accepted into the IES Abroad French Language Immersion & Area Studies program in early August, and spent my final weeks of summer break preparing some of my documents (medical information, home institution consent, etc.) and applying for program scholarships. 

The program dashboard on the IES Abroad portal had many required forms to complete, which were due at different times before the abroad semester. Some of these, like the online language assessment, optional internship application, and housing form, were more time-consuming than others, and I found it helpful to review the descriptions of these items in advance to set aside some time to work on them before they were due. While working on these, I found it useful to consult my IES Abroad-issued pre-departure guide, which contained information relevant to different parts of my program.

The next step was course enrollment. The pre-registration form to select preferred classes to take through IES Abroad (including the coveted French gastronomy course) was released to all program participants in mid-November on a first-come, first-served basis. Not wanting to be shut out of the best classes, I took some time before the release date to research the course offerings of my program so I would know which order to list my preferences when the link went live.

I revisited the courses that my school had already approved for credit from the Nantes program and compared them with the provisional list of IES Abroad courses that may be offered in the spring. I noticed that many of them were different from my school’s pre-approved courses, and I made sure to request additional approval for them. I then personally ranked the courses based on my needs, and developed a few backup scenarios in case some of the classes on the provisional list were not offered.

When the pre-registration form was released, I was glad to have prepared ahead of time, as not all of my intended classes were offered for the upcoming spring semester, and I had to turn to a few of my backup selections when making my preferences. This allowed me to submit the form quickly, giving me a better chance of getting my intended courses.

The last major part of the process was my visa. I felt a bit intimidated by this step at first, as I had never applied for a visa before, and I was required to work through the French government online. The visa required a multi-step process that began with an application on the CampusFrance website, which, after approval, allowed me to complete a similar process on FranceVisas online. After about a month, I was able to make an appointment with the TLS service in Washington, D.C., to submit my final visa application. 

It was helpful to start this process as soon as I received my visa letters in early September from IES Abroad, as I was unable to schedule an appointment until the end of October after having received approval from the other sites. Starting early and reviewing the list of necessary documents in the pre-departure materials ahead of time was immensely helpful, as some of the requirements for my visa appointment, including my high school diploma and passport-sized photos, required some extra time to prepare.

The step-by-step guide on the IES Abroad website helped me navigate the visa process. I also consulted a friend at my school who had completed the IES Abroad Nantes program the previous year, and he was able to give me some tips for preparing my color copies and finding parking near the TLS center.

By late November, after having completed my program forms and having received my visa, I was supposedly ready for my semester abroad, yet there was a lot that remained uncertain. I did not know about my host family until later that December, I did not know the classes in which I was to be enrolled before my arrival on site in January, and I still did not fully comprehend how exactly I was going to live in a new city, immersed in a foreign language.

For people like me who like to plan ahead, this kind of uncertainty can be very frustrating. However, I have recently realized that uncertainty is exactly what studying abroad is about. The reason why I had initially wanted to spend a semester in Nantes is because it is somewhere new to explore, where I hoped to learn and be exposed to new things. Having planned for all that I could during the preparation process, I needed to embrace the uncertainty of my experience and change from a planner to an open-minded explorer.

In this new mindset, I needed to lose the need to control everything and have begun instead researching places in Nantes that I hope to explore while abroad. For example, I have discovered “Les Machines de l’Île,” a collection of giant mechanical animals built with sustainable materials, and “Puy du Fou,” a historical theme park outside the city. I have also started reading about Nantes’ fascinating role in the French Revolution, which I look forward to studying while there.

Ultimately, preparing for study abroad has helped me to understand that while it is good to plan ahead for the essentials, the value of the experience will lie in embracing uncertainty and discovery.