Starting Coursework in France

With the end of the third week of classes in Nantes, the orientation phase of my program has finished, and I feel that the abroad semester is truly underway.

Course enrollment for IES Abroad Nantes was an involved process that began with the selection of course preferences a few months before the start of the program.

At the end of our two-and-a-half-week orientation, we were given the schedule for the courses taught at IES and completed the preliminary registration form. Each student is required to take a minimum number of credits, which typically translates to five courses in total. At this time, I had a meeting with my IES Abroad Nantes advisor to discuss my academic goals for the semester and determine which of my requested courses were available to me based on the fall online selection. Before the meeting, I had made a list of the courses I most wanted to take with some backup scenarios in case certain of them were unavailable. There was then a two-week “shopping period” at the start of classes during which I had the option to select different courses to try while finalizing my selections. 

I had done some prior research into past classes that students from my college have taken at IES Abroad Nantes, as my school’s abroad center has a digital registry of past courses from the program that have been approved for credits towards different major, minor and general curriculum requirements. The IES pre-registration portal had been sent in the fall before my program included a preliminary list of classes that could have been available, though I did not know the final course offerings until I arrived in Nantes. I could also submit courses from the IES list to my college registrar to request credit approval for certain classes that had not been pre-approved. 

It helped to create a plan of different courses that fulfilled my remaining requirements before I arrived in Nantes. I had been interested in taking the French gastronomy course and petitioned to have it count towards my general curriculum arts requirement, though the registrar did not approve it. I was fortunate to have learned this ahead of time, as other students in my IES cohort had the same idea to use gastronomy for their schools’ art credits but did not petition their schools’ registrars until they had arrived in Nantes, which made it more difficult to find a new art course when their requests were declined. 

It is required that every student take a French course at the IES center. There are four different placements, which are made based on short assessments and an interview during the orientation weeks. I was placed in FR 451 Competent Abroad, which is the only French course that is optional if selected for it.

All IES courses are taught entirely in French and are offered in a variety of mostly humanities-based subjects. We were also encouraged to enroll in courses at Nantes Université and the École des Beaux Arts, which also counted toward our total credit requirements for the semester.

I had initially been hesitant to take a class at the university out of concern over uncertainty in terms of expectations and grading. However, during the orientation, we were reassured that IES students are fully capable of succeeding in university classes and have consistently had higher grade averages for courses at the university than for those taken at IES.

I decided to enroll in a history course at the university because I wanted to experience a French classroom and earn credit toward my major. At the university level, there are two types of courses: the Cours Magistral (CM), which is a large amphitheater-style lecture class, and the Travaux Dirigés (TD), which is smaller and more participatory, like a course at an American liberal arts college. My course is a TD with about 30 students, all of whom are French.

For starting classes at the university, we were instructed by IES to observe the first few class meetings to decide if we wanted to continue with the course or not. If so, the IES liaison with the university would write a letter to the professor requesting our enrollment in the course. 

The university is divided into multiple campuses, each of which contains numerous halls and amphitheaters, so it helped on the first day to arrive in advance to make sure I was in the right place. There had been a tour of the campus the week before with the IES tutors which helped me to find my way.

When I arrived at the Tertre campus (for the humanities subjects), I entered the classroom and took a seat at the front. When the professor entered, she began the course by reading an attendance list, which I was not on, so I tried to keep a low profile as I was there just to observe. During the class, she invited us to read and analyze a primary source document that was on the class MADOC page (the French version of the Moodle platform), in which I was also not enrolled. As this was happening, I took out my laptop and acted like I was reading the document, despite the fact that I did not even have access to the school’s internet. I later learned that Nantes Université uses Eurodam, a cross-campus internet service, and was eventually able to sign up using my university email. Fortunately, I was never discovered and was able to introduce myself to the professor the next week and present her with my letter from IES. 

I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that the university course has not been too difficult to follow despite the language barrier. It is also typical of French classes at this level to have one or two principal assignments, like a midterm or paper that make up the entire grade for the semester. IES courses are taught more like American classes and typically involve more grading opportunities and direct communication with the instructor. 

IES students have full access to Nantes Université services regardless of if they take classes there or not, including the Crous dinner hall system. There are several dining halls across the campus, where students can use their university cards to get a tray of hot food for €3.30 or smaller items to go. Many of us had issues using our American cards to add funds to our account online, though were able to do so in person at one of the “borne” machines in the dining halls or at a service desk. 

My coursework so far has greatly enriched my immersion experience, as I am constantly exposed to new vocabulary and am encouraged to use the language in new contexts to convey different ideas. Despite my five-course load, I do not feel overburdened and seem to have more free time than I typically do at my home college. Academics are a core component of any study abroad experience, and I have found that coordinating with my university and creating an academic plan ahead of time have greatly simplified the process.