Fall 2013 Semester
The Program in French and European Studies is the creation of faculty and administrators at the University of California. It is designed to immerse students in several dimensions of French culture and life.
The program begins with a 11-day practicum focusing on language learning, with special attention paid to the acquisition of practical skills for living in Paris. French language courses meet every day for three hours in the morning. The practicum also includes a series of six afternoon excursions that allow students to discover the city. The excursions, which generally last around three hours, are an integral part of the practicum and are mandatory course meetings. The practicum is fun but demanding. Students should expect to be in the classroom or on a required excursion Monday through Friday, from three to six hours per day.
After the practicum students take one lower-division French language and two upper-division courses in the Social Sciences and the Humanities intended to provide windows into French history, identity, visual culture, literature, politics and economics in relation to a broader European civilization, and to the United States.
The program is intended as a rewarding experience abroad, and it is also a gateway for qualifying students who may choose to extend their stay in France for a second semester in Paris with the Sciences Po program or at the University of Bordeaux.
"When the last of the documents were in, and meetings were over, it was as if EAP opened a secret compartment to ourselves and the world...Who would have thought that so much could come from filling out a few forms?"