Jamie Rose’s Story – IAU Aix-en-Provence
Global Studies and French (Peace Corps Prep minor) – Class of 2020

What she would like other students to know:
During my semester abroad, I practiced French every day with an amazing host family and took courses on the Muslim presence in France and refugee politics in Europe. It was an enriching cultural and academic experience.

A piece of advice to future study away students:
Don’t be afraid to speak a foreign language while abroad! It’s okay to make grammatical mistakes and locals will appreciate the multiple communication efforts in your non-native tongue. They will have all the more respect for you because of this!

What surprised her about studying away:
Prior to studying abroad, I’ll admit I had this image of Europe being more “perfect” and perhaps more politically together than the U.S., but while in France I found the country deals with just as many ingrained tensions and problems (particularly with respect to racism) as we do here.

Day trip to Moustiers Sainte-Marie, France - May, 2019