Bon voyage: Spend your summer living and learning across seas

One of the best ways to spend your summer is to take classes — seriously, I mean it.

Heck, go ahead and take two classes — an hour and a half each, Monday through Thursday. And while you’re at it, do it in another country. That’s right — study abroad.

I did it — for six weeks in Nantes, France, with the Pitt in Nantes program. I could not have chosen a better way to spend half of my summer.

The Pitt in Nantes program is an immersion program, meaning that studentslive with a host family. Not only do they feed you awesome, fresh food from the local market, but if you’re lucky like I was, they take you to one of their beach houses on the weekends.

While this program, and all study abroad programs, provide excellent course options, I found the excursions, trips and cultural immersion to be most interesting and educational — which no professor could replicate in a classroom.

We went on two weekend trips as a group. I spent one discovering the history of the chateaus in the Pays de Loire region. I passed the other hiking Mont St. Michel and laying on the beach at St. Malo.

The program allowed us to travel anywhere in France, so a smaller group of us took a couple trains to Normandy and visited Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery and the Memorial Museum of Omaha Beach.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and beaches. Traveling without a guide led to a late train, dealing with a mumbling train conductor who couldn’t give us directions and following around a random man who seemed to know where he was going, because that was our best option. Not to mention, I encountered flash flooding and my hotel was closed when I finally arrived. Cue five girls breaking down.

While the journey to our lodging was tumultuous, the positives of my trip made it worth the while.

It’s not just the weekend excursions to the beach or the historical spelunking you’ll do that makes summer study abroad the best option — the benefits of choosing to study abroad in the summer as opposed to a spring or fall semester are endless.

The weather: Unlike the torrential rains and heavy freeze of a Pittsburgh day, the weather in France in the summer is perfect. You can actually enjoy the beaches and tours because you aren’t bundled up or huddling under an umbrella. Nice weather also allowed me to take part in local festivities like the Rose Garden, the Bike Parade and picnicking next to the Erdre, a river that runs through Nantes and surrounding areas. These events are more than just relaxing — they show you a lot about the country and region’s culture and values.

The food: Because most study abroad programs take place in early summer, the fruit and vegetables are coming off the fields and straight onto your plate. At the markets, you also meet the farmers who grew the produce — a great opportunity to test out the verb tenses and vocabulary you just learned in class.

Meals in France are drastically different from those in the U.S. Dinners usually last about an hour and a half at home, and it makes sense. First is the appetizer, called an “entree” in France. I was very confused the first time I ate at a restaurant and ordered an entree only to receive a plate with three shrimp on it. When the servers clear the plates, the waiter pours new drinks and the main course comes out. New plates and more drinks, but this time it’s bread and cheese. With clean plates and an espresso, it is time for dessert. After that, tea and mints are served and the meal is finished. Totally worth it.

The shopping: It’s a shopaholic’s paradise. In France, sales are nationwide at two times throughout the year — once in January, after the fall semester students have already returned to the U.S., and again in June, the last week of the summer program. This may not seem like a huge deal, but when boutiques that usually charge 400€ for a dress suddenly charge 100€, it becomes a huge deal — literally. Luckily for me, and sadly for my parents, my walk home from classes took me through the Shadyside of Nantes, called the Passage Pommeraye. Those dresses taunted me in the windows every day. Sometimes they won, and sometimes I was rational and went to stores with clothing I could afford.

The finances: As compared to a fall or spring session, it’s affordable to study abroad in the summer because of the abundance of scholarships. These are much easier to obtain in the summer because the pool of students is much smaller. For example, the study abroad scholarships offered through the Cathedral of Learning’s nationality rooms are based on your personal nationality, such as Polish, Italian and so on. There are nationwide and university scholarships that are offered based on your school of education, gender, area of study and for research. I did not apply for, and therefore did not receive, any scholarships. Luckily, my mom works for the University, so I receive a free education, which covers study abroad tuition as well.

The program: Pitt in Nantesrequires you to take two classes, totaling six credits, over six weeks. Adjusting to classes only taught in a foreign language is more difficult than one would think. Because you’re not allowed to speak English, you often find yourself changing your emotions just to find a way to describe them. Telling your professor you don’t understand what they’re talking about is very difficult when you don’t know all of the vocabulary. Further, the computers and keyboards are in the language of the region, something I did not even think of before I embarked on the trip. It was a major struggle adapting to a French keyboard — now I am struggling to adapt back to an English keyboard. Many other students took advantage of the French library and read children’s books such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to improve their reading and vocabulary skills.

At the end of the six weeks, I had learned, experienced and accomplished a great deal, but I was ready to go home and celebrate the Fourth of July with my family and friends. And, since it was just a six-week program, I could do just that — no homesickness spread over a full four-month semester. Studying abroad during the summer is a strategic way to travel, get ahead — or catch up — in school and experience something you never have before.

Sometimes, classes can be fun.

Rebecca Peters writes satirical and political columns for The Pitt News.

Write to Rebecca at rcp30@pitt.edu.