Classes... aren't too bad!

My opinion on classes while studying abroad is likely in line with most of my peers here in Paris. Even though I’m actively participating in my classes and staying on top of my work (relatively speaking), I also am trying to minimize the amount of time I spend in the classroom and on my homework. In fact, add/drop week at IES Abroad was really important for me. I ended up switching three out of my five total classes so that I could have a schedule that was more fun, light, and convenient.

Because my commute to class is 45 minutes or more, I made sure to clump my classes together as well as I could to get them done and commute home in one round trip. Luckily, there are also courses that meet for three hours once a week instead of two 90-minute blocks, so I can save the effort of commuting for that. At the end of the add/drop period, I ended up with three three-hour classes, so even though it feels long in the moment, I have more time for myself to do whatever I want (which I’m still trying to figure out).

Regarding the actual content of my classes, I honestly find them a lot more interesting than my classes at Amherst College. I don’t want to bore you with the details, so I’ll only briefly talk about the material. Overall, I think I find classes here a lot more surface-level or high-level than any of my classes in the United States. To me, this is a good thing. For example, I would rather get a good overview of the history of France or the French political system than go super in-depth into one specific piece of literature as they do at my home college. I like that it doesn’t get so granular because I feel like I’m actually learning something useful rather than something completely esoteric that no one would care about if I explained it to them.

Overall, I’ve really liked my professors (partially due to my own choosing during add/drop), and I’m really excited to get through the semester with them. Since my professors work directly with IES Abroad for our classes, they understand that many students are studying abroad to have a good time, travel, and explore in general. As a result, I feel like they’ve made classes as comfortable as possible - we even had a cheese-tasting session in my French class! They haven’t piled on much work at all (knock on wood), and as I told my buddy the other day, I haven’t found myself worrying about classes or grades a single time since coming to Paris. Coming from someone who sometimes tweaks out over essays and works late into the night at Amherst College, I can confidently say that I’m getting a much-needed break.

Other than that, it’s also been awesome getting to meet everyone at my campus site, including students and staff. Obviously, the students have been cool and friendly, and the classes of 10-20 people are generally pretty tight-knit. I’m used to having small classes at Amherst College, but I’m assuming it might feel pretty different for some of the folks who attend much bigger schools. The IES Abroad staff/professors also deserve an honorable shoutout. A bunch of them are in their early- to mid-twenties, and there’s even one I’ve met that I’m older than (as a first-semester senior myself). They’re super friendly and helpful, and I find myself talking to them often, whether it’s because I’m hoping to hear some of their restaurant recommendations, practice my French, or simply learn about their lives as Americans (usually) living in Paris.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m excited every Monday morning to get up and get to class, but I will say that it’s about as painless of an academic experience as I’ve had in the past three years of college. At the end of the day, classes will still be this mandatory bump in the road for your semester abroad, but the transition to school with IES Abroad this semester has been as seamless as I could have hoped.