Université de Picardie Jules Verne

It's hard to compare this system with the one back home because I was given a stipend at my host institution whereas in the States food and lodging was already paid for. If you go through ISEP to come to Université de Picardie Jules Verne, you'll be in for a rude awakening on how much you receive in stipend money. It was barely enough to cover food and lodging at first with scrimping. Then, me and the other ISEP exchange students had to rally together to get an additional 40 Euros, putting the stipend up to 385 Euros per month. Out of that I had to pay 182.84 Euros per month in rent. And, the rest went to food. So, word of caution: make sure you understand your monetary responsibilities before diving into a study abroad program! Also, I spent less on a telephone because I didn't have one. Everyone...I mean EVERYONE...has a cell phone in France. We didn't even have a permanent phone in our apartment. I couldn't afford a cell phone on my stipend or my personal savings. Save a lot of money for travel because the school only takes you on one to two trips per semester (and usually they're only one-day deals). There is an international club called Philéas Fogg. They do trips. But, you have to pay to go on them. Keep that in mind. I had to pay 35 Euros for a weekend trip to the Loire Valley. It was well worth it, though.

In my experience, it's best to steer clear of T.D.'s, which stands for Travaux Dirigés. They are the hands-on portion of some courses. They're killer if you haven't been there for the first part of the academic year and have no clue what's going on. I reccommend taking the European Integration course with Mr. Schackenbourg. He's great with international students! Same with Mr. Traverso in Political Theories. If you can though, try to take all your courses in one fac (i.e. Languages, Law, Economics, etc.) instead of diversifying across different facs (like I did) because YOU are the one that has to run around all over eternity to find out when your final exams are for each different fac. They're not all the same time and day. And, usually the professors don't know themselves when they are! So, you usually have to look at the posters in each different fac (department) building.

See number 2 above. And, the French education system is what it is. I don't like that I don't get graded until I take one test at the very end of a semester. But, that's the whole French system not just this particular university. Also, the administration is not really effective when it comes to organization or communication (see number 2 above again).

I wish I had known how poor I really was going to be. Even though I had saved some money before going, it still wasn't enough.

The location is great for travelling. You can get to Paris within an hour and a half. It's also close to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and (fairly close to) England. The administration is lacking, though. I felt like the international students were not treated fairly by the International Office when we asked for an increase in our stipend money. They specifically seemed to give the attitude of "well, you're from the States, you're rich!". I was actually told one time when I said I didn't have enough money that maybe I should borrow some off of one of my American friends (one of the other American exchange students). Also, I don't think the professors know how to deal with specifically ISEP-International Student Exchange Program-students (it's a fairly new program at this university). They can deal with ERASMUS students effectively because the program has been around long enough. Overall, I would still reccommend this university to students. No place is going to be perfect and it just is a different culture and mentality. So, the problems I've ran into aren't necessarily reserved to the university itself, but culture shock.

It gives you more independance to come and go as you please as opposed to living with a family or in a dorm that has a lock down time.