<p>What are the study abroad options for French students? I’m interested in going to Geneva, Switzerland.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr doesn’t offer a program in Switzerland, but it’s possible for you to petition an outside program. Smith runs one that you may be interested in.</p>
<p>[Smith</a> College: Study Abroad](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/studyabroad/geneva.php]Smith”>http://www.smith.edu/studyabroad/geneva.php)</p>
<p>I knew Smith offered a program there, which is how I became interested in going to Switzerland for study abroad. </p>
<p>Where does Bryn Mawr have programs for French students? Paris?</p>
<p>Unlike Smith, Bryn Mawr does not run its own study abroad programs. Instead our students enroll directly universities overseas or attend programs that are run by other colleges. For French, we have “approved” programs in Paris, Avignon, Toulouse and Strasbourg (France), and Dakar (Senegal). </p>
<p>There is nothing special about these programs that qualifies them to be on the approved list. They are approved because a Bryn Mawr student has petitioned to attend them in the past. If you want to go somewhere else (be it in Switzerland or Haiti or the Republic of Congo), petitioning to attend a program there is a very real option!</p>
<p>In my experience the real benefit of a study abroad program comes from full immersion into the culture and language there. You <em>have</em> to find a way to express yourself in the other language because there is just no other option. That is also the drawback of studying French in Switzerland: many people are fluent in English, and some even prefer English over one of the official languages of the country. That creates a temptation to switch back to English when you are having a hard time with French. Just something to think about.</p>
<p>Thanks barium! I didn’t know that English was so popular there. I was mainly interested in Switzerland because of it’s neutrality and because I’ve heard mixed reviews from Americans studying in France, but I suppose I have time to think about these things still.</p>
<p>My D is a student at Bryn Mawr (she’s currently studying abroad in Russia). Two friends of hers from Bryn Mawr (one is a French major; other is a French minor) have or are currently studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. I believe that is a one year commitment–at least both of her friends spent the year there. The program my D is attending is through Connecticut College and she is the first Bryn Mawr student to attend. She had to petition to have it approved–that required a bit of work, but wasn’t a problem for her.</p>