france – UCLA Bruin Blog

Back to L.A.

By the time that you read this, I will be back in Los Angeles. It is the night before I make a sort-of-a-surprise trip down to L.A. to see my friends and see my campus who I haven’t seen for a very long time. And it’s more or less overwhelming. I spent much of my…

Self-study Abroad

I am done with school. More or less. I am still working on a research project I’m doing through my program, but all the other classes are totally terminé. I have now spent eight months in France doing lots of eating, a solid bit of traveling, and next to no schoolwork. This is, of course,…

Potluck Culture

If this semester had a theme, it would most certainly be potluck. I’ve attended more potlucks in the last several weeks than in all college. I’ve toiled in the kitchen making dishes of massive proportions to feed my many different friends who for one reason or another decided independently that hosting a potluck would be…

Marionettes

This year abroad, I’m tackling a French minor. It’s relatively short, just five classes to do over the course of two semesters, which means that I have lots of free space in an already lightly-loaded schedule to take some courses just for fun. My fun for this semester (besides a class on the second wave…

Feeling Frenchie

Finally, after spending a semester in France, I’m starting to feel very very French, and I am very, very happy about it. When I first got here in September I tried all kinds of things to make myself feel more French. I ate lots of pastries, I didn’t cringe when I inhaled second-hand smoke, I…

French Classes vs UCLA Classes

I’ve already talked about the class-choosing process as a study abroad student in France and how it is different from UCLA, but I haven’t yet discussed the differences between the actual classes at a French university and back home. The largest difference is definitely the amount of time spent in class. At UCLA, most classes have…

International (and extremely long) winter break

Normally, winter break at UCLA is a very comfortable three weeks long. Last year, we got a fourth week on account of the new year falling on a Sunday, and the extra time nearly killed me because of the additional gluttony and TV watching. The French school system is set up to give you just…

Fête des Lumières

It’s wintertime here in Lyon! That means snow, lots of soup in my homestay, and the Fête des Lumières. The Fête des Lumières is a giant festival that happens in the beginning of December every year in Lyon. It draws millions of people from around France and around the world. It last for four days and features ~dazzling~…

Parents’ Weekend – French edition

I mentioned in my last post that I spent my Thanksgiving with my parents and that I had a super time, but the fun with mom and dad didn’t stop at Thanksgiving! My mom and her friend came to Lyon in the middle of November and stayed right up to the end of the month….

A potluck with the host families

This week there was a potluck get-together with all of the host families from my program. Studying in France with EAP, you have the option to live in a homestay with a “famille d’accueil” (or in English, a host family). A host family is there to help you practice your French and to acclimate you…