If you were to spend a Fall or Winter term (or both) in France, what would you do? You could explore the museums and galleries in Paris; you could take in the show at the Moulin Rouge, or join the night club throngs in Montmartre. You could go to the races at Chantilly, just north of Paris; you could take a cycle trip down the Loire valley and see the famous chateaux. You could visit the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy; you could see the D-Day landings at Arromanches in Normandy, and on the same day view the Bayeux tapestry (an 11th century comic strip depicting the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy in 1066). And when you’d done these things, you could visit Marseille for a taste of the true bouillabaisse.
In Normandy at Mont St. Michel the tides rival those of the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick; they can outstrip a galloping horse. The Côte d’Azur (French Riviera) is as well known for its sunbathers as it is for the sheer beauty of the Corniche, or coastal road. There’s something magnificent about the French Alps; Mont Blanc is the tallest mountain in Europe; there you can ski from France into Switzerland, and you don’t even have to show your passport at the border crossing on the mountain. If you don’t ski, Chamonix is still worth a visit – and there’s a lot of good rock climbing there.
You can’t think of France without thinking about wine. From the sweet dessert wines of Alsace, through the Champagne districts, centred on Reims, to the full-bodied Burgundies and the varieties of Bordeaux, down to the Côtes du Rhône and the wines of Provence, there’s almost an infinite number of choices, and each region matches its wine with its cheese. If you have time, you can return to Waterloo as an expert in each, and as a person who can speak volubly about them in both French and English.
As a vacation destination, France has something for everyone, from prehistoric caves to Euro Disney, and from the famous Cannes film festival to the centres of haute couture in Paris. But you wouldn’t be on vacation; you’d be on exchange in one of France’s world-renowned Grandes Ecoles, which have been home to the cream of French technical and engineering education since the early nineteenth century. With one exception, these institutions don’t feature highly in world university rankings, but make no mistake, they are well-recognized institutions where teaching and research are of high quality; they are just too small and, in some cases, too specialised for the ranking criteria to apply. We have bilateral exchange agreements with eight of the Grandes Ecoles and technical universities, as well as inter-governmental agreements that open the scope for exchange in France even more widely.
Studying for a term or two at a French institution can be very worthwhile. Academically, France has a great deal to offer and I’ve already referred to some of the touristic and cultural possibilities. Linguistically, there’s little to deter you. Almost everyone in Canada has at least a rudimentary knowledge of French from school (or at least from reading cereal boxes); our partners offer intensive immersion courses in advance and during their semesters; more and more of their advanced courses are being taught in English.
When you return you’ll be equipped to converse easily with the millions of Canadians whose first language is French; equally and just as importantly, you’ll be equipped with the skills necessary for employment in those parts of our country where French is the language of the workplace.
To learn more about exchange possibilities in France, contact Cindy Howe (cindy@uwaterloo.ca or extension 33084) or me, Peter Roe (phoroe@uwaterloo.ca or extension 35175). We have lots of available openings.
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