Overlooking the Chartreuse Monastery and mountains near Grenoble.

Author: Cole McCallum | Majors: Mechanical Engineering, Physics | Semester: Summer 2023

During the summer of 2023 I chose to participate in a language immersion program in the French city of Grenoble. This study abroad offered me the opportunity to change the way I live in a way unprecedented up to this point. I stayed for a month in Grenoble with a host family, allowing me to embrace French language and culture both at home and during my courses. The following represents what all I’ve learned, embraced, and appreciated from my time in Grenoble.

Learning in Grenoble

In choosing this program, my primary aim was to find a way to improve my oral proficiency in French. I found that by coming to Grenoble, both my comprehension and speaking improved drastically due to the fact that I was constantly reinforcing what I learned with my host family. Every day I could finish my courses in the morning before immediately applying everything while out in Grenoble or at home with others. This highlights why learning a language as a foreigner is so effective. Instead of seeing my studies as a chore, I found them to be an essential element of living my day-to-day life. As a result, I would quickly start applying content from my classes to my speech and writing without even thinking about it. This organic way of learning also has the added benefit of not feeling nearly as difficult as the heavy memorization that inevitably comes from learning in a normal university setting.

This program was an especially good match for me since the program leaders emphasized living with a host family. For me this was especially important because it allowed me to fully understand the experience of being in this country, even for just a short while. I found that this helped me achieve more than just my academic goals. My host family took a strong interest in me and offered me advice for working or studying further in France. One of my professional goals over the coming years is to apply my knowledge of French towards finding internships in the French aerospace industry, so this was much appreciated during my time in Grenoble.

Studying at the CUEF in Grenoble offered me the chance to learn from instructors that specialized in not only French language, but another discipline as well. This meant that for half of my courses, I was using French as a medium to discuss art or film with students from around the world. During my time at the CUEF, I learned from three different professors. Professor Romain Berne was especially incredible in how he could explain advanced topics in a way that everyone could understand. He in particular also pushed me to challenge myself and correct my speaking or writing whenever possible.

Living in Grenoble

The culture of the region surrounding Grenoble is interesting in that it shows influences of Alpine and Italian cultures while still holding onto elements of the country it’s situated in. For example, the staple foods of the region, ravioles or gratin, show influences of Italian and Swiss culture, yet the ingredients and culture of buying and eating food remains markedly French. With my host family for example, we would always eat homemade dinners over the course of at least an hour together. I would become a part of this culture from helping my host family do grocery shopping, which almost always occurred at open air or covered markets selling seasonal products. The architecture of the region also reflects the cultural differences between my home and France. Most families in Grenoble and France in general live in small houses or apartments in close proximity to each other and to small businesses. According to my host family, most people in “l’Hexagone” prefer being able to walk or bike to anywhere they need to go over having a large private space. In fact, this was one of the reasons I would bike to my university courses even though we lived on a completely different side of Grenoble from the CUEF. While these and other cultural differences cause Grenoblois and French people to lead very different lives from Americans, the most striking thing to me were the commonalities between French people and those from the US. This was most clear when I celebrated Bastille Day with my host family. For this I went to a dinner party with friends of my host parents and biked to a city park to watch the largest fireworks show I’d seen this year. In all of this, I had the strangest feeling that I was celebrating Independence Day with my parents back home, a real testament to the cultural links between my new neighbors and those back home.

Advice for Others

I cannot recommend enough taking the chance to study in another country for those that are seriously interested in improving their skills in a language such as French. Immersion programs with homestays in particular can truly bridge the gap between someone who does well in the classroom and someone that native speakers consider good at their language. My advice for students looking to participate in a program such as mine is to make sure you are absolutely motivated to learn the language before you apply. This is highly important to consider before coming abroad because you will be applying yourself for hours each day even outside of your courses. Secondly, I would say it’s essential that you take time to enjoy your experience once you’ve already arrived in a new country. For me at least, French became secondary to just getting to know people in Grenoble and experiencing the joys of being there. Finally, make sure to explore the region you live in or even consider taking some trips to other places during your studies. Taking this advice will help you to not just visit a country, but to embrace it. As for me, I’m on my way back to the US as I write this. I can confidently say that the first thing I’ll be looking forward to is getting a good cell connection back home!