France

My incredible 6 months in Paris

Caitlin – University Paris Dauphine, France

Semester 1, 2019
Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Laws (Honours)

I just finished my semester abroad where I studied at Université Paris-Dauphine in Paris! It was an incredible experience to be able to spend 6 months immersing myself in the French culture and I would highly recommend Paris as an exchange destination.

The University

Paris-Dauphine is quite a big university in the 16th arrondissement in Paris. I found it very easy to navigate and the facilities were pretty good (especially the cafeteria). I used my electives while on exchange so I was able to choose a range of subjects which I found it very interesting and I particularly enjoyed Marketing in the Luxury Sector and French. I found that the university was much more dis-organised than QUT, which was frustrating at times and the classes were very different. For each subject, there was a 3 hour workshop which is held once a week and most of my classes had final exams which was worth 80-100% which was a little bit stressful.

The City

Paris is a beautiful city, fill with good food and amazing architecture. It is possible to spend hours walking around the city and admiring all of the amazing buildings, parks and the river. There is always something to do in Paris, be it going to a museum, sunbaking in the park with the locals (as soon as the temperature goes below 20 degrees) or enjoying the amazing food and nightlife. A highlight of my commute to uni each day was seeing the beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower as my metro line crossed the river. This is definitely something I have missed since coming home.

If you don’t already know some basic French I would definitely recommend learning some before going to Paris, as often Parisian people are not very helpful or accommodating unless you at least try to speak French to them first! Paris is such a great exchange destination as it is amazing to explore but it is also very easy to travel to the rest of Europe and there are always cheap flights/trains from Paris.

Accommodation

I lived in a student residence in the 14th arrondisment while studying in Paris. The 14th is a very quiet arrondisement with a lot of residential buildings and I had a 45 minute commute to uni by 3 different metro lines which was a hassle, but there were other international students in the residence that I became very close with so overall I am very glad I stayed there. Paris is a very expensive city so the student accommodation is a very good option if you don’t want to spend all your money on rent!

Read more about University Paris Dauphine

2 Comments

  1. Hi Caitlin!

    Thank you for sharing your Parisian adventures with us .You painted such a vivid pictureI almost felt as if I was there with you.

    Sorry to hear about the disorganised University and the 80% exams, I bet you were glad to return to QUT. Did you find learning french challenging?

    Seeing your photos has inspired to visit myself!

  2. Hi Caitlin

    Thanks for sharing your experience!

    You mention in your post that the university with a but less organised than QUT, did you find that this was reflective in the attitude of students as well? How would you compare the work ethic of students and the teaching quality at this university to that of QUT?

    The trip looked incredible!

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