Nice

I knew as soon as I made the decision that choosing to find work during my year abroad was going to make the whole experience rather more stressful than it necessarily needed to be. And to cut a long story short, I was pretty glad when I eventually sorted everything out! As a Joint- Honours French/German student with a keen interest in cycling as a sport I was lucky enough to find an internship with a French startup company in the bike industry in Nice who were looking for an English native speaker with knowledge of German to handle Customer Service/Shipping! The vast majority of our customers were (unfortunately!) English or English speaking, but I found in some ways that acting as the customer service manager/coordinator going between problems (in English) and solutions from my colleagues (in French) kept my brain on its toes!‌

Working in a start-up had its pluses and minuses. A simple fact of being part of such a small team is that when work has to be done it has to be done no matter what! That was a little wearing at times, not leaving me with much free time-but at least I was able to spend my weekends doing what I love: riding my bike and exploring the absolutely stunning hinterland of Nice! The city of Nice itself is superb, a really good place to spend some time, but I did find the touristy orientation of everything a little wearing after a while; it’s one thing to spend two weeks there as a tourist as you tend to see everything with rose tinted glasses, but it’s another to live and work there for 4 months and pay through the nose for everything! The stunning ‘villages perchés’ in amongst the mountains that make up the foothills of the Alps are a real standout memory, exploring the area around a town/city is something I would suggest everybody takes the time to do!

Being part of a small team doing a real 9am-6pm job for 4 months was an amazing experience, not only in terms of improvement of my language skills (which in all fairness did have to take second priority to getting the job done on occasion) but perhaps more importantly my overall life skills. I would highly recommend taking the time to consider finding your own work abroad and doing the whole thing ‘DIY’, as you only get one chance at this and anything which improves post-graduation employability at the same time as language skills cannot be a bad thing!

John Findley: My Year Abroad in Nice (2014)

 

 

 

I decided to spend the French part of the Year Abroad in Nice, France and soon found that spending 3 months in the south of France over summer was fantastic. I had already spent 8 months working as a language assistant in the Canary Islands so I was a bit worried about being away for another long period of time, but I really had nothing to worry about because the time flew by. I did an internship in a diving centre, which allowed me to combine my two major interests – languages and diving. This was quite different from what some of my course mates were doing, most of whom decided to go to a language course over summer. But to me this felt like the easy option and I didn’t believe that it would give me a real insight into what it was like to work and live in France.
Now, I am so glad I did choose to work. It was difficult to find a job at first, and obviously all the applications had to be in French, but with the guidance of the Languages Department I was able to choose a dive centre that suited my needs perfectly. The main drawback about staying in Nice was that it is quite expensive. However, if you do your research you can find relatively cheap rooms to rent or, if you are lucky like I was, there may be some that are free!

Overall, I am extremely pleased with my Year Abroad. I feel my French conversation skills have improved greatly as I was living with French people, working with them and dealing with French customers on a daily basis – both on the phone and in person.
I certainly would recommend working as part of a Year Abroad to anyone as it gives you valuable experience of that country and it looks great on your CV!

Katrina King

If I were to describe the whole of my year abroad experience with just one word, it would be « Super ! » French for « Awesome ! ». My year abroad was certainly an incredible experience. Studying at the University of Nice and interacting with other French students, the local people, making friends, was such a great advantage as I was always in an environment where the French language is spoken all the time, and where you can improve enormously in terms of your vocabulary, and your level in speaking. The teachers were insightful, dedicated and made sure I clearly understood all topics.
Reading magazines, newspapers, listening to the radio every morning, to music, going to the cinema and watching the news, movies in French helped me a lot with my speaking and writing of the French language. I can also say my knowledge of the French culture, the lifestyle, civilisation, the political system is much clearer, as well as my understanding of France and its historical background.
One of the things I also enjoyed learning was  the accents as all of my friends came from other parts of France such as Marseille, Toulouse, Montpellier, the French overseas departments like La Guadeloupe, La Martinique, La Réunion and not forgetting other French-speaking countries like Switzerland, Canada, Congo, Gabon. 
Visiting other places such as Cannes, Monaco, Grasse and, of course, the capital of the Hexagon, Paris allowed me to gain more knowledge about the French economy. I also did a summer intensive course at La Sorbonne which was great. Accommodation in Paris can be exceptionally difficult, so students need to take care of this way in advance.  Going on the year abroad programme is one of the best decisions any student wanting to improve their level of French can make, in terms of the numerous advantages, the knowledge you can gain and the opportunities it provides. Nice and Paris are both beautiful cities! And I am definitely going to miss the beach, les Champs Élysées, the Promenade des Anglais, and Le Vieux Nice!

Maame Oteng