Time flies! My short semester in Sciences Po Lille is going to be over. Undoubtedly, Sciences Po Lille will be the best choice for those who speak French. But I also want to recommend it for those who don’t speak French. As the one, who doesn’t speak French fluently, 6 months in France was a series of challenges. But Lille and Sciences Po actually saved my semester. Lille is quite young city with many universities and students. And students of Sciences Po Lille, especially, are really nice. Whenever I was in need of help, everyone gladly helped me. Almost all of them speak English better than the French average, and ridiculously, this was the most important thing for me. I didn’t go through a kind of serious hardships thanks to their helps. 

Sciences Po Lille also has many English courses as well as French ones. I could easily choose the courses among many options. As an Asian, some courses were very strange with unfamiliar topics and European way of thinking. But at the end of semester, I might broaden my perspective and get the chances to see the new things. The most enjoyable fact was that I had many free times even though I took many classes during the semester because of the course system of SC Po Lille. So I travelled many other cities and countries when I didn’t have a class. It made my semester much more valuable. Also, there were many international students in SC Po Lille so that I could meet many new friends from various backgrounds and spend time with them. 

Of course, there are some things to be desired. First of all, the school doesn’t have a dormitory, so that the students had to look for the places to live by themselves. It was really hard to find a flat, since I would spend only a semester in Lille, quite short period for the house owners, and I don’t have French guarantor. Actually, it is so weird to ask me a French guarantor because I even didn’t have anyone to help me at that time. Anyway, I could find one with very high agency fee instead of French guarantor. The other thing is about BDI. Unlike other schools, the international students in SC Po Lille didn’t have many events. At the beginning of the semester, BDI held many events like parties and picnics. But after that first month, they didn’t hold any event even though the international students had many free times. But I still appreciate and understand them because I know they are very busy French students. And whatever, we, the international students, enjoyed the semester by our own ways. 

Lastly, I really want to thank Mr. Emmanuel Buteau. As an incoming international students’ coordinator, he did everything he could do for us sincerely and kindly.