by London Hoxworth
It has been such a fun and exciting time in France so far, packed with such good food and getting to know my peers! I have especially loved working on my French and trying to speak to the locals.
We started classes yesterday and had our first orientation at the Institute for American Universities (IAU) where the Dean of Students shared university policies and current students shared bits of advice and recommendations on places to visit while in Aix. We then went for a tour of the campus and got to see all the buildings. One of my favorite spots was the garden behind the Villa Celony building! It was very calm and peaceful out there. For lunch, a group of us grabbed a croissant at La Maison de La Viennoiserie. I had a chicken sandwich on a croissant and it was amazing! Some of my friends got the raspberry (framboise) filled croissant, which looked incredible!
We ate lunch at the Med Cafe, the student-only cafe on campus, where we met some students from the University of Michigan that were also in Aix studying abroad. After lunch, we went back to the classroom and had a quick debrief of upcoming assignments and we were able to meet with our groups to talk about what we wanted to do for our group project. We had a city tour of Aix, where we learned about some of the history of the city! Then, some of my new friends and I went shopping and had dinner at a sushi restaurant! It was such a fun day but I was exhausted after it all.
Today was a lecture-heavy day. We started out the morning with learning about the U.S. healthcare system, going over its complexity and uniqueness. Afterwards, we had a long lunch break, where a group of us spent exploring the market, but we needed to stop at our favorite coffee shop first!
For lunch, we had bagels from a place called Bagelstein, which I would highly recommend. It’s a great spot for a grab-and-go lunch and you could also eat in if you want. After that, we went back to campus, where we had two lectures about the French healthcare system. The first lecture was focused on women’s health and was given by a former leader of the Saint Marc Jaumegaude village.
This lecture was amazing and taught me much about French policy as it relates to women’s health. For example, French women have a federally mandated maternity leave of 16 weeks, while in the U.S., that gets decided on by employers. The second lecture provided an overview of the French healthcare system. I was fascinated by how different and more straightforward many of its policies seemed compared to the U.S. healthcare system. I also really appreciated the opportunity to hear firsthand about the experiences of a French healthcare worker. I know that these lectures are helping me to expand my cultural knowledge which will help me in the future in my role as a healthcare administrator!
All in all, France so far has been such a fun experience! I am looking forward to learning more about the international health perspectives that are to come! Au revoir!
