Studying in France as Americans: Academic Triumphs and a New Summer’s Start
For Jalen and I, June has been a month fraught with anxiety, but also teeming with joy! As American students nearing the end of our graduate studies at the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, we have so much to share about the last few weeks. My studies in Public Law and Jalen’s in Logistics have been anything but a walk in the park, but months like this prove that all of our efforts have been worth it. Read on to learn of our exciting news as well as our day-to-day activities this month.
If you’ve been closely following our master’s degree journey, you know that I’ve been working on my mémoire de recherche, or master’s thesis, since the beginning of this academic year. French law school is arduous in and of itself, so completing an in-depth research project and preparing my defense on top of my coursework and exam studies felt impossible at times. However, in the first week of June, I managed to finalize and submit my master’s thesis of around 100 pages entitled Associer les inégalités sociales et le changement climatique : Une étude comparative des contextes et approches aux États-Unis et dans l’Union européenne. I am immensely proud to share that I successfully defended my master’s thesis mid-June and earned an 18/20 overall. Finishing such a significant project has been a weight off my shoulders, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the grade I was awarded – even if every once in a while I still wake up in a cold sweat from a thesis-themed stress dream!
Similarly, Jalen’s long-term assignment this year has been writing and preparing to defend his rapport d’alternance, or work-study report in the field of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. On June 24th, he finished and turned in his final report of around 50 pages, entitled Amélioration des flux d’informations. At the very beginning of July, he defended his report and received a 15/20 overall. After many long evenings of drafting his report and creating his presentation, he is relieved to finally have triumphantly finished it and even more thrilled that he obtained such an admirable grade. Though he will continue working his alternance until the end of August, the academic portion of his master’s degree is officially over!
I also began my law internship in the humanitarian sector this month, and I have really appreciated my experience so far. In just a few weeks time, I have accomplished many of my objectives and feel that my skills and expertise have been useful to the organization. I look forward to continuing my internship through July and writing my rapport de stage, or internship report, which is the final assignment I must complete to obtain my master’s degree in Public Law.
Now that all of our classes are well and truly finished, we’ve had a bit more time to relax! We’ve been using this new-found spare time in various ways, but one thing we’ve consistently incorporated into our evenings is watching the Netflix series that we’ve missed out on during our graduate studies. So far, we’ve enjoyed binging episodes of Bridgerton and Stranger Things. It’s been fun to catch up on pop culture and spend some down time together!
Since the summer season formally began in June, we’ve made it a point to get out of our apartment as much as possible! As you probably know, Jalen and I love going out for drinks and meals together to unwind from our stressful days. This month, we had the opportunity to get coffee at l’Occasion Café, dinner at Lamian, and drinks at la Guinguette Rémoise. Though it’s often underestimated, Reims is a vibrant city, and we never run out of new places to try!
In other news, I turned 25 at the end of the month, and since it was a busy weekday for us, we kept celebrations pretty low-key. We had a beer on our favorite terrasse at Ernest Hemingway Café, ate delicious French tacos from l’Istanbul, and even got some gelato courtesy of Amorino. The following day, we also found the time to have dinner at l’Édito with our close French friends. The older I get, the more I appreciate commemorating my birthday modestly by spending time with loved ones and indulging in simple pleasures, so I had a great day!
Unfortunately, COVID-19 cases are once again on the rise here in France. We’ve begun to wear our masks more regularly, especially on public transport, to do our part to keep ourselves and others healthy. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two years since the very first lockdown in France that we experienced as English-language assistants with the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF), and we can only hope that the end of the pandemic is in the near future.
How did you kick off the summer this month? Do you have any big news to share? If you have any questions or want more information about our life as Americans in France, let us know in a comment!
Check out this month’s update video!
Check out our other monthly updates!
- September 2020
- October 2020
- November 2020
- December 2020
- January 2021
- February 2021
- March 2021
- April 2021
- May 2021
- June 2021
- July 2021
- August 2021
- September 2021
- October 2021
- November 2021
- December 2021
- January 2022
- February 2022
- March 2022
- April 2022
- May 2022
- July 2022
- August 2022
- September & October 2022
4 Comments
Susan
Congrats on your accomplishments! Is your internship in French as well? It’s a great accomplishment to write your thesis in French! And score 18/20! I did the exam track for my MA in French lit, and I found the exams very stressful! These days my stress dreams have to do with my job – teaching middle school! 😆
Jalen & Maria
Thank you, and thanks for reading! Yes, my internship is also in French.
Lisa Fleury
Congratulations to you both on your stellar academic achievements! Thank you for sharing the good news!
Lisa
Jalen & Maria
Thank you for reading and for your kind words!