Stay abroad 2011/2012 in France in the 5th semester of the bachelor studies

In the winter semester 2011/2012, i.e. in the 5th semester of my bachelor's degree, I was in Montpellier, France, at the Université Montpellier 2. I decided to do the exchange semester because I wanted to get to know everyday university life in another country, as well as French culture and language. In general, I had a very good time there, and I especially liked the diversity of the region: By bus, you can be at the beach within half an hour or in the hinterland, where you can hike very well.

However, the French bureaucracy proved to be difficult to overcome. Although there was hardly any support from the French university, after about 2 months everything was finally sorted out. At the university, all events are held in French and in everyday life, almost all French people spoke exclusively in French with me. So it was a bit difficult for me at the beginning with my only rudimentary knowledge of the language, but I quickly found my way into the language and also passed some exams (more bad than good, but still). However, I could only have taken two modules in Jena, because it turned out on site that I could not participate in many modules that I had previously agreed upon in the learning agreement with both universities, for various reasons, and I had to take completely different modules at short notice. I would recommend a stay at Université Montpellier 2 to those who want to get to know the daily life at a French university and the French language and are willing to put up with an extra semester. You should also have a lot of patience in order not to despair of the French bureaucracy.