In France, the Sciences Po, which has a central campus in Paris as well as 5 regional campuses in Nancy, Le Havre, Menton, Poitiers, and Dijon. The one that interested me the most was the Middle Eastern studies regional campus in Menton. The location is beautiful, on the Italian border near Monaco, but I looked at the courses and this past semester, for international students they only offer 2 courses in english. This gives me limited options and would mean I would have to take 3 courses en Français! :S Not sure if I can handle that. I am prepared to take a french language course and one additional course in French, but 3... not sure. There are other courses that appeal to me at the other regional campuses, but in terms of actual geography, I would have to look more into whether Nancy, Le Havre, Poitiers or Dijon would be ideal places to live for a few months.
The Sciences Po, has about a million courses in Paris (French and English) that I would love to take. The only problem is housing. It would be hard to find somewhere to live, let alone somewhere with a reasonable monthly price tag. Also only going for one semester may be problematic in terms of landing a spot in student housing or residence. Click here to see ALL the Sciences Po courses offered to exchange students- all campuses.
In Sweden, there are 3 universities who have a partnership with U of T. Gothenburg, Lund, and Uppsala. They all look great. Each of them has lots and lots of courses in the realm of Peace and Conflict Studies. They look amazing. The only missed opportunity would be the French Immersion I would get in France. But hey, learning Swedish can't be all bad! I wouldn't consider it a missed opportunity as much as I would love to improve my French.
I think I need to weigh the importance of:
a) Location (knowing as much as possible about living in these places without having actually ever been there)
b) Courses- it is an academic exchange after all :p
c) The people- it would be nice to be able to walk out of this with some friends.
d) Language- do I want to learn something new, or increase the breadth of knowledge I already have of French so that I can be somewhat competent with it?
Another interesting option that I just peeked at is the school of International Service at American University, Washington, DC. I mean, I wouldn't spend my exchange program at an American University, as it clearly wouldn't offer much cultural enrichment, but it would be relatively inexpensive. I think the prospect of paying Canadian Tuition to go to a ridiculously expensive school would be a steal! And, maybe I could buy some binoculars for sightings of Barack Obama, the world's new BFF.
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