Perhaps even more valuable are the cultural experiences the student comes away with at the end of his or her stay. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what a day, a week, or a month abroad might be worth in terms of cultural understanding!  And if you live in a host family, as students do for the ESU Summer in France program, you get to experience French culture as a native French person does: you eat their meals, you live in their home, you see how they work, sleep, relax, laugh and live. 

Moreover, you will make contacts that you will never lose, as many host families consider their students, both past and current, as members of their extended family.

Studying abroad is a unique experience—one that will no longer be available once you leave college.  It is different from visiting a country as part of a tour group, where the tourist is whisked from monument to monument, losing track of time and geography, never interacting with the people, never speaking the language.  When you study abroad, you don't just see the sights, you also live the life.

Come live the French life in Tours this July.