Do most kids on The Abbey speak French or at least some French before the program?
No. If you don’t speak any French at all you will fit right in with our average student. Some of your classmates will have had high school French for a year or two. Some will have had a semester of it in college. But on your first day at The Abbey in your French class, you will see that the majority of your fellow students are sitting there in French 181 with you, waiting to start their own love affair with the language from scratch.
Do freshmen really do The Abbey Program, or is better to wait until sophomore or junior year?
Freshmen are in the majority of every Abbey class, so if you are a freshman in your fall semester when you decide to go? Welcome to the club. Our experience shows that students who wait to study abroad tend to not study abroad. The reason for this is hard to say, but we do know that students tend to select a major by sophomore year and then dig deeply into a specific field that often comes with a “lock-step curriculum,” where exact classes must be take in an exact sequence. Getting out of a curriculum like that to follow a dream and study abroad is easier said than done after freshman year. So instead of taking core level courses back at your home university, come to The Abbey with our other freshmen and take the same courses with Europe as your classroom.
Nobody in our family has traveled or ever done anything like The Abbey before. Is this program for other students who come from other families?
No. The Abbey parents and families we get each year are in the majority new to an experience like The Abbey. Many of our families have a first generation college student. Most of them have not traveled outside of the USA. So The Abbey is a huge, new experience not just for the student who goes but for a whole network of supportive family and friends.
As a student of color, I have no problem being a pioneer and working toward success in any environment I find myself in. But am I going to be the only student of color on The Abbey?
No. Out of 40-50 students each year, The Abbey usually has 6-8 students of color, most of whom report not just that they feel at home within The Abbey community right away but also that they are accepted with a warm welcome into the larger French community of Pontlevoy and beyond.
My parents never say yes to things like The Abbey. How should I even bring it up to them if I really want to go?
The Abbey is a big thing for parents to understand and support. Most of our Abbey parents are concerned about the price of the program, whether the classes will help you if you go and how safe you will be when you are in France. Further, parents want to know for sure that this program really is right for you and something you are passionate about. Each family situation is different, even if many parents do share the same concerns. Our staff and professors will always tell you this: speak to your parents early in your thinking on The Abbey and ask for their blessing and encouragement. If possible, speak to them as soon as you know that this program is what you want to do. If at all possible, speak to them very clearly about how you will pay for the program, why you want the kind of experience The Abbey offers, and what you yourself can commit to in terms of getting ready to go.
Do I need a passport to do The Abbey? If so, how do I get one?
Yes. All travel to Europe requires a valid passport. Go online as soon as you apply for The Abbey and apply for a passport, if you don’t already have one. The delivery time is about six weeks.
My parents are worriers. What can help ease their minds so that they know I will be OK at The Abbey?
The Abbey has (at least) three full-time staff people, and 5-7 full time professors for the 45-55 students who participate each year – we work 24/7 to ensure that you are well taken care of as we also work with you to help you gain more confidence and self reliance. Our professors and staff won’t be your “mom” and “dad” for the three months of the program, but we will never treat you as a number or as someone we don’t know well. Meanwhile, we will also work to provide that extra (gentle) supervised “push” to get your confidence and competence up when it comes to managing yourself well while abroad. Countless parents report to us each year that their “new and improved” Abbey kid has come home changed for the better in terms of overall maturity, responsibility, academic passion and attitude.
Will there be help my parents and I can get as I count down to starting The Abbey?
Absolutely. Students and parents are always invited to our web sessions pre-departure. In fact, we require you as a student to join our three sessions either in person or online. The usual sessions are: “Getting set for The Abbey” (session offered twice): the basics concerning financial aid, completed applications, class planning, International Student Identification Cards; “The Abbey: Student Life, Academics Abroad and Travel Planning”; and “ The Final Countdown: What and how to pack, the trip over, arrival and on-campus orientation”
What about once we get to France? Will there be a lot of help for me in my first few days settling in?
Yes. You will join all of your fellow students and faculty in a three-night orientation that will get you started with gusto in a well-rounded Abbey life. You will get help on everything from how to succeed in your classes, how to budget and travel, how to handle conflict if it comes up among your fellow students and how to increase your own sense of confidence when facing new challenges and opportunities.
How will I get to The Abbey once my flight lands in France? Am I going to get lost the very first day?
Getting to the Abbey is easy! Students are picked up by a bus at the airport on arrival day, and dropped off in the Abbey cloister, on the campus grounds. Want to make your own way there? People commute to Paris from in and around Pontlevoy daily, and we’ll get you the information you need to make it there independently if that’s your preference. More than 500 students have made it to Pontlevoy and The Abbey without incident. We will help you find your way, because we will be there to meet you on your first day!
I have no experience traveling at all. Can I do The Abbey?
Most of our students each year are total beginners to travel. By the time they have done the program, they can and do go anywhere they want. We start your trip off right, by picking you up at CDG airport in Paris. Then we show you exactly how to use the French train system and make your own plans to do weekend trips. Further, our professors and staff work with you from the first week to help you plan JUST the spring break/VISION QUEST trip that is right for you. Our students tell us every year that their best times on the program happened when they had to improvise while traveling. We teach that too, so that you know how to “keep calm and carry on” like a travel pro when things inevitably get frustrating.
My family isn’t rich, but we don’t qualify for great financial aid either. Is The Abbey out of my reach?
Most of our students finance all or part of their Abbey semester via loans and other financial aid packages. The average cost for students who attend the universities and colleges that have cooperated in the founding and development of the program is about $9,000 per semester. This figure is less at some schools and considerably more at many others. To finance this sum is no easy matter for most families. That’s why The Abbey is so special as a study-abroad semester program. Because our average student—including all fees for The Abbey, all spending money, meals, travel and plane ticket to France—typically spends no more than $4000 more for the program than the same semester costs to stay at home. Is that a tiny sum of extra money? Of course not. But if you want to have The Abbey and learning and living in Europe as part of your life experience, just think how small that $4000 will seem once you have gone on through the program, graduated from college, gotten a job and then become a parent yourself, with a mini van and soccer games to help coach on Saturdays. Do you remember the $4000 extra on those Saturday-morning drives to the soccer fields with your own kids? Not compared to how you remember the months you lived with your life-time best friends and traveled Europe while you learned there.
The Abbey is going to cost more than what studying at home will cost. What does my program price get me?
Your program price pays for your tuition (up to 19 hours), your housing in Pontlevoy, your lunch each weekday of the program in Pontlevoy, one dinner each week in Pontlevoy, your ParisWEEK housing, required excursions and brakfast each day, your participation in The Abbey’s weekend trip to Normandy, your use of The Abbey’s Friday and Sunday shuttle service of cars and vans to and from the train station in Montrichard.