The MICEFA intensif course was way back in September for me but it’s important for me to write about it for those of you who are soon to experience it. It’s not scary, don’t worry.
The first thing to be noted is expectation vs reality. I expected it to last 3 weeks. It was only a 2 week course. I did not expect special events, of which there were actually plenty. More details in a bit. I did not expect to make friends. I kind of didn’t. Until later.
The lot of us were split into 3 different levels/groups. I was in the first level- no surprise there. Not insulted or offended. They determined our level with a brief oral evaluation shortly after arriving. I was rather nervous at the time- I think most of us were- but it was really no big deal. I had to talk about myself a bit in French and I did a mediocre job but I did it. If you aren’t happy with your result you can request a second evaluation, but I only heard of a few people doing that.
Classes were held at Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle on an upper floor. I can’t speak for all 3 levels- I think the top level actually had to do a lot of heavy reading- but we had a really fun class. We did group icebreakers and exercises at first and a few writing assignments. We had to do powerpoint presentations on our new residences and we watched L’Auberge Espagnole and parts of Paris, je t’aime. Our group had Katia Nossenko Hercberg, and though I remember feeling vraiment misérable during her speech at orientation as I couldn’t understand a single word, I really liked her by the end of the intensif. If you meet her during your MICEFA experience you should consider yourself lucky.
My favorite part of the intensif was the excursions. We did a tour of Paris along the Seine one of the big tourist boats (I did a separate post about this one). It included snacks for each student and the weather was perfect. Another fun event was the scavenger hunt. This one was actually a little grueling- it was a hot day and Victoria had a duffel bag with her to bring things to our new apartment after class. She had to drag it around for the entire activity but our group won. The rest of our team was actually a guy and a girl from the top class- quite smart and quite good at French. The scavenger hunt ended when we ran into the middle of an old gladiator arena type thing in a park and we received polite applause from the teachers. A cinematic moment, truly.
We had all read Cyrano de Bergerac (or we were supposed to, at least) for the class because one of our planned excursions was to a showing of the play. I liked the book so I was excited to see the play but SOME PEOPLE decided to skip for fatigue and clear lack of interest. Lame. I had some wine with a new friend at the beginning of the show and I’d say it was a successful bonding experience. We tight now. The theater was tiny and the actors weren’t 5-star but it was a great experience and I’m glad it was a part of the program. The last event was an amazing dinner in Belleville to which I dedicated a separate post long ago.
It is possible to get college credit for the MICEFA intensif but I don’t know if anyone I know has done it. You’d need to find a comparable course at your home university, I think, and that would likely be a beginner-intermediate basic course (like French III for example).
If you have any questions or if you’d like to correct something I’ve misremembered don’t hesitate to comment or leave me a message.
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