Europe Trip Revealed Part 4: Course & Accommodation

This is the fourth installment of the series. Read the first part here, the second part here, and the third part here.

When I first tried to find a suitable language school in Nice, there was an agency that I found. The agent recommended Azurlingua as the place to learn French. Back then I had lots and lots of questions regarding the course, accommodation, living, cost, visa stuff, and many others. Luckily the customer service of that agency was really helpful in answering all my questions completely and promptly.

However, I then found another language school, Actilangue, which provided better rates. Of course, I wanted to find the cheapest school. But I also wanted quality. It was quite hard to find reviews about language schools in Frannce, so I had to turn to Facebook to find some ex-students of this particular school. I sent some messages to some people that I could find, and luckily most of them replied. They all really recommended Actilangue.

Both schools are certified by the government. Compared to Azurlingua, the school space of Actilangue is not as big. While Azurlingua's building is quite big  and it has its own garden, Actilangue's building looks limited if not confined. It's not even air-conditioned; but this should be okay as I will be there from early to late spring only. However, one of the advantage of Actilangue is that, being a small school, it doesn't have too many students, which means most likely the class size will be smaller.

So, I had to make a decision of which school to choose. Even though Azurlingua is a more popular school (thus more expensive), with the very attractive price offered by Actilangue and recommendations from its ex-students, it was not a difficult choice anymore. But the hardest part of all was informing the really nice customer service from the agency. After all the troubles and time that she had invested in me, I chose someplace else to study. Although that was totally my right, as I had not made any commitment yet, I still felt bad for her.

I then registered at Actilangue for the half-intensive course. It's 5 lessons (45 minutes each) daily, from 8.45 am to 12.50 pm, Monday to Friday. Each day, the first four lessons is general French course in a class of 6-12 students, while the fifth lesson is for oral training in a class of 4-8 students only. By taking this type of course, I will still have enough time in the afternoon for traveling around the region, while at the same time practicing my French in real life.

The course fee for 12 weeks is 1,760 € and with no registration fee. There was a discount offered at that time. If I paid full amount of the course before December 31, 2010, I would get 20% discount of the course fee. So I only had to pay 1,408 €. What a bargain!

For the accommodation, I will be staying at a French host family. I gave my preferences (within walking distance to school, respect of my privacy, non-smoking, no pets, internet connection, etc) to be considered when the school chose the suitable host family for me. I took a single room with half board; it means there will be breakfast and dinner everyday. The total cost of accommodation for 12 weeks is 2,158 €.

I also asked for transfer from the airport, which cost 26 €. So, do the math by yourself to figure out the total costs. Remember though that it doesn't include lunch, personal expenses, entertainment, shopping, transportation, traveling, and other miscellaneous costs yet. By the way, on the first day of school, there will be personal interview and written test to determine my level and class placement. My god, I better won't still be jet lagged when taking those tests!

And don't worry, there will be more coming in the future. So, don't leave just yet.

UPDATE: read the fifth part here.