My undergraduate experience in the Department of French and Italian was an entirely positive one, so much so that I returned to the U of A after taking a year off to complete my Masters Degree. I had no desire to go elsewhere, everything I wanted in a department was there. The professors and the support staff were fantastic, always ready to answer questions or propose suggestions when guidance was needed. The professors have such diverse research areas and fields of study that the courses were always fascinating; I wanted to take them all. I readily suggest participation in the summer program, Arizona in Paris. It’s an excellent way to spend your summer seeing the sights in France while perfecting your language skills. I was able to take part twice: once as an undergraduate student, and once as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. The real highlight for me was studying with French author and feminist theorist Monique Wittig, both as an undergraduate and graduate student.
