While most students returned to Nashville this fall, junior Jadzia Butler traveled to France for the semester. Many students study abroad, and Butler is just one of many students currently in Aix-en-Provence through the Vanderbilt-in-France program.

Like many upperclassmen here on campus, Butler lives in an apartment-style building with other Vanderbilt students; however, she also has one French roommate and eats dinner with a French family four days a week.

The program requires that all Vanderbilt students speak French in their housing. For most Vanderbilt students, with the exception of McTyeire residents, speaking another language in their residence halls is uncommon.

Academically, Butler is not taking any more hours than she would if she were at Vanderbilt, but the language barrier does prove a bit difficult.

"I'm finding the classes a little more challenging because they are all in French," said Butler.

Rather than attending football games or spending her weekends studying, Butler has been immersing herself in the French culture.

"Thus far, I've been traveling around the other regions in the south of France," Butler said.

Southern France has several beaches, and Aix is about an hour and a half from Marseilles and the Mediterranean, two hours from the Alps and three hours by high-speed train to Paris. The closest beach in Tennessee is at least eight hours away from Nashville.
"There is a great balance here in Aix," Butler said. "It's still business as usual (when it comes to school), but everything is scheduled and structured in such a way that I have time to travel on the weekends and get to know the city and culture in Aix."