“Already when I was younger, I wanted to go to France,” admits Chenille Lovgren. “I had to choose between Paris and Nice.” Chenille preferred to settle in Nice for six months to continue her studies. For a week now, this 20-year-old student from Calgary (the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta) has been taking a “Bachelor of Business Administration” course at Ipag. For over ten years, this business school has maintained close ties with 95 universities worldwide. It hosts students from all over the globe each year as part of the Erasmus program. In turn, Ipag students have the opportunity to study in the country of their choice. To be able to study at Ipag, Chenille was selected by her university.
A Significant Change
Having arrived three weeks ago on the Côte d’Azur, Chenille is gradually getting used to her new life. A real challenge for her, given that she doesn’t speak French. But she seems to enjoy her life in the sun. According to her, people in Nice have a more pronounced taste for life than in Canada. “Here, they work to live, instead of living to just work”. Understand that the people of Nice work to live rather than live to work. But Chenille seems to have the “zest for life”, the joy of living. She doesn’t lack humor.
Before starting her courses, she had time “to explore the city” and had the opportunity to make comparisons with her country of origin: she states that in France, everything is “much smaller than in Canada. The cars and the streets are smaller.” “Here, it is definitely warmer,” she adds humorously. It must be said that the current temperature in Calgary must not exceed 5 degrees. Chenille had to adapt to the city, but she also had to familiarize herself with the French educational system: “here, my classes last three hours once a week. In Canada, I have the same class spread out three times a week.”
For the moment, she doesn’t miss her country. She has made new friends. But who knows? Maybe she will find the Nice winter too hot…
