India Cornett explains why she so quickly became convinced that France was the ideal destination for her art history degree.
India, who is from the UK, hadn’t always planned to apply to a foreign university. In fact, she says the idea has only occurred to her over the past year. It was a desire to become fluent in a second language that led her to consider her options.
“I want to do something associated with art in the future and therefore believed that it would be a good idea to have a second language, as art is a universal form of communication,” she muses.
“Over the past year I have been doing a lot of thinking and figured that actually there would be no better place to become fluent in French than in a French-speaking country.”
Art and Alps
France’s art-orientated culture, she says, further sweetens the deal. Paris is at the forefront of many of our minds when we consider France, and so it was with India.
However, some advice given to her by friends led her to apply to Louis Lumière in Lyon (also known as Lyon 2) instead: “I have just finished a ski season instructing for the Swiss ski school and many of my colleagues recommended Lyon 2 to me as it’s believed to be a fantastic university.
"I did a bit of further research and discovered it is a slightly smaller city and therefore would suit me better. Not only that, but also the History of Art course is believed to be very good there.”
The city’s central location in France, she believes, will allow it to serve as very useful base from which she can experience the full gamut of French culture. Indeed, Paris is only 90 minutes away on the TGV, and the proximity of the city to the Alps means that she can indulge her passion for skiing.
Applications and funding
Not everything was as simple as choosing her university and city though – India admits that she found the application process a little daunting at first, but with the help of the college at which she was studying and the Studies in France Desk at the French Institute in London, it turned out it was “not so complicated after all!”
She offers some advice for anyone thinking of following her lead: “Personally I would recommend for people not to panic too much if they find the application system too challenging. It seems to me that the best thing to do is to contact somebody who works in the department of the country they want to study in and ask that person to explain the best way to go about applications.
"Once the applications are over they are a huge weight of your shoulders and although they take time, it is worth asking for help in order to make sure they are done with the best possible care and precision.”
So, how does she plan to go about funding her time in France? And were France’s cheap tuition fees part of what made it appeal as a study destination?
“I need to discuss this with my parents. However, it seems that life will be much easier knowing that I don’t have to pay enormous fees every year! I think I will probably take out a minimal loan at some point."
“With such small fees,” she adds, “it is really just living costs that I will have to worry about. In order to solve this problem I hope to be able to organize a simple job for a couple of days a week and hopefully earn a little bit of money ski-instructing during the winter months as well.”
Exciting times ahead
Beyond concerns about finding accommodation – something she will be looking into during a summer trip to Lyon – confident India doesn’t have too many worries about studying abroad.
Indeed, she’s hugely excited by the prospect of starting her course, and of immersing herself in French culture: “It will be a completely different way of life; I think it is important for our modern generation to be culturally indulged if they are lucky enough to have the opportunity.”
Does she have any ideas for what she will be doing with her degree? “I am not quite sure yet! This is one of those things where we will have to wait and see. In an ideal situation I would love to work for a big art auctioning company like Bonham’s or Christie’s in Paris, but that,” she reflects, “is very much in an ideal world!”