I was able to spend my period abroad in Paris. I attended Strate College, which is located just outside Paris to the southwest. It takes just over an hour to reach the College from the city centre. I commuted to the suburb of Bellevue by metro and train. This is the location of the newly built university which looks rather austere both inside and out. The building was built specifically for just four design courses and has four floors including a workshop and main lecture hall. The workshop is on the bottom floor of the building and equipped with the usual machinery including laser cutters and 3D printers. There are also several computer labs. The support from supervisors is excellent and there are numerous lectures and seminars. A whole day each week is usually spent presenting and discussing projects. You can get by at Strate even if you don’t speak French. Fellow students are willing to translate the most important information.
As the school system is rather different, all French students are on average two years younger than is normal for the same academic year in Austria. This means that the average age in the first semester of the Master’s course is around 21. I made some good friends who I’m going to keep in contact with.
I attended the Product and Usability course and was able to work on five different projects in the almost five months I was there. Personally I gained a lot from my exchange semester at Strate in Paris and so would like to recommend it to others. I had a lot of fun with the tasks I was set, was able to demonstrate my skills and gain a new perspective on the world of product design.
