The international experience according to an American student
Testimony of an international student
Thomas Mcauliffe, an American student, has chosen to do his master's programme in design here in Nantes, as part of the International Design Strategy / Le Studio France programme. This programme taught in English offers students an immersive experience in the reality of design in France and gives them the opportunity to study in a multicultural context with students of different nationalities from different design specialties. Life in Nantes, studying at the school, favorite French meal... Discover his invaluable testimonial on his international experience here at L'École de design Nantes Atlantique!
Why did you choose to study at L’École de design Nantes Atlantique ?
Because I'm a visual artist and I wanted to challenge my idea of what is visually beautiful, mix that with something that is, how do we think about the way something operates in a specific context. So aside from visual beauty itself, I wanted to think more about how it's designed for the user.
I chose Nantes because it's a smaller city and it seemed to have a lot of a very lively active social culture. I like the richness of the social culture, at least being a young person. When I want to go out at night to a bar or a cafe, there's just people everywhere. And it's really easy to get to these places because of the public transport that differs. I mean, you might be used to that, but it differs a lot from the US where a lot of things are far away from each other.
And when you go to a restaurant or a bar, it's usually far away from other restaurants and bars. You don't have this massive activity that's happening in one place like you do with a European city. That's what I really like about it. So I take the tram and the bus all the time. That's also what I like about transportation here. I don't have to drive a car, so I don't have to think about when I'm going from one place to another. So it allows some kind of mental space.
What about your programme?
The program is very wide open because it's very based on the projects. You're formulating your own questions and figuring out how to think as a designer. It's very open because it allows someone to explore all the ways of thinking as a designer.
I'm here for two years and for the fourth semester we're going to do a six-month internship in anywhere we want in the world. So that's a really interesting aspect of the school. And I know the school has partnered with a lot of organizations that would allow a student to get an internship they might not otherwise have had.
Interculturality in your classroom
The thing I found the most interesting is the way we communicate because people have a lot of different ideas, but then understanding what someone means when they use certain words has been a big challenge. Even with simple things. And even amongst people who are from Western European cultures, like from the US, or from Poland, or from France. And so it's interesting to see the diversity even within the countries that we assume to be very close to each other.
L'école propose plusieurs programmes à destination des étudiants internationaux :
- Le cycle master International Design Strategy / Le Studio France permettant d'obtenir le Diplôme de design Bac +5 de l'école - Enseigné en Anglais
- La 3e année de DN MADE en classe internationale (Bac +3) - Enseigné en Anglais
- Une classe préparatoire enseignée en Français
Le cycle master “International Design Strategy” / Le Studio France enseigné en anglais offre aux étudiants une expérience immersive dans la réalité du design en France et leur donne l’opportunité d'étudier dans un contexte multiculturel avec des étudiants de différentes nationalités issus de différentes spécialités du design.
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