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 program. 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.
The school offers several programs for international students:
- The International Design Strategy / Le Studio France master's program leading to the school's master's level degree - taught in English
- The 3rd year of the DN MADE international class (undergraduate studies) - taught in English
- A preparatory class taught in French
The “International Design Strategy” / Le Studio France master's program 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.
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