WCCCSA Program – Lyon (France) Fall 2024

two women looking over the city skyline in Lyon
two women looking over the city skyline in Lyon

This is a WCCCSA program. For how to start the application, please refer to “How to Apply” page.

DATES & DEADLINES

  • Application & Deposit Deadline: Friday, June 7, 2024
  • Early Bird Deadline: Apply by Friday, May 3, 2024 & save $100!
  • First Partial Payment Due ($590): Wednesday, June 19, 2024
  • Balance of Program Fees Due: Friday, September 6, 2024
  • Tuition Due: Check your home campus calendar
  • Program Dates: September 30 – December 7, 2024 (includes online readings, discussions, and reflection assignments in the US before departure)
    • In-country dates in Lyon: October 5 – December 7, 20224

 [study abroad program info session- Lyon, France, Fall 2024]
We will offer another Virtual Info. Session for the Lyon, France program (Fall 2024) on Monday, February 26 at 12pm. Lyon instructor Jessica Ketcham will facilitate the session and I’ll be there for support. Please help spread the word to students at your respective campuses! Details are in the attachment.

Lyon Virtual Info. Session
Monday, February 26, 2024
12:00pm
Zoom link: https://bit.ly/studyinlyon

PROGRAM DOCUMENTS

  • Lyon 2024 WCCCSA Budget Request – COMING SOON!
  • Program Flier – COMING SOON!
  • Find us on Instagram @WAllonsaLyon

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

It’s 9:30am and we’re swapping stories about where we’ve eaten the best brioché in Lyon so far. That’s homework when you study in France. Later today you and three other students will head to the Musee du Cinema et de la Miniature to check out its eclectic collection of miniature movie sets, props, costumes, and storyboards. That’s homework when you’re studying in the birthplace of cinema. Next week is a cheese-tasting excursion that will lead to a writing workshop about identifying the tiniest morsels of impact in a travel memoir. When you join us in France fall 2024, you’ll get to experience every excursion at least twice: once as you live it and then again as you write it.

Come study in Lyon, rated the number one city in France for students! Lyon is France’s second largest city and an important European crossroad. Its remarkable location at the heart of Europe links Lyon – with an average of 90 minutes travel time – to all of the major European metropolises including Barcelona, Milan, Turin, and Geneva thanks to a network of transportation by air, road, or rail. The proximity of Provence, the Mediterranean, the Alps, and the large wine regions adds charm to the Lyon area.

Lyon’s fine cuisine is an integral part of the local way of life. The city is the capital of French gastronomy and offers a choice between the popular charm of its famous bouchon bistros, the refined elegance of its two- and three-star gourmet restaurants, and the warm lively atmosphere of its open-air markets.

The 2000-year-old historic center is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site; artistic creativity thrives and cultural activities abound all year round. Lyon truly offers a wide palette of cultural events of international standing.

LOCATION

Classes will be held at the Centre d’études Franco-Américain de Management (CEFAM), a Franco-American business school working in partnership with five American business schools (AACSB accredited). CEFAM is located on a campus that houses 24 different schools in a business and university area with many restaurants around. It is one metro stop from Lyon’s historic center, a popular area well known for its architecture from the antiquity and Middle Ages as well as for its traditional Lyonnais restaurants. The campus is also very close to the city center, the most lively part of Lyon, with many cafés, restaurants, and clothing stores.

CAMPUS & CLASSROOMS

  • Audio-visual equipment including interactive and overhead projectors
  • Over 10 computer labs and three high-tech learning labs
  • Numerous studying areas
  • Free access to the internet in the computer lab and wifi provided
  • Orientation session, assistance, and 24-hour emergency contact
  • Access to a gym close to campus for an additional fee

TRANSPORTATION

You will have a metro pass that will give you unlimited access to public transportation (buses, metro, tramways) anywhere in Lyon and the surrounding area.

HOUSING

You will be living with a French host family in Lyon. You will have your own bedroom and will have the option to have dinner with the French family every night. Breakfast is also included. You will be responsible for your own lunch meal but will have access to the fridge to store food and to the kitchen to cook. You will fill out a questionnaire about host family options in order to best understand your needs and find the most appropriate family for you. CEFAM works in collaboration with Lyon Expat Agency, a company dedicated to arranging accommodations for expatriates and study abroad students in Lyon. They have carefully selected the families and visited all the houses in which students will be living. 

FACULTY & COURSES

You will register for your classes at your home campus. See your campus coordinator for course numbering. You will take a total of three classes for a total of 15 credits, including a French Language and Culture class taught by local faculty.

Instructor – Local French Faculty

French Language and Culture (5 credits)

This class is required of all students in the program. The level of instruction will be based on the level of each student. The class introduces basic speaking, reading, and writing skills. You will learn by listening and speaking as well as reading and writing with the help of a variety of web-based materials.

Primary Faculty – Professor Jessica Ketcham, Cascadia College

Dr. Jessica Ketcham fell in love with France as an undergraduate student while she was studying French literature during a semester abroad in Paris. She is a tenured faculty member in English and Humanities at Cascadia College. For 20 years she has taught Writing & Literary Studies as well as in the interdisciplinary fields of Cultural Studies; Human-Centered Design and Technical Communication; Media Studies; Critical Theory; and Gender Studies. At Cascadia, she has held leadership positions such as English Department Chair, Arts and Humanities Division Chair, and Interim Associate Dean of STEM.

She earned her PhD in English: Rhetoric, Writing, and Cultural Studies with doctoral minors in both Women’s and Gender Studies and in Communication Studies from Louisiana State University. She also holds a graduate certificate in Human-Centered Design from the University of Washington. Jessica has published articles, chapters, and delivered numerous national presentations about inclusive design; performative writing; community-based learning; media representations of activism; and technology and learning. 

Perpetually a student, Jessica immerses herself in new learning experiences with ongoing enrollment in workshops throughout the Seattle area, from aerial yoga and fermentation techniques to ceramics and sketch comedy classes. She’s working on a collection of essays grounded in food and the medicalized body, as well as a memoir. She also co-writes songs with her partner. Jessica serves on the Celiac Community Advisory Board at Seattle Children’s Hospital and volunteers at Urban Craft Uprising, KEXP, and for the Shoreline School District.

English& 236: Creative Writing I (5 credits)

This course offers students a multi-genre introduction to creative writing. You will use the city of Lyon—its museums and cafes and rivers Rhône and Saône and historic architecture—as inspiration or backdrop to craft your own short stories, poems, creative nonfiction, and at least one dramatic monologue/scene drawn from conversations overheard on the cobblestone streets. Together, we’ll read a wide variety of micro-nonfiction, poetry, and flash fiction to discover how different writers employ specific techniques. You will workshop your original texts to provide regular feedback on your classmates’ work, analyzing and comparing how different literary structures and strategies are applied in each genre. We’ll use a guiding principle of “write a little/sketch a little” each day, ultimately framing creative writing as a commitment to captured observations.

Key Texts

  • A Writer’s Craft: Multi-genre Creative Writing by Kendall Dunkelberg ($29) is a very light and portable paperback—perfect for travel.

Key Assignments

  • weekly writing/notes/sketches 
  • a character-driven short story inspired by city observation
  • a short collection of poems in dialogue with French film, art, architecture, or museums
  • an exquisite corpse (collaborative writing technique) based on overheard conversations
  • a literary nonfiction essay grounded in the experience of studying abroad

English& 101/English& 102: English Composition I/II: Food Rhetorics (5 credits)

In this class, which students can enroll in for either English 101 or English 102 credit, we will use rhetorical approaches to analyze how language shapes our understanding of food cultures and the experience of eating, how language is used in popular discourse to frame food issues, and the material impact of language on food policies. Students will move from personal exploratory writing, using the recipe genre as a container for a story, to writing a review of a restaurant or meal, using the review genre to make writing choices that put some elements in the spotlight while others stay in the background. Students in 101 will then complete a cultural analysis based on comparative news coverage of food issues in France vs. the US, while 102 students will develop an evaluative annotated bibliography of critical food studies on a topic of their choice.

Key Texts

  • Recipe (Object Lessons series) by Lynn Z Bloom ($14)
  • Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies (online/free)

Key Assignments

  • Recipe (a personal writing assignment using the recipe as container/hermit crab)
  • Meal/Restaurant Review (synthesis and evaluative writing)
  • Comparative Cultural Analysis of Food Issues and Frames (analysis)
  • Food Writing Annotated Bibliography (evaluation and analysis)

This is an academic program and students are expected to enroll in a full-time course load (15 credits). Failure to participate in the academic coursework may result in dismissal from the program. Students are encouraged to make the most of their classroom learning as it will enhance understanding of all the local area has to offer.

EXCURSIONS/ACTIVITIES

  • Orientation session, welcome dinner, and farewell dinner
  • Visit to Lyon and its 2000-year-old historic center
  • Visit to Cité de la gastonomie (International Center of Gastronomy) including sampling of cuisine
  • Cheese tasting activities
  • Day-trip to Beaujolais, a beautiful vineyard region outside of Lyon
  • Visit to the Institut Lumière, the birthplace of cinema
  • French Cuisine cooking classes
  • Visit to a small chocolate workshop

INDEPENDENT TRAVEL

Use free weekends to travel in France and to Europe’s great cities including Paris, London, Amsterdam, Florence, and Madrid.

COST: $6250

Early bird special! Apply by Friday, May 3, 2024 to pay $6150 

INCLUDED

  • Transfer between the airport and the accommodation upon program arrival and departure
  • Accommodation in a single-room in a homestay within a residential neighborhood of Lyon and the surrounding area
  • Breakfast will be provided in the homestay seven days a week and dinner five days a week (Monday through Friday). You will have access to the kitchen for the preparation of any other meals.
  • Orientation program and a 24-hour emergency contact service
  • All excursions and activities listed in here
  • Welcome dinner and  farewell dinner
  • Lyon transport travel pass, valid for unlimited use on buses and underground trains in Lyon and the surrounding area for the duration of the program
  • Health insurance

NOT INCLUDED

  • Airfare
  • College tuition and fees
  • Course books or materials (unless specified)
  • Passport and visa fees if applicable
  • Any meals not specified in this document
  • Personal expenses
  • Anything not specified as included in the program
  • Optional personal effects insurance coverage

SCHOLARSHIPS

WCCCSA Lyon participants are all eligible to apply for one of two $1,000 WCCCSA scholarship.  

PRE-DEPARTURE ORIENTATION (mandatory)

A team of WCCCSA Study Abroad Coordinators will provide all pertinent logistics, health and safety information to help you prepare for your study abroad experience. The faculty member will also discuss their course details, and academic and behavioral expectations. You should also invite parents, guardians, or whomever you feel should attend with you. Coffee will be provided in the morning and lunch will be included. 

  • Date: a Saturday in early to mid-August
  • Time: Approx. 10am-3pm
  • Location: Cascadia College

What to bring

  • Notepad to take notes
  • And questions

CEFAM campus students center

CEFAM campus main building

CEFAM campus main building

Last Updated February 26, 2024