Learning French in Normandy: won over by Rouen

I have a confession to make. After many trips to France and quite a few extended summers visiting family in various cities and little towns, I have never been to Normandy.

Honestly, I had been told it was boring. They said it wasn’t as pretty as Provence, and certainly not as fun as Biarritz, and nowhere near as historical as Paris, So when Cactus decided it would be worthwhile to send me and my co-worker Stephanie to Rouen to visit the region and spend a weekend with our partner school there, I was excited for the trip, but honestly not expecting much. It’s Normandy. Nothing happens in Normandy.

I could not have been more wrong. Normandy as a region is actually quite spectacular and Rouen couldn’t be a more ideal place to spend a week, a semester, or even a year learning the French language and the many facets of its amazing culture and complex history.

(Below image from left: Eleri, from our partner school in Rouen, with Adrienne & Stephanie from Cactus)



Rouen alone carries a large weight of France’s history. Want to see where Joan of Arc was tried? Go to Rouen. Or care to experience a tour offered by the school and follow Joan of Arc’s path from where she was being held to where she was burned at the stake? Again, go to Rouen. Or perhaps you’d like to sit exactly where Monet sat when he painted the Rouen cathedral? No problem. Or sit at the same café where Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir were known to, shall we say, canoodle? Yes, that’s right. Rouen again.



Combine the amazing history of Rouen where the school is based with the numerous tours available that can be organized during your stay – Normandy landing beaches, Monet’s garden at Giveny, a visit to a Calvados distillery – and you’ve got a perfect language holiday or study abroad experience. We had an amazing weekend with our hosts Eleri and Tom from our partner school, went to some amazing French markets, saw everything that Rouen had to offer and we even created a French Normandy cocktail! Book a course and we’ll send you the recipe so you can get a taste of Normandy before you start your travels!