Connect With French Students From the Comfort of Your Dorm

The Concordia College French Department is connecting students from Fargo/Moorhead and Tours, France to share culture and create international friendships.

Every Monday during the school year between 9:30-10:30am, Concordia students jump on a Zoom call to meet with Medical students from the Université de Tours in Tours, France.

Starting as a call for the Medical students to practice their English by researching and leading conversations with Concordia students on a variety of topics, the calls slowly turned to more casual conversation, with students sharing similar interests, curiosities about each other's cultures and going wherever the conversation led them.

Although students typically still have a starting topic in mind to get the conversation going, after awhile of sharing stories and laughs, it feels as if you were catching up with friends.

The calls are typically split into four parts, with a group of about 3-4 Medical students per part. Each section lasts for about 15 minutes, allowing time for each person to speak and to have a full conversation before switching to the next group.

Topics can range anywhere from music tastes, sharing recipes, talking about literature, talking about events or holidays in the United States and in France, sharing slang, or even just chatting about what you did over the weekend.

Although meeting new people is always a little nerve-wracking at first, all of the students who participate are lovely and are just interested in getting to know you and more about American culture and life. This is a great opportunity to bring two cultures together and make friends halfway across the globe!

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Current Concordia students from any major are welcome to participate in these calls and we are always looking for volunteers to come chat with the Medical students! These calls are not a full time commitment, so you can join however much or little you choose.

As an added bonus, if you are a French student at Concordia College, joining in on these exchanges counts as a BREW activity! Or, if you are looking to study abroad in Tours through Concordia's Study Away Program, these calls are a great way to connect with current students of your future Study Away destination. This activity is also great if you are looking to spruce up your resume with some volunteer hours.

As conversations are held in English, you are not required to speak French to be able to join.

If you are a current student interested in participating, please reach out to rawson@cord.edu for more information.