Visitors to our Find Your Program page in the last year may have been surprised to see Québec, Canada listed among the international study programs being offered. Students interested in studying abroad often dream of visiting far-distant countries and having a truly international experience, and for many people in the United States of America, Canada—a country just over the northern border, where the majority of people claim English as their mother tongue—may not seem particularly remote or foreign.
But the Québec: French Language & Francophone Culture program, which spent spring term 2024 in la Vieille Capitale, aims to prove that the US’s northern neighbor can provide just as extraordinary an international study experience as anywhere else.
BYU Goes to Canada
France has always been a popular destination for BYU programs in a variety of areas of study, including French language. But the summer of 2024, which sees Paris caught up in preparation for the 2024 Olympics, presented a slew of logistical challenges for anyone visiting the city. Bob Hudson, a professor of French in BYU’s French and Italian Department, decided that meant it was time to try something different. “I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to take a group to Québec,” he explains, “and prove my theory that you don't have to leave North America or pay a lot of money to have an authentic French immersion experience.” (Though English is the predominant language in other parts of Canada, French is the official language of the province of Québec, and is spoken and understood by over 90% of the population.)
He's not the first person to have this idea. In fact, BYU has a long history of study abroad in Québec; the university’s first student external study program—i.e. a residential study program aimed specifically at students and held outside of Utah—was a French language program initiated in Québec in 1958. It continued until supplanted in 1966 by a new program held in Grenoble, France (one of the earliest official semester abroad programs). The Grenoble program eventually became the Paris study abroad center, but when that particular center was recessed in 1980, the Québec program was revived by Yvon LeBras and students interested in studying French were directed there. Dr. LeBras ran the summer program in Québec from 1980 to 2002.
So, in running the Québec: French Language & Francophone Culture program, Dr. Hudson was doing something that felt new—no study abroad programs had gone to Canada since 2002—but that reached deep into the past, to the very roots of study abroad at BYU.
The Most European City in North America
Like Dr. LeBras had done for many years, Dr. Hudson decided to take a group of students to Québec City’s Université Laval, the oldest Francophone institution of higher learning in North America, and enroll them in their French as a Second Language program.
For the nine students who participated, this was a chance to study French in a new and unique way. Emma Reynolds, who’s majoring in French and communication disorders, says that Québec caught her eye when she was looking at study abroad opportunities because of how much French study she could do: “It was perfect because I was able to get 9 credit hours of French in just 5 weeks.”
For philosophy major Eva Laraway, being immersed in a Francophone culture appealed to her, but specifically, she says, “I was also interested in experiencing the French language in a culture that was different from the culture in France, as I have already studied in France.”
The group traveled to Québec City in May 2024. There, they partook in intensive language and culture courses each morning, and in the afternoons and evening, explored the city sometimes called the most European city in North America. One of the courses the students were all required to take involved taking weekly walks that each visited roughly 20 historical or cultural sites.
For Annalise Drewes, a Commercial Music major, minoring in French, these experiences out in the city were a cherished part of the experience. “I loved being able to learn about aspects of culture and history in my classes and then experience those things out in real life. It really felt like the city was our classroom. I would learn about a historian in my class and then walk around the old part of town and see his old house, or talk about a cultural phenomenon and then see it in action.”
The group also attended local branches and wards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enjoyed local food, and more. “We caught a Québec Capitales minor league baseball game, went to a sugar shack, attended a performance by Québec’s famed string orchestra Les Violons du Roy, feasted on poutine, and so on,” says Dr. Hudson, “just making sure they had the complete Québec experience.”
“I found Québec to be a great mix of European and Canadian traditions,” says Laraway, “but it also had its own unique culture as well. One aspect of the city that I loved was the Old City neighborhood. It felt like someone took a small French city and plopped it in the middle of Canada. When you enter this neighborhood, you are greeted with pedestrian-only cobblestone roads, quirky buildings reminiscent of European architecture, and a surplus of ice cream shops. How could anyone not love it? I was originally skeptical of the notion that Québec is the most European city in North America, but now I can say that I wholeheartedly agree.”
Each weekend, the group took a trip out of the city. On the first weekend, they bussed to nearby Wendake to visit the Traditional Site of the Huron-Wendat peoples. On the second weekend, they visited the cultural metropolis of Montréal. The third weekend saw them visiting the Île-d'Orléans, Montmorency Falls, and the Catholic shrine at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré; Dr. Hudson says, “Religious history was a significant part of our trip and something we spent a lot of time discussing.” On their final weekend, they went to Ottawa and Gatineau. “The students really appreciated the cultural differences between prim and proper Anglo Ottawa and working-class Francophone Gatineau,” says Dr. Hudson.
As the students gained a deeper understanding of Québec, he says, they also gained a deeper understanding of its importance to the image of Canada. “So many of the things we consider 'Canadian'—even using the term 'Canadian'—were originally Québécois! Québec produces 70% of the world's maple syrup and, through connection, provides the country's maple leaf symbol on their flag; water and timber from Québec are extremely valuable resources; poutine was a Québécois innovation; the first modern ice hockey match was played in Montréal, etc.”
Étudier le français
For these students studying French, the chance to be immersed in a French-speaking culture was as important as the classes they took at Université Laval. “Practicing every day, both with my group and with locals, helped me feel more equipped to speak French—and helped me develop a deeper love for the language,” says Drewes.
“Living in Québec allowed me to significantly improve my French speaking skills and my appreciation of foreign cultures,” agrees Laraway. “Unlike certain Francophone cultures, such as Paris, I was able to practice my French wherever I went in the city. The Québécois were accepting of my mediocre French and my interactions with the locals greatly ameliorated my conversational skills.” She also appreciated the chance to take classes she would not have been able to take at BYU: “For instance, I was able to learn about the Québécois dialect and their regional differences from the French that's spoken in France. After my 5 weeks of studying Québécois phonetics, I'd like to think that I can do a pretty good Québécois accent.”
Drewes also enjoyed the unique—though not always appreciated—local dialect. “There are a lot of stereotypes about Québec, one being that Québécois French is ‘dirty’ or ‘ugly’ French,” says Drewes. “I found that to not be the case at all! Québécois is definitely different, with lots of localized vocabulary and a very particular accent, but it’s also really charming—I found it to be a great place to learn French.”
Abroad in Canada
So, in the end, did the program give participants the international experience they were hoping for?
Though Québec City lies only about 80 miles (129 km) from the US border, the students found themselves immersed in a whole new world. “The best part for me was being able to meet so many different people from various cultures and backgrounds and being able to connect with them in such a short amount of time,” says Reynolds.
For Laraway, the best part of the experience was “the opportunity to improve my language skills while also getting to explore the world at the same time. Not only did I become a more confident French speaker, but I also became a more conscientious traveler, and I got to experience a multitude of adventures.”
Drewes says that the program gave her a unique experience that she couldn’t have gotten studying French in France: “It was really cool to experience French in a North American context. Québec is a really interesting place because it is surrounded by English-speaking provinces and states, and so it has become a very fierce protector of its French language, culture, and heritage. Laws about radio broadcasting, public signage, and education geared towards preserving the French language all make it a very different place than what we expect in the States or the rest of Canada—it felt familiar while also being completely different.”
Dr. Hudson reflects, “With a focus on Québec, I think this program opened the eyes of our nine students to the vastness of Francophone culture outside of hexagonal France.”
He concludes, “Our students left with a deep appreciation of Québec's storied history, having lived five amazing weeks among the Québécois, interacting with them directly and seeing what drives them. The official motto of Québec is Je me souviens—'I remember’—and I am overjoyed that our students were able to tap into the site of memory that is this province, this nation!”