Testimonials

"My daughter had the opportunity to go for one semester to Notre-Dame International High School. By far, one of the best experiences for her and all our family. We made new friends, who became family. I definitely recommend this experience for any student who wants to experience a unique time in Europe." Georgina M., Costa Rica

"I attended during the first year of the school. It was my first opportunity leaving the US and I had such an amazing experience with the close-knit professors and I am friends with my international classmates to this day! The classroom was active, we could have incorporated more technology though I am sure that has been updated now.

"We are changing during our life. That is a fact!

We change in school, by our friends, teachers, life surroundings. I can say that I’m different now. My school also gives me a feeling that everything will be fine with this world, that we are all the same, generally just people.

I remember my first night here, terrified after long traveling from the airport to school, worried how it will go, if it will go, or I will run back home after a week. Next day around the afternoon time I knew that it is going to be fine. Felt it deep inside. After more than six months I know that my feeling was right and this experience will be with me, unforgettable. I have been in boarding schools before, but only here I really understood how small this world is. How close we are to each other. What a family we are here.

It takes time, always a time to figure things out. To figure people, system, find your way. But after those six months I feel that I have my family here, my home. When I’m back at my country I even talk with my friends about this school using a word Home! As it is. I have my rituals here – morning showers after late night talking with friends from other rooms. Time when boys are passing by around 7 pm, to go for a dinner, sometimes I’m joining them, sometimes eating sandwiches from Simply – supermarket close to school.

67900_566613746698640_1566799816_nThere are three months left in this school, with these people. Sometimes I talk about that and it hit me like a hard ball straight in the face, that I have no idea how it will go there.. outside. This boarding school is my life now. And I do not know how I will manage without. If you want to come here, you have to understand that not everything always goes perfectly fine, we are so different, with our passions and mentalities, with our good and bad days. You have to respect that, always. Different feelings come, happiness about your friends who will run through whole school to keep you out of trouble even if it means trouble for them. Friendly knock by the door right in the moment. Great joke and laugh by dinner table. Moments when you feel that even in this short period of time, what actually feels ten times longer as it is, you can make a great family here.

So if you will be able not to love everyone and not cry at the end, I want to see you and shake your hand, because you are a master of emotions. ..Others, well.. we will cry!"

Elizabete, from Latvia, tells us more about her experience as a boarder at Notre-Dame International High School,

Five months, this was the amount of time that I stayed here at NDIHS. I had a great time. I just have to thank you- everybody: my colleagues and teachers.

During this time here, I had the opportunity to study in another country. I also got to know more about the French culture with our field trips and, of course, the fact that we are in France. I had the opportunity to know people from all parts of the world. I had friends from South Korea, Montenegro, Poland, US, Georgia, Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico, Romania, Philippines and also from my own country, Brazil. I am secure to say that knowing people from different countries changed my mind, some concepts that are no true, and talking to my friends I also had the opportunity to know a little about their country.

Living in the dorms was difficult in the first weeks, but it is really good to live with yours friends and colleagues. In the end it is really funny, you always have someone doing some kind of joke so you just can´t stop laughing! To have your place with your own mess- it´s also great, we see why our mothers don´t stop complaining about our disorganized rooms!
This was the best time that I ever had! Everything was right, even if it was wrong. Here I grew up, became a woman. Now I am returning to Brazil, and with me, along with heavy luggage, I´m bring an experience for life.

Thank you all!!!
Beatriz, Brazil​

Beatriz, from Brazil, after her Fall Semester at Notre-Dame

Why did you apply to NDIHS:
I wanted to experience French culture.

What were your expectations, fears?
Since this was the first time I was going far away from home I was nervous that I would be homesick, that I wouldn't have friends. That my teacher wouldn't be nice.

What's it like living in France, learning French, associating with French people?
Living in France is amazing. I love the culture and the language is beautiful. I have been lucky enough to have an amazing host family that has truly taken me in as part of the family and has done everything in the power to make me feel comfortable.

How do you feel now that you have been here for a while?
I feel more comfortable, when I first came everything was so new it was crazy for me, but now after being in France I feel much more a part of the culture.

What do you think you will have learnt from this experience?
A new language. Culture and people.

Do you think you have changed?
I think I have matured, I am more accepting of other people and I am happier.

What advice would you give to students coming?
Be open minded. Be accepting of other cultures and be friendly and social. Don't let your ideas of what people of certain countries are like get in the way of your relationships with people.

Alina, from the USA, has been interviewed by her classmate Sara, from Serbia, about her feelings been a student at Notre-Dame International High School

"I applied to NDIHS because I needed a place where I could stay at a dormitory or where I could live close to. One of the reasons I applied was because it said on the school website that they had a good curriculum.

I expected a very overly-strict atmosphere with no freedom at all. And very uptight teachers and staff .That was my biggest fear, no space to move and breath. And a wrongly controlled school with absolutely no input from students. And as dormitories schools are shown in the media as over disciplined. But when I arrived I didn't find it so oppressive and depressing at all.

I was actually shocked because we were using our own creativity a lot and the atmosphere was calm and easy to think, not uptight at all, and extremely good environment to absorb and give out information. The teachers' and students' attitudes were extremely good and for me probably the best feature, which helped me to improve my marks. Previously the school that I had been at earlier I didn't feel like the teachers believed in me very much. The students were also more sociable. I was not surprised by the French people as I had been in France for 2 years before. So the French people and their attitudes was something I was used to.

I think since I came I have become more confident in my studies, and also more knowledgeable about socializing with people of different cultures. I would recommend this school for people looking for a school with a good positive vibe and for an American type curriculum."

Tuleni, from Namibia, explains us why he decided to apply to study at Notre-Dame International High School