ESSCA

Angers is not really a town with an amazing nightlife. Angers does have many pubs and cafes, but they are often small and pokey establishments which each feed off a very tiny number of regular customers. Most internationals during Jan-May 2002 hung out at either the James Joyce pub, the Dupon bar, or sometimes at the Sunset bar or L'Okapi. But I hardly had time for study because all the international students bonded together so well. All of us had turns in hosting house parties which were definitely the highlight of ESSCA's social life. It made for a very unique experience. Us internationals arranged a pub crawl though Angers, the concept of which seemed to be either incomprehensible or not good for business by the proprietors of some of the various small pubs (those familiar with students were more accommodating). A few reasonable dance clubs and band venues exist, but they are mostly out of town, without a car they can be hard to get to. One dance club, Le Metro, provides a free bus service from downtown Angers. During afternoons of good weather the cafes in Place du Railliement were quite relaxing to sit in for a chat and a chill out (Au Bureau or Le Theatre cafe). Beware Sundays in Angers, it can be very boring since everything is pretty much closed. The cinema "Les 400 Coups" screens many English language and foreign films in original version (with French subtitles). ESSCA's own BDE (student body) and AIESEC organise many nights out, in particular a few trips to Paris to go nightclubbing, and a few big bar nights in La Kaz (ESSCA's student bar), all of which the internationals were a big presence. I rate the social experience so high only because the internationals during my semester made such a good group and more than made up for any lack of interesting nightlife.

Enjoy yourself and don't worry too much about the studying, it's not that difficult to pass exams and you'll never get an opportunity like this again!