Noël PartagéShared Xmas

Each year, UA offers its international students the opportunity to experience Christmas with a local family from our staff.
Noël Partagé (Noël Partagé) was launched in 2019 at UA for several reasons: to make sure that international students weren't alone for the holidays (if they could not travel home to their families), give them an opportunity to experience local traditions and thereby be in complete cultural immersion and allow the university staff to meet international students and learn about foreign cultures.
Let's have a look at the 2022 edition:

Christmas is over, but we're not going to leave you without a review of the latest Shared Christmas operation launched at UA in December.
Let's rewind...

Once upon a time in 2019, UA offered international students and staff the chance to share Christmas for the first time.

In 2020, the virus that had everyone talking invited itself to the party ... so the party was cancelled!

Then in 2021, the Christmas spirit struck again and Shared Christmas took place with a few sanitary precautions.

Finally, in 2022, normal life resumed and Shared Christmas came back in force!

Thanks to the enthusiasm of several UA families, 15 international students were able to experience what Christmas is all about here.

So thank you all very much!

What do they say about this experience?

Aurélie wanted to host students to, in her words, "make my children understand the meaning of sharing and to give them the desire to learn, to get to know new things and new people". She is delighted with the experience: "We had a great time and my children were delighted to discover new cultures."

Albertine describes the experience as a pleasant moment of sharing and mutual discovery of other countries/cultures/traditions. It was a very enriching experience.

The students also shared this feeling!

Nargizakhon testifies: "I had a good time with a great family and I had interesting conversations." He adds, "I remember the cultural aspects of this experience - the table setting, the meal, the party."  #ThankyouMegan.

Olivia was thrilled: "Everything was perfect! I met a lovely family and the conversations allowed me to learn about their traditions."  #ThankyouAurelie

Ziqi recalls an unforgettable experience: "The family who hosted me was very nice. They even prepared gifts for us! It was a great experience!" #ThankyouLaurence

Meghan gets the last word: "It was so much fun to spend Christmas with another family and learn their traditions." #ThankyouCyril

So see you next year?

The families and students are on board - so are we! 11 more months to go - in the meantime, we wish you a wonderful year 2023!

Team Noël Partagé
International Office