Centre International D'Antibes — Attraction in Grasse

I was very disappointed with the camp. It was not at all as advertised. I really do not recommend you send your children here. I wish I had read some of the reviews before signing up. Our 15 year old daughter spent 2 weeks there and came back with the following feedback:

Cleanliness and Hygiene a. The rooms they slept in were not clean. Under the bed was very dirty and the showers were dirty. b. There were rats in the kitchen and there were many incidents of kids getting sick after eating the meals.

Safety - it seems that although some strict rules were imposed, many infractions went overlooked and counselors did not always take their role seriously. a. There were several incidents where kids as young as 14 years old bought vodka and vapes and even though the counselors saw it in the room, did not say anything. Some of these girls got drunk for the first time in their life and did things they regretted. b. Campers also smoked in the vicinity of counselors without anyone telling them it is not allowed. The regulations said it was strictly prohibited but that was not the case. c. Boys were in girls room at night. Some 14 year old girls found themselves in uncomfortable situations. The counselors became aware of the events the following day but besides 2 who acknowledged the severity, the rest didn't seem to be affected, and nothing was done to ensure the events wouldn't happen again. d. A 14 year old girl was choked by a boy on 2 separate occasions and yet he still continued attending the camp as usual. e. A 14 year old got nose piercing, a 17 year old got a lip tattoo. While this happened off campus, when a parent sends their child to camp they expect them to be looked after. e. On the last day my daughter was bleeding and needed a few bandaids. She asked three different counselors who said they didn't have any. Does the camp not have a first aid kit? f. Her ride to the airport was 45 minutes late which resulted in an extremely rushed and unsafe drive through the roads in an attempt to get her to the airport on time. She arrived only 90 minutes before the flight departure time.

The general feeling is that she was unprotected. Fortunately, nothing serious happened to her but it could have, and that's a horrible feeling for a parent.

I shared all of this feedback with the camp but instead of received a response taking responsibility on their end and accountability for improvement, I got a response that mostly read "all's good here, everything is as...

If you are looking for a 50+ program, check carefully because this may not be what you think. The 50+ program website states you are in a class with a maximum of 6 and people at least 30 years of age. This is not the case. They place you in classes by level, regardless of age, and a maximum of 12 people. This school places an emphasis on grammar. I didn’t find the teacher or the school to be particularly encouraging or supportive. I found the level of customer service and professionalism to be lacking. I heard of several students that requested to be moved to a different class because they felt they were at a higher level. Some were approved, but not until after the first week. I think the school can be rather inflexible. However, the staff I communicated with for my enrollment was always very professional, nice and helpful.

The 50+ program is about the activities after the lessons. The activities were very nice. There was a visit to Cannes, St. Paul de Vence and a winery. St. Paul de Vence is famous from the painting of the couple by Marc Chagall and he is buried at the cemetery there. It's a quaint village on a hill with fantastic views. The winery tour was very special, we took a private tour of the interiors that had all been recreated from the original period. The young hosts that accompanied us on these excursions were very nice and full of energy.

Prior to arrival at the school, I was provided with the school’s Covid protocol. The school states they apply the testing regulations in accordance with the French government. The protocol stated everyone would be required to show either a negative Covid test result or proof of vaccination. This did not occur, I was not asked for my vaccination record anytime while attending the school. I asked several other students and I didn’t find one person that said they were required to show vaccination or a negative Covid test result. The school did not follow the Covid protocol.

The school is located on top of a hill with a nice view of Antibes and the sea, but there aren’t any other services, restaurants or stores, closer than a 10 minute walk. So they have a cafeteria on site, which reminds me of what you had when you were in elementary or high school. It was a school cafeteria. The Aragon residence is simple and clean at a reasonable price, but it is a 20 min walk from the school and is closer to Juan Les Pins than it...

I had the unfortunate experience of taking classes at this institute while staying at their lodging facilities in Juan Les Pins and later the apartments in Antibes. As for their courses, they are generic and not personalized at all. You are placed in a group at a certain level, and then move you around as they see fit, changing teachers and groups on a weekly basis. The courses are designed to be pretty random and open, so when they throw you around their school from class to class you are not put off by their lack of structure. Simply said, in real education centers, courses are structured, books are issued, syllabi are followed and the student is regularly tested to ensure they are learning. But since this institute works based on volume (the more students they have, the more the profit, bien sur), they reserve the right to move you around in other to accommodate other higher-paying students or groups, which I find pretty seedy in itself. This moving around based on who pays more also applies to their lodging. I was moved from a room to another three times in Juan les Pins, and then twice in Antibes, so they could again accommodate students that were coming in for more expensive packages or groups of students. I should also disclose the state of their lodging facilities: disgusting. They have the poor work/study students doing most of the cleaning work, but still, nobody ever cleans those blankets they issue. Fleas are common. As well as lost or stolen possessions. Nobody in the institute ever wants to take any responsibility for any such claims. When I was moved to Antibes, I was placed with a host family, who ended up being a host old lady living in a small apartment in which she sacrificed her bedroom in order to host students, while she slept in the living room every night. I never had any privacy, and of course had to follow ridiculous old-lady schedules. When I complained, I got the standard answer of "there's nothing we can do". All in all, I'd recommend for you to steer clear from this so called institute. There are better, REAL language institutes in the region, with clean facilities, which will treat you courteously and with the respect you deserve as a...