Fifteen years ago, Marie-Eve Scheibling accepted a one-year position at a Boston University program in Grenoble, France. Little did she know she would still be there today acting as the mother hen.
Scheibling, whom many of her students call a mother figure, said her favorite part of directing the study-abroad program in Grenoble is the personal interaction she has with students and the contact she maintains with them over the years.
“Yesterday, I saw a student from eight years ago who did the program and met his wife in the program and is now married to her with two kids,” said Scheibling, the program’s resident director.
In addition to studying the French language and being integrated into French culture, Scheibling hosts dinners and parties and offers a touch of home with events like a Thanksgiving soiree for students studying in the fall semester of the Grenoble Language and Liberal Arts program.
“It’s like being a mother,” Scheibling said, “but I’m not their mother. I like to inspire them to do things, to live differently, to explore the world.”
The Grenoble program involves a full immersion, which helps students learn from a first-hand experience, Scheibling said.
“It opens their eyes to a different world since it’s a completely French environment,” she said.
Scheibling, who moved to Grenoble when she was 14 and stayed in France to study in college, organizes the various programs in the city, including organized trips throughout France. Scheibling taught at BU for 10 years as a French professor.
“I love Boston and I love Grenoble,” Scheibling said. “I’m very lucky because I can work for Boston in Grenoble, so it kind of gave me a second career. I have the best of both worlds.”
College of Arts and Sciences senior Maggie Doyle said she “really grew up a lot” during the program because it offered much more life experience than simply attending the Universite de Grenoble and staying with a French host family.
“Being out of an area where you’re comfortable, I really developed a sense of independence,” Doyle said.
CAS and College of Communication senior Jody Stein said despite the independence and the unfamiliar environment, Scheibling brings all students together.
“She gives weekly updates and she’ll put together a newsletter with the schedule, events, films, restaurants, birthdays and historical background of places you travel to,” Stein said.
School of Management senior Emily Bradford, who spent a semester there, said she liked the total immersion aspect of the program.
“I really put myself out there when I was [in Grenoble] because I knew I would never have this chance again, and I was a lot more open to change than I would have been in the U.S,” she said.