Unlike most of the freshmen of BYU, I do not live in Heritage, Helaman or Wyview; however, I do live on campus. Most people do not know about the Foreign Language Student Residence, and I really think it’s a shame because this experience is one of the greatest I have ever had.
In the FLSR, we get to live with students who want to learn a specific language, and we are divided in apartments by languages. I speak French, so I live in the French house and must speak French with my roommates. There is a wide choice of languages — this semester there are eight.
Everyone in each house gets to know the others very well, because each evening we have dinner together and have to speak the foreign language. It’s such an asset to be fluent in a second language, and the FLSR helps immerse us in a language.
We also meet with all the other houses several times a week, which allows us to live in a very international environment. We discover new cultures and languages. It is a very enriching experience socially and culturally.
I wish the FLSR was well known by the students, especially the freshmen, because there are still a lot of rooms available that need to be filled or some of the foreign houses will be closed. When freshmen think about on-campus housing, they immediately think about Heritage, Helaman or Wyview simply because they do not know about the FLSR.
I also think the FLSR needs to be better known by international students because they can apply to be a Language Facilitator. For me, being an LF is a great experience. I get to speak my native language and am also able to teach it to the others.
I would really like BYU to promote the FLSR to show students what a great experience it is and how enriched you can be after spending even one semester there.
Justine Carré
Reimes, France
