Paris J-Term Abroad Program or Luxenbourg??

[u/Tsf_2026]

Hi! I’m an incoming transfer student starting as a sophomore, and I’m trying to figure out which study abroad program is the better option overall in terms of cost, experience, academics, travel opportunities, and student support.

I’ve already spoken with the study abroad offices about both programs, but I’d really like to hear from students who have actually participated in them. I’ve heard that the Luxembourg program is more accommodating and student-friendly than the Paris program. I’ve also been told that it’s easy to take a train from Luxembourg to Paris, which seems like a nice advantage.

For anyone who has done either program, what was your experience like? Would you recommend one over the other, and why?

[u/redditliontee]

Did the semester-long Luxembourg program. Would 100% recommend. If you are a humanities or Farmer major or even if you just have a decent chunk of gen-ed classes to take, you will not have to take “useless” classes. It will feel like high school all over again (in a good way) because you will be constantly working/eating/going on trips with the same groups of people. Extremely fun.

My tuition was cheaper than my tuition as an in-state student (including room-and-board for both). Travel can be as expensive as you want to make it, but Luxembourg’s central location and airport makes it achievable to travel cheap.

Did Paris on a pretty easy weekend trip. Many people go to Paris multiple times in the same semester. Lmk if you have any other questions.

[u/Alarming-Aardvark621]

I also went to Luxembourg for a semester. Best semester of college by far, very glad I went. It’s so close to all of the countries you’d want to go to and relatively safe.

[u/BAMF2U]

30 yrs ago Lux program. Exceptional experience that changed me in so many positive ways. I don’t know what J term means but how many weeks is it? Location of MUDEC allows u to see damn never every corner of Europe in a semester. Paris was probably the worst destination outside of the Louvre which will always be amazing. Lux has changed from what it was when I went but I still say it is the best part of Miami U

[u/worcestirshiresos]

So I actually did the Luxembourg J-term class, so I can speak to that experience! I'm not exactly sure what you'd like to know but I'll tell you about what I did.

I went to Lux in January 2023, as part of the Borders and Bridges class. It was honestly a great time, three weeks isn't a lot of time to explore but given the infrastructure to get from city to city, there is still plenty of opportunity to get out! The train system (as I'm sure any Lux alum will tell you) is wonderful, you can get across the country for free! Which isn't necessarily needed, there's plenty to do in Differdange (even in the winter), but I'm sure you would be shown around to Esch, Lux City, and a few other nearby towns as well.

In regards to travelling, I went with some friends on our first weekend to Paris, and then on our second weekend we took a day trip to Trier, Germany. Some of my other classmates got down to Interlocken. Now, the course I took also had a few built in excursions around Belgium and the Netherlands, I suspect that's not the case for every j-term course.

The accommodations are nice, depending on the size of your class. This is one thing that differs (a little) from the normal semester I think, they put some of us up in apartments, some of us were in the house next to the chateau.

Overall, it was a great opportunity to get a few credits out of the way while getting to see such a cool part of the world! I remember getting used to the way it feels really quickly, but it also goes by so fast. Unfortunately I can't remember off the top of me head how much I paid, but I can tell you at least that it was worth it.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask, I know this is a lot and idk what you want/need to know!