Ever dream of earning college credit while exploring the beauty and culture in the south of France?

Thanks to a newly revamped program at Wayne State, it doesn't have to be a dream.

Wayne au Soleil, French summer studies at the Centre International de Valbonne in Sophia Antipolis - Cannes, France, gives students the opportunity to put their knowledge of the French language to a real test.

The program provides six weeks of intense practice for upper-division undergraduate students as well as allowing graduate students to refine their understanding of more subtle and complex issues like cultural diversity, gender relations, political structures and business ethics.

Fabienne-Sophie Chauderlot, an assistant professor in the department OI Romance languages and literatures, runs the program, which is open to both WSU students and students from other schools.

Participants must have passed three semesters of college French or the equivalent as assessed by Chauderlot. Overall cost of stay for Wayne students is about $2,30O, not including course fees, airfare, lunch and dinner, local transportation and personal expenses. Total cost is about $4,500. No money is made from the program.

"I knew the area and wanted something the opposite of Detroit," she said. "Not so urban but in a countryside, yet somewhere with a fun lifestyle."

Students take a minimum of two classes and a directed study is available as well, so it is possible to finish the program with 12 credits in six weeks. Class is held each day from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. but afternoons and Saturdays are free. A group excursion is planned each Sunday and those events can range from a jazz festival to a treasure hunt in a market town. Excursion day is the only day students are allowed to speak English.

"Their final exam is on the outside, I give them an assignment and they have to go out and talk to people to get the answers," Chauderlot said. "It's a constant challenge because they have to find their way around. They don't really know what it's like to speak a foreign language so the progress they make is exponential."

Some of the excursions are determined by what the group wants to do. For instance, one of Chauderlot's unexpected and most time-consuming tasks this summer was making wedding arrangements for one of the participants, whose fiancé flew in from Michigan.

Jessica Van Assche of Ferndale said she and her fiancé, Anthony, had discussed his going to France for the last week of the program and he suggested they marry while he was there. The couple didn't know what was required to marry in France, so Chauderlot got the information. She found the church, the priest, got proof the couple had been baptized in a Catholic church in the United States, designed the flower arrangements herself and reserved a restaurant for the reception. All in about three weeks.

"It was absolutely fairy tale-like," Van Assche said. "Fate really went above and beyond the call of duty. She has great organizational skills."

Participants need to be flexible and open to new experiences, Chauderlot said.

"It's a different mode of thinking and it gets you to a different way of life," Chauderlot said. "I hope it opens people's minds."

Chauderlot is recruiting students now for next summer's program. For more details on the program call (313) 577-6241 or check the Foreigh Language Technology Center Web site.