Stepping into la Péniche at 27 rue de Saint Guillaume, the main building at Sciences Po, can feel like stepping into a crowded train station, with students buzzing everywhere looking determined or waiting for friends. The difference is that there are usually about a dozen students with flyers waiting to come up to you and pitch you their “associations” with a surprising intensity.
Associations at Sciences Po are essentially what we call “clubs” at Northwestern. If you tell a Sciences Po student you interested in joining a club, they might point you towards a sports team or an art class, not their associations, which are on an entirely different level and precious to the hearts of Sciencepistes (Sciences Po students). That is because of a particularly stressful process that happens at the beginning of every academic year in which associations battle each other for recognition by the school. Each association must receive 110 votes to be recognized, whether or not they have been successful in previous years, and each student can vote twice. There are 1600 French students at Sciences Po, and about 600 exchange students. To a leader of an association, finding an exchange student and getting them to invite their friends to vote can be the difference between months of work paying off or fizzling out.
As an international student, I was tempted to tune out the associations and only vote for the one or two that my French classmates pitched. I decided, however, to go up to one of the bustling tables in la Péniche and ask a French student about their association, and it has been a very rewarding decision. Joining an association has been a great way to meet other students, practice my language skills, and stay active in a cause I believe in.
The IJM Association table in la Péniche. Photo cred to Imèn Mesrera.
I joined an association called International Justice Mission Sciences Po, which is a (newly recognized 🙂 ) mirror of a club that I am in at NU. The IJM team has been incredibly welcoming, and it has been helpful to both of us to share ideas between campuses and across continents.
So, allez-y! Join an association! Even though you will only be there for a semester or two, you will make friendships and have experiences you won’t otherwise.