malacoda

Hi everyone, So, this is my first post here, let me know if there's a more specific place buried somewhere around the forum where I should be posting this… Anyway, I'm an undergraduate senior Comparative Literature major. I've just finished off (most) of my applications for graduate Comparative Literature programs, and I'm also working on fellowship applications to study for a year in France. Right now I concentrate more on English and Italian than anything else (I spent a year in Italy), but I'd like to pull in French as well as a graduate student. Ideally, I'd hope to get into graduate school, then defer for a year to work on my French. But--for a number of reasons personal and practical, I've been wavering about whether another full year abroad is necessarily the greatest idea. I think I will definitely try to spend the summer in France, to try and get in a good three months or so of language practice, which I hope would make a difference before I begin my graduate work. Anyway, I guess my big question is: would it be foolish for me to pass up this coming year to study abroad? Given that I'm a comparatist interested in language study? Or do graduate students tend to find summers and/or whatever they manage while working on their dissertations to be adequate immersion time? Thanks!