From Mexico to Antibes: Our PrepaTec Student Fair Tour

Updated September 2026 · 4 min read
By Centre International d’Antibes

This August, the Centre International d’Antibes travelled across Mexico to take part in the PrepaTec Student Fair.

Over several days, we visited 12 PrepaTec campuses, travelling from Guadalajara to Monterrey via Querétaro, Pachuca and Mexico City.

The goal was simple: meet students and their families, answer their questions about learning French in France and show them what an immersion experience in Antibes can actually look like.

And after quite a few campuses, conversations and kilometres, one thing was very clear: there is a real appetite among these students for international experiences.

12 campuses, several cities and a lot of conversations

Our PrepaTec tour took us through Guadalajara, Querétaro, Pachuca, Mexico City and Monterrey, meeting students and parents across 12 campuses.

Each stop was different, but the questions were often surprisingly similar.

What level of French do I need?

What is it like to study in France?

Where do students stay?

Will I meet people from other countries?

How much French will I speak outside class?

And, very importantly for some students: what is life in Antibes really like?

These conversations are exactly why attending events like this matters to us.

A brochure can explain a programme.

A website can show photos.

But speaking with a student and hearing what they are looking for is different.

Why Centre International d’Antibes and PrepaTec work together

PrepaTec students are already studying in an environment with a strong international outlook.

Its programmes place emphasis not only on academics, but also on languages, intercultural experiences and preparing students to study and live in increasingly international environments.

The PrepaTec Multicultural programme, for example, combines Spanish and English with a third language like French and places particular emphasis on intercultural experiences.

That international outlook is already a real part of student life. According to Tecnológico de Monterrey’s 2024 Annual Report, 52% of PrepaTec graduates had taken part in an international learning experience.

To meet the specific academic and international requirements of a school network, the Centre International d’Antibes has developed tailor-made programmes specifically for PrepaTec students. These include winter programmes, summer programmes and semester programmes, all built around French language learning and an immersive experience in France.

For the semester programmes, the experience goes even further. Students continue to follow PrepaTec academic classes alongside their French lessons, allowing them to spend an extended period in France without stepping away from their school curriculum.

The objective is therefore not simply to offer French courses in Antibes, but to create programmes that fit the academic, linguistic and international goals of PrepaTec and its students.

So, what does learning French in Antibes actually look like?

At the Centre International d’Antibes, learning French in France is not limited to what happens in the classroom.

Students study French in class, of course.

But they also use it while taking part in activities, exploring the Côte d’Azur, talking with other international students and navigating small everyday situations.

That can mean asking a question during an excursion.

Understanding instructions before an activity.

Buying something in town.

Or simply realising, halfway through a conversation, that you have been speaking French for the last ten minutes without really thinking about it.

That is the part of immersion that is difficult to reproduce in a classroom at home.

And that is why student life in Antibes matters too. The classes are important, but so are all the moments that happen around them.

From a stand in Mexico to a summer in France

There is something quite special about the distance between the two.

One day, we are speaking to a student at a PrepaTec campus in Mexico.

A few months later, that same student could be sitting in a French class in Antibes, discovering the old town, meeting someone from another country or trying to order something in French for the first time.

And for some PrepaTec students, that journey has already happened.

Earlier this summer, a group of PrepaTec students staying with us in Antibes gathered together to watch the opening match of the World Cup being played back home in Mexico.

It was one of those moments that says quite a lot about an international stay. Thousands of kilometres from home, they were supporting their country together, surrounded by international friends they had met in Antibes.

You can see that moment with our PrepaTec students on Instagram.

At first, Antibes may be just a name on the far side of a map.

Then, little by little, the blank space starts to fill in: faces, classrooms, streets, conversations and perhaps a stay in France they will never forget.

Thank you, PrepaTec

A huge thank you to the PrepaTec teams who welcomed us throughout the tour and made such an ambitious schedule run so smoothly.

And of course, thank you to all the students and families who stopped to speak with us.

We came back from Mexico with plenty of conversations in mind and, hopefully, some of those conversations will continue in Antibes.

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