It turns out the education Folarin Balogun received in England was scant preparation for this trip across the Channel.
'I did a bit of French in school but it wasn't enough,' the 21-year-old smiles. All he could remember? 'Just bonjour…ca va,' he says. 'There wasn't much more than that.'
Fortunately, his years spent studying at Arsenal's Hale End Academy, and a brief secondment to Middlesbrough, stood him in rather better stead.
'In the beginning there was a lot of anxiety,' admits the young striker, who is spending the season with Stade de Reims.
'But as time has passed, I've just applied myself and adapted to the culture as best I could.