Conservative viewpoints

This scares me. Regardless of my own views on abortion, the knowledge that a woman died because of religious views of a state is frightening.  I find that I am grateful for having been brought up in a relatively secular society, with a separation between the Church and the State.  As much as 90% of the schools here are run by the Catholic Church.  A further 5% by the Church of Ireland.  What this continued religious separation will do for the country, I dare not comment.  Whilst I went to a denomination school myself, it was certainly open to students of all religious backgrounds.  Does that suggest that “secularism” allows for more freedom, more openness and tolerance?

It may not always be possible to do the right thing, but at the very least we can decide to do no evil.  I don’t think I want to live somewhere so prescriptive.

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Copyright Libraries

I love copyright libraries.  Or rather, I love having access to a copyright library.  Whilst I still have to compete with others for access to course textbooks and be thoroughly comfortable with the online catalogue, for any less popular item I can simply ask for access – et voilà – the item arrives.  Items that my previous university library would not have.  I might grumble about the more restricted borrowing rights here – they are even worse for undergraduate students – but the sheer volume of material available is fantastic.

I knew that there was a reason to study here.

 

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Currency exchange

Prices vary from place to place within the UK.  One would expect the same to occur throughout the Eurozone also.  With the exchange rate in flux, one might expect further price discrepancies.  But not as large as what I have viewed recently.  The exchange rate currently hovers around 1.20€ to £.  Yet, socks priced at £6 are priced at €9 here; a top worth £10 sells for €14, and a £40 textbook is sold for €57 (the direct conversion would be €49).  Overpricing is clear, but is there more going on?

VAT may give a hint: the standard rate is 23% – higher than the 20% in the UK.  Nor is it so very long ago that the UK had VAT at 15%.  But 3% would cause a value change in pennies, not pounds.  Are the retailers hiding behind the excuse of currency fluctuations and taxes?  Are they artificially affecting the exchange rate?  Is it simply that the cost of living here in Dublin is higher than the UK – even than London?

I don’t know.  But I feel the effects on my wallet.

 

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

First week

A whole week of lectures has now passed.  Yet it feels like nothing at all, like I’m still on holiday.  That maybe because I have only 6 hours contact time, which feels like nothing at all.  I’ve been assigned some reading for my Describing Grammar course, which I have started.  However, some of the authors waffle a great deal.  Instead of making the point, giving a simple and straightforward example, then moving on, these authors use several analogies to say the same thing three times over.  This chapter is particularly irritating for its long-winded explanations.  However, I can see plenty of opportunity to apply mathematical concepts to much of the grammatical theory.  As a language system achieves complexity via recursion, this could be modeled using a mixture of set theory and formal mathematical logic.  I should consider it a good exercise, to keep my mathematical skills honed.

I have also had some fascinating linguistic discussions with my course mates, such as I never had when studying maths.  Language seems more open to vocal discourse, particularly at a broad, basic level.  Possible assignment topics mentioned so far have ranged from studying the change of a dialect over time, the etymology of how a loanword became anglicised, to trends in adjective-adjective constructions.  I expect this shall be an interesting course.

 

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

New Horizons

Erasmus Who travels again!  This time, not as an Erasmus student – just a lowly international postgraduate who has learnt from previous experience.  I arrived in Dublin just over two weeks ago in order to find accommodation.  Last weekend, I was successful in that hunt, and now I seek a flatmate instead.  I’ve successfully registered as a student, and obtained a shiny student card.  I do like the certainty that that entails – I’m no longer in limbo between courses.  Today, I also managed to connect to the university wifi network, which will save me some considerable money at cyber cafes as I have yet to set up the internet at my flat.  Sadly, it may be some time before that delightful student card will open the door to the 1937 reading room, dedicated 24/7 to postgraduate studies.

I’m looking forward to meeting others on my course, and a little nervous.  Thus far, I have thought of myself as a mathematician and a scientist.  Now, I must change that self-perception.  My new base is firmly in the Arts building, together with other Social Sciences, at the other end of campus from the Science and Engineers of my comfort zone.  Still, it will be an adventure of another kind.  This year, the culture differences will be far more subtle.

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Done!

This Erasmus student has successfully completed an undergraduate degree, complete with 2.1 honours.

Now, I plan to visit Bordeaux for a few days. Then, from September, I shall study a course in Linguistics, aiming for a masters qualification.

Preparations

Whilst my year as an Erasmus student has now finished, I have not yet completed my time as a student.  Having spent the summer with my parents, I will shortly return to university in the United Kingdom.  Once there, I hope to continue with driving lessons, which I started in July.  I also plan to progress further with my Duke of Edinburgh award by working towards the skills section and possibly the physical activity section as well.

Ambitious plans for a final year student: this is the year I must work the hardest.  I expect to work on a Mathematics project on Group Theory.  This is a fascinating area of pure mathematics, which has applications in advanced chemistry and physics.  Nor shall I neglect the language skills that have taken me so far – there is a French course which I mean to study.  However, these courses are all for third year students – those who started two years ago, in 2009.  I started in 2008.  Thus, the colleagues that I began my studies have largely moved on, and yet again I shall work with a new group of students that I do not know, although this time, they will mostly be younger than me.  A contrast to Erasmus, where I was largely the youngest of the group.  Still, I suppose I will garner more practice at building friendships.

Time to start packing.

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Packing up

Well, this is it.  My last day as an Erasmus student in Bordeaux.  I’ve bought my flight home for this evening, packed my bag and cleared out my room.  Today is one of those few rainy days here, which suits my mood perfectly.  In packing up, I’ve realised one thing: I don’t want to leave.  As my friends back home remind me, returning to the UK means I will see my friends and family that I haven’t seen for 6 months.  Yet leaving here means that I may never see some of my friends here again.  Beyond that, I like this city.  I like the culture here, the weather, its proximity to the beach and to good wine.  I like being an international student, where being different is the norm.  This year has been truly amazing, so I do not want it to end.

I have achieved much this year.  I am now fluent in French, and can understand legal documents.  I can study Mathematics in French, to a similar standard of native speakers.  I know now that I can live abroad, away from friends or family, and start fresh in a new city, a new country, and flourish.  I have learnt more about the culture, and recognise that living somewhere lends more insights than simply visiting.  I am more confident in my abilities, and feel more a European citizen than ever before, and more positive towards the EU.  Given all that, I can certainly say that I am a successful Erasmus student!

 

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Advantages of Erasmus

A recent conversation with my flat-mate made me consider the advantages of the Erasmus scheme.  We discussed the variations between healthcare in our respective home countries and here in France.  The consensus we reached was that it was far easier at home, where we understand the system.  Then, Münster Girl stated that she is unlikely to settle abroad, that she would now prefer to stay in Germany.  On the other hand, I have whetted my appetite for living in a foreign country.  Not simply visiting for a few short days as a tourist, but fully living, working and studying in another country.  With the time span allowed as an Erasmus student, I have had the freedom to understand the culture far more.  I visited France several times before this year, yet I can honestly say that this year, I learnt more than in the 10 years previously spent studying French.

Now, I look to the future.  I have one more year left of my undergraduate degree in my home university to complete, so I have been considering my options.  I would love to learn more about languages and culture, more formally than the observations I have made this year.  So I consider some Masters degrees, whilst looking for jobs that interest me.  Ideally, such a job would make use of my high level Mathematics skills, with the opportunity to work abroad long-term.  However, the combination of both Mathematics and language skills, whilst both are individually sought after, seems rather uncommon.  A pity, as the two areas are similar in many ways.  Hopefully, something interesting will turn up in time.

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Running out of Time

The past month has been rather busy.  Now into the final part of the academic year, exams have decided to rear their ugly head.  Between studying, I celebrated my birthday with friends by visiting Miroir d’Eau – a water mirror situated near the river, and partly shown in the banner at the top of this page.  It was a lovely day spent with friends, although unfortunately rather too sunny.  My pale English skin was soon sunburnt.  However, as I was with friends who are much darker than me, I found it difficult to persuade them to move out of the sun.  So I spent most of a week lathering moisturiser onto my shins, which had turned lobster pink.  This was followed by a week without a computer, as my laptop charger broke.  I managed a full 5 days of computer abstinence, before I gave in and visited the cyber café.  Fortunately, these issues have now been resolved – I hope!

On a more sombre note, I discovered that my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and went for an operation earlier this month.  There’s not much I can do for her whilst I am here in Bordeaux, but I have signed up for Race for Life.  This is a 5km race, organised by Cancer Research UK.  Please sponsor me, and help me raise as much money for this charity as possible.  The link is also found at the top of this page, just under the banner.

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?