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?

Exam Procrastination

As I take a break from revising Algebra, I have been considering the differences in the teaching and exam styles here.   A major difference is the length of the lessons, and their frequency.  In my home university, each period is 50 minutes long, and I typically have between 2 and 4 lectures per subject per week, depending on the weighting of each course.  Here, each period is 80 minutes, with a 10 minute break between each.  I have a single lecture, and a double period tutorial for each course every week.  More emphasis is placed on the tutorials, where most teaching is done.  Compared to my home university, where there is an expectation of self-studying and completing the exercise sheets individually, this is a large difference.

Another difference is the assessments.  Whilst I am accustomed to a large part of my mark resting on a final exam at the end of the course, here the assessment is divided.  There are “devoir maison”, which is an exercise sheet to be handed in for marking, and “devoir surveillé”, which is a mid-term exam on what has been studied until then under timed conditions.  In addition to these, there is a final exam once the course has ended.  However, even these exams are different.  Here, there is no credit for partial answers.  Whereas I am used to showing my working within the bounds of the answer paper, here I am expected to work on rough paper and only write my final answer on my script.  This has been difficult to adjust to, but does ensure that I polish any proofs that I offer.

The other most noticeable difference is the scale of marks used: all marks are out of 20.  Whilst different universities in the UK set different boundaries for degree classification, most work with percentages, which are also used for A-Levels.  So as a product of the British system, I find percentages easier to understand, and expect that different exams will have different pass marks.  The system here is less subjective, as every subject at every level follow the same system with marks given out of 20, and a pass is 10 or above.  When the marks available for each question isn’t given, it makes time management somewhat difficult, which is only increased as I don’t wear a watch.  Perhaps I should ask for one for my birthday.

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Cultural Exports

The other evening, I took the time to see “Rien a Declarer” – “Nothing to Declare” at the cinema.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film, which deals with racism on the Franco-Belgium border after the removal of land borders as the Schengen area was implemented in 1993.  The idea of racism between two such cultures with an identical heritage is ludicrous, which is what makes the film so funny.  Yet whilst its release here and also in Belgium will be fairly wide-spread, I expect that only specialist cinemas in the UK will show it.

Why have I formed this expectation?  Whilst many British and American blockbusters gain wide release in countries where English is not the standard language, via subtitles and dubbing the original, the translation of foreign language films into English is uncommon.  Yet I can look forward to seeing most English language films here, either dubbed or subbed as I should wish.

We export every aspect of our culture: language, films, music, literature.  But we aren’t interested in learning any other countries culture.  Are the advantages to each balanced out?  And is there reason to stop the trend?  It’s an interesting issue.

 

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?

Language Improvements

Well, there’s been something of a dearth of posts over the past couple of months.  I suppose that’s because as the novelty wears off and I become accustomed, I find fewer things to comment on.  Such as 8am starts, and 90 minute long lectures.  I should remember not to complain about 9am lectures when I return to my home Uni for my final year.

Something that I am pleased about is my apparent progress in French.  When I arrived in August and first attended lectures,  I could understand what was written on the board, but very little of what was spoken.  Now, the explanations are clearer, and my classmates have noticed my improved ability.  However, as I write I am attempting to chat to a classmate.  To say that some troubles are arising would be an understatement – I don’t understand the abbreviations or the text speak that she is using.  I guess that will be my next challenge!

 

Signing off,

Erasmus Who?