One student's international experience in France

Interview by Rob Taylor

 

1. So Stephanie, what university did you go to?
   I went to Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.

    

2. And which country did you go for your exchange?
   I spent my third year of university studying in France.

    

3. Was this something that you did through Trent or something that you arranged through another organization? If you did it through Trent, was it part of your program curriculum?
   The program is organized through the French departments at Trent University and the University of Waterloo. (I believe that the program now includes students from the University of Toronto.) I don't know how the selection process worked at other schools, but at Trent we were required to apply for the program, to interview and to have a certain academic level.

    

4. Did a French student come to Canada to study while you went to France?
   No, it was a study-abroad program, not an exchange program. We did not change places with French students.

    

5. How much money did you have to raise yourself for the trip and how much money in total did the exchange cost?
   My parents were able to help me out and I worked a full-time job all summer to contribute as much as I could. Tuition was paid to Trent, and was about $4000, if I recall correctly.
   
   I also had to pay my airfare to France, and we had to prove that we had a certain amount of money (I've no recollection of how much it was) in order to satisfy the French officials.
   
   The costs of residence were not very high, compared to rent back in Peterborough, and groceries were about the same.

    

6. What part of France did you live in and for how long?
   I was in France for a little over nine months. I lived in Nantes, which historically is a part of Brittany, but which was moved (relatively recently) to the administration of Pays de la Loire. The people are proud of the region's Breton heritage, and in some areas there are schools to teach the old Breton language to children.

    

7. How close is that to Paris?
   Nantes is on the west side of France, halfway between Paris and Bordeaux. It's about 6 hours by car southwest of Paris. It's about two hours on the super-fast bullet train, the TGV.

    

8. Who did you live with? Did you live in a house or an apartment?
   I lived in a student residence. I had my own room with a sink and a bidet (very useful for storing dirty dishes) and shared a bathroom and shower with 15 or so others on my floor.

    

9. What did you notice was different about life in France?
   One thing I never quite got adjusted to was lunchtime. All stores, even grocery stores, close for a couple of hours at lunch. This is so people can go home (or to a restaurant) for lunch. This was just so foreign to me - I often forgot and tried to go to the grocery store at lunchtime!
   
   The kitchen in the residence was a stove-top (no oven) with four burners. Fridges were separated into compartments (with locks) and I had to share that small compartment with three other people.

    

10. Where did you go to school?
    I studied at the Université de Nantes. I studied English to French translation, philosophy, history and literature.

     

11. How did you get to and from school?
    The school was not too far from the residence - it would likely take about 45 minutes to walk there. I did walk it when there was a transit strike. Otherwise, I had a monthly pass for the city transit system of buses and trams (like streetcars). The pass allowed for unlimited rides.
    
    The transit was great - it was always on schedule. Except when it was on strike.

     

12. How was school different in France compared to Canada?
    We had two classes taught by a professor from Trent, and three classes taught by French professors. It was the classes taught by the French that were really different: assignments were to be hand-written (a big shock to those in the group who had trucked their computers, adapters, and all that stuff overseas), and were marked on a very different scale than we were used to.
    
    There was an academic average requirement to be accepted to the program, and we were all used to marks in the high B to low A range. When we got our first assignments back from our French professors, with marks ranging from 8 out of 20 to 12 out of 20, we nearly cried. The professors couldn't understand our dismay - apparently these were normal marks for French students. We were told that professors in France normally do not give over 14 out of 20.

     

13. How was student life different compared to Canada? What do students do in their spare time?
    One thing I found really different was that most students in France go to their local university. Almost all of the French students I knew went home for weekends, and already had friends from secondary school, which made it hard to get to know them. (Other students in my program became friends with French students, so it wasn't a universal experience.)
    
    The idea of a university residence is very different in France. The international students got a lot of strange looks when they left their dorm room doors open to encourage communication and conversation. French students didn't seem to want to socialize much within the residence. The other thing was that students in the residence did not all attend the same school. Some students were studying at the university, but others were at the engineering school. The residence was not really affiliated with the schools at all.
    
    As far as I could tell, French students spent a lot of time smoking, drinking really strong coffee out of really small cups, and wearing impossibly chic fashions.

     

14. French students are famous for being politically active and striking on issues both academic and national. Did you see any strikes or were you surprised at how politically active students were?
    I saw a lot of strikes, but none of them were student strikes. Most often we had transit strikes (affecting either inner-city transit like buses and trams or the national railway service) or bank strikes.

     

15. How much of France (or Europe) did you get to see while you were there?
    There were trips organized for us within France, to Mont St. Michel, for example, and to some chateaux in the Loire Valley. We went in a large group with other international students (mostly Germans) and paid extra for this.
    
    Train tickets to Paris were not too expensive and many students went for weekend visits. Others took advantage of the relatively cheap bus and train fares and spent long weekends in Spain, Amsterdam, Italy and other European countries.
    
    At spring break two friends and I took the train to the south of France, and visited Aix en Provence, Avignon, Orange and Arles. At the end of the school year, I visited Berlin, Vienna and Prague on my own.

     

16. What was your favourite memory of France?
    Well, that's a difficult question to answer. While I was there, there were times when I was miserable and lonely, and wanted to come home. I wanted to buy real milk (there is milk in Europe that doesn't have to be refrigerated - that's weird!), buy reasonably-priced English books, and watch North American television, but as soon as I got home, I realized how much I missed it.
    
    In retrospect, I remember being really proud of the improvements in my French - it improved more in those nine months than in two years of being a French student.
    
    I also really loved going to football (soccer) matches and cheering on the Nantes team and writing with a fountain pen - that's just so French to me!
    
    One of the things I really miss is the European architecture. I loved the almost total lack of skyscrapers, the twisting cobblestone streets, and the gorgeous old buildings. I was a history major, and I just found it wonderful to truly realize that there are so many buildings that were built before Canada was a country!

     

17. What was your favourite food?
    Living on the coast, we had amazing fresh seafood. I developed a taste for fresh raw oysters with a red wine vinegar dressing - I haven't had oysters half as good since I came back! (My mouth is watering as I type this!)
    
    I also have to mention the bread. Fresh baguettes every day - amazing. And the pastries: fresh croissants, pain au chocolat (puff pastry with chocolate inside), chausson aux pommes (like an apple turnover with flaky pastry) … so good, and not very expensive. As well, a lot of varieties of European cheese were available for not a lot of money.
    
    We ate a lot of bread, cheese and tomatoes.

     

18. How's that French wine?
    I actually am not a big fan of wine, but I did enjoy the apple-based and slightly alcoholic cider that you can get in the region. It goes well with crepes, another regional specialty. If you're into wine, though, you can get really good wine for not a lot of money. You can also buy wine at the supermarket.

     

19. Have you been back to France since your exchange?
    I've been back to France once since the year abroad, and we did visit Nantes. We visited my host family and went to some really good restaurants that I couldn't afford to go to when I was a student!

     

20. Do you keep in touch with your host family?
    I really lucked out with my host family. While a lot of the students spent minimal time with their assigned family, mine really became friends. They invited me for dinner on Sundays, and took me on day trips to small seaside towns that I never would have visited without them. They were so generous with their time; they are really incredible people.
    
    When my parents came to visit me in the spring, we all went out for dinner together, and two years after I came home, they came to Toronto to visit and came for a meal at our house.

     

21. If you knew a student going to study abroad, what advice would you give her?
    Take advantage of the opportunity.
    
    Know that there are going to be times when you're lonely and sad, and there are times when you'll be so homesick you'll want to cry. Some of the food and customs will seem weird, and the teachers will expect things you've never considered.
    
    But you will learn both academically and personally. You will know yourself better, and be a braver, more confident person because of it.