Erasmus to France

insinkerator

Im not gonna be going until 3rd year(im in 1st year now) but has anyone gone on an erasmus trip to france through UCC(or anywhere else for that matter)?

What was it like?
Are the colleges out there supportive of you, and do you get any help from your own college while out there?

alexjk

I don't know if you have Toulouse as an option as I haven't met any UCC people here but I would avoid it like the plague. French colleges are quite different to Irish colleges. Things like picking modules take 2-3 weeks and without the slightest exaggeration I would start putting money away now for it because French landlords demand French garantors though some student complexes will take you in if you are willing to pay sometimes up to 12 months rent in advance(even if you're only here 10 months). French colleges seem to be universally lacking in Powerpoint presentations which makes notetaking even trickier! and I got diagnosed with a chronic illness here and the college could care less, though my home university in Ireland are actually quite good about it. I would honestly go for as big a city as you can find. I wouldn't worry about not getting French practice in, this was a misconception I had before I left which is why I picked a small city.

insinkerator

i have been toying around with the idea of strasbourg, but because its like and EU hub as well as so near germany, i get the impression that i wont get the full french 'experience' if you know what i mean.

I think we have a choice between paris, strasbourg and grenoble, and perhaps somewhere else i cant remember

Will

I went to Lyon on erasmus to a grand ecole (more or less an engineering college)

Anyway had an amazing time abroad. However the french college system is hardcore!! I ended up failing the year and so did a few of the other people with me. :-/

We had class from 8 - 12, 2 hour lunch then labs/tutorials from 2 - 6. If we missed more than 2 labs or tutorials in a particular subject we were not allowed sit the exam.

I had a whale of a time, learned a foreign language, made great friends from all over but failed the year and had to repeat it back here in Ireland.

Would I do it again? Yes
Would I do it again in France? No

College back here was useless and so was our erasmus co-ordinator in the french univeristy

paulgreene

insinkerator wrote: »

i have been toying around with the idea of strasbourg, but because its like and EU hub as well as so near germany, i get the impression that i wont get the full french 'experience' if you know what i mean.

I think we have a choice between paris, strasbourg and grenoble, and perhaps somewhere else i cant remember

france got the spanish and marocco & algeria experience in the south, german on the west, irish on the west, they got the mountains ans the sea, well, that's france, a vast choice! and with the new tgv, you wont' be too far from paris, the melting pot

paulgreene

insinkerator wrote: »

i have been toying around with the idea of strasbourg, but because its like and EU hub as well as so near germany, i get the impression that i wont get the full french 'experience' if you know what i mean.

I think we have a choice between paris, strasbourg and grenoble, and perhaps somewhere else i cant remember

:DParis.... capital of the world!:D

yeah_ok

hi

a good friend of mine went to toulouse a couple of years back and had a fantastic time. i dont think the college aspect was fantastic but he thoroughly enjoyed his time away and recommends it to anyhbody who'll listen!

Michellenman

Does anyone know if Erasmus is confined to EU colleges? I'm studying French and was wondering if there was any way to go to Montreal in Quebec.

I know the French isn't EXACTLY the same but surely it's similar enough?

yeah_ok

Michellenman wrote: »

Does anyone know if Erasmus is confined to EU colleges? I'm studying French and was wondering if there was any way to go to Montreal in Quebec.

I know the French isn't EXACTLY the same but surely it's similar enough?

as fair as i know the 'erasmus' is just in europe. if u were going elsewhere i think its called 'socrates' or something similar.

also,id say the french is similar enough in quebec alright, but theere probably would be some regional differences but i doubt if they would be too big

tolosenc

yeah_ok wrote: »

as fair as i know the 'erasmus' is just in europe. if u were going elsewhere i think its called 'socrates' or something similar.

Nope, they're both EU only. Erasmus is the 3rd level subset of Socrates(which is actually called "Lifelong Learning Programme" now).

It's really up to your college whether you'll go away or not if you apply. On an Erasmus, you get a grant and won't need a visa, if you go to Quebec, you'd be paying for it by yourself, plus living costs.

I'm going to Le Mirail in Toulouse in September (if the Erasmus coordinator gets his finger out, that is). Anyone have advice?

alexjk

obl wrote: »

Nope, they're both EU only. Erasmus is the 3rd level subset of Socrates(which is actually called "Lifelong Learning Programme" now).

It's really up to your college whether you'll go away or not if you apply. On an Erasmus, you get a grant and won't need a visa, if you go to Quebec, you'd be paying for it by yourself, plus living costs.

I'm going to Le Mirail in Toulouse in September (if the Erasmus coordinator gets his finger out, that is). Anyone have advice?

I would say don't go if you have other option!I'm there right now and the college never came back for 2nd semester (which should have started in February). The lecturers are awful too, I wrote a post above about it.I would really recommend choosing another city as it is also quite difficult to get here.aer lingus stop flying to Toulouse between the end of October and March, Ryanair go to Carcassone (a metro,train then bus journey away) 4 times a week.

Mygsy

obl wrote: »

Nope, they're both EU only. Erasmus is the 3rd level subset of Socrates(which is actually called "Lifelong Learning Programme" now).

It's really up to your college whether you'll go away or not if you apply. On an Erasmus, you get a grant and won't need a visa, if you go to Quebec, you'd be paying for it by yourself, plus living costs.

I'm going to Le Mirail in Toulouse in September (if the Erasmus coordinator gets his finger out, that is). Anyone have advice?

You can go to French Outre-mer dept. DOMTOM or whatever there called for example La Réunion becos they r technically in the EU.
And Toulouse is Brillant! Had the best year of my life there, and im heading back there the second I finish my degree!!
Ok Le Mirail is abit of a ****hole....but there is a nice ambiance there! Also, you're practically guarnteed a strike which is bad i suppose but there is always a silver lining e.g you have more time to speak french (I had alot more hrs there than in ireland so when in uni found it difficult to find time to hang with francophones), also if the strike goes on long enough you dont have to do exams but u write a couple essays instead!, also you get to see how much more french students care about politics..maybe pick up some tips for how to organise manifestations when O'Keefe brings in fee's???)
Oh yeah, one great advantage of le mirail, instead of taking French lectures with francophones &competing with them in French Litt classes you can take DEFLE classes which are kind of like TEFLE but u learn french with other foreign students...piece of piss, guarntees u a high mark and you wont fail like so many other erasmus students in diff unis!!!
One thing I would say is be prepared for french buraceacy, just take it in your stride!
PS im so jealous of u, was in toulouse over midterm and saw all the erasmus students out one nite...was dying to be them instead of a stressed final yr student!! Best of luck:D

unreggd

Hi, I was thinkin of doing this too

Do you automatically get a grant if you're accepted? If so, how much is the grant?

How does it affect your degree if you fail?

Like, my arts degree will be 3 years, but 4 if I do the erasmus to France
So if I fail 3rd year do I have to repeat it over here?

Thanks!!

Mygsy

Yep everyone automatically gets a grant, your location determines how much you get and the amount differs from year to year, e.g I got €2700 which helped alot! I don't know about your uni but in ours if you failed, you just get a BA instead of an International BA so its not the end of the world! Also you only need to pass 40/60 credits and if you do fail a module your home dept might let you do extra work for more credits. However, it will be aLOT of extra work! Also, if you fail a module in jan, it's poss to repeat it in the may exams(this was my experience in Mirail, Toulouse, I don't know about other unis!) And they even gave us extra classes so we'd pass it 2nd time around!

jph100

alexjk wrote: »

I would say don't go if you have other option!

thats weirs one of my best mates was in toulouse a couple of years a go and he loved the place. he's gone back a couple of times since on a mini holiday for a few days.

i actually met some friends of his who he met over there who were in that mirail college. from what i gather they had a much tougher time in college than he did. think they had really long days+much more classes

LittleEve

Hey OP i spent my erasmus year in a small town in the south of France. As someone already mentioned the french ed. system is quite different than ours, earlier starts and long days. I found the fact that i was in a small town and small university (IUT) very helpful for improving my language as i had mostly french friends.
Brilliant overall experience, tough but very rewarding.
Flew through my last year of college as i came home a lot more mature than i went over.
I got some financial grant through my college, cant member how much it was but roughly 600 a semester. Will be an expensive year but would be the same no matter where u go!

Haru

Being a French student, I can confirm that courses are maybe harder than in Ireland, but it also depends on what you are doing. Law students will def have a hard time in there, as the teachers are expecting a lot from students.
Moreover, there's often nothing like graduation balls/parties organised by the uni. Usually, it's up to the students to organize them at home.

Also, when it comes to finding an accomodation. House sharing is not that common in France, but for the same price as in Ireland, you can get a flat for yourself, which can be cool too.
Depending on what you are searching for, and if you don't want to accept what the uni has to offer to you (I guess they'll suggest some university rooms to every erasmus student), then search for
"colocation" -> house sharing.
"Location" -> rent (remember to search for a "meublé", that's a flat with furniture).
Of course, landlords often ask for parents to be able to confirm that you'll be able to pay every month (considering the recession, I can understand them), but a paper proving you have a grant can often be enough.

Can't remember who mentionned it, but no, french french and french from quebec are different. Of course, we can understand one another, but I think that a foreigner would be confused by the vocabulary used in Quebec if they studied french french.

I do miss UCC though because I met awesome people there.

Aristotle II

Im in Strasbourg at the moment and its fantastic so far

The college here makes a bit of an effort with Erasmus but not a whole pile at the same time the UCC International Education Office couldnt do more for you.
For us as well the UCC Law Faculty have been brilliant the erasmus co-ordinator is simply fantastic and really would bend over backwards to help

Im only here 2 weeks but I have to say UCC are great for support -I have talked to loads of people who were on Erasmus in various places and its always the same story UCC are great and the year is fantastic