A lot of time has passed by now. It is already my 4th week at Rouen Business School, but only my second week of real courses.
Of course, I have by now explored my surroundings. I spent some days in Rouen itself with some new friends. Because of the nice weather we walked around town a lot, just doing some shopping or sitting at the "Seine". We also went to the art museum which had an exhibition about the French impressionists. It was quite interesting to see paintings of the places I had already been to in Rouen and its surroundings seen from the perspective of another century. The admission fee for students was even for free, a great advantage you cannot enjoy in the Netherlands.
We also went to Etretat, which is a small town situated on the coast. It is famous for its chalk cliffs. That day the sun was shining all day long. Thus we enjoyed a magnificant view over the sea and the countryside.
Afterwards, we spent the evening in Le Havre. A lot of people say that this town is not that nice. But I actually liked it.
Last weekend, we spent a day at Giverny. There we visited the house of the "Monet", the famous painter. I also liked this excursion very much as the house is really cosy and also features a really beautiful garden.
At the moment university is getting more and more busy, so I hope that it will nevertheless be still possible to travel around a bit, at least at the weekend.
In terms of evaluation of courses I still want to wait some time. I am only about to get a proper impression of the system here. What I can say up to now is that here the Business School is very proud of its practical approach to learning. That is why there are a lot of lecturers who have once worked for companies. Of course, this practical approach implies that there is quite some group work to do. I have yet to decide whether I like this system or not.
For the time being, I just hope that the weeks which are still lying ahead of me will be as nice as the ones before.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Well, I`m quite excited since the following post is the first one I have ever done in a blog.
I have now been in France at Rouen Business School for almost 2 weeks. This is a very short time period. I really have the feeling that everybody is already busy with courses at their exchange destination except for me. The majority of my courses will only start up from Monday.
Perhaps let me describe my first impressions here step by step.
On the arrival days everything was quite well organized, at least according to French standards. All the staff members were really kind and helpful. I guess that me mentioning "according to French standards" must mean that there was something going wrong. For some reason I faced the problem that I was not on anybody`s list. Fortunately, this was not that much of a problem since the French already assume that something in their system must have gone wrong. I just had to see another person, set things right and even already received my student card the following day.
After the enrolment process, a student took me to my accomodation, which is arranged by the university and which is near the campus. I chose to take a room of 20 square meters, as most of the other rooms which were on offer are only 9 square meters. My room also contains a small bathroom and a small kitchen (if you can call it that). I think my room is quite ok. Especially, since here you get so much more at a much cheaper price than in Tilburg. However, the problem is that not sharing anything else with another person means that it is difficult to get to know someone.
So the first day at university,where everybody got introduced into the organisation of the university, I was quite alone at first. Everybody already seemed to be part of a group and not interested in making more friends. As always everybody was mainly in a group of his or her own nationality. So, luckily, when I was waiting in front of a bureau that day I heard some German voices and started talking to the German students. Since that day, I am part of a group at least. Together we try to also make friends of other nationalities, but often trying to do so just ends up in regular small talk.
During the following 3 days at university (including a Saturday) everybody was obliged to follow a "Cross-Cultural Seminar". Not only exchange students, but also French first semesters joined in. After a quite boring introduction for everyone, we were split up into groups. The aim was clearly to make the acquaintance of other students. I was put into a group with only French first semesters. Together we had to make a presentation which was going to be presented on Saturday in small groups. All my French group members were really kind to me. They even tried to speak English to me. Furthermore, as Master Grande Ecole students they were very diligent. However, after those 3 days I rarely saw them on Campus. Anyway, they do not follow any of my courses as they are all beginners and only follow French economic courses. Unfortunately, after our presentation our group was chosen to do our presentation in front of an even larger audience of nearly 200 students. We did not expect this, since our presentation was not that special. So, suddenly, I found myself speaking in front of this big audience. The problem was that this presentation had to be delivered in English and the French team members really did not excel at it. I doubt that many students even listened to what we said. But it was an experience.
The following week (so this week) I could already follow one course on Monday morning, which even is a French course. It is about French Civilisation. Furthermore, there was an intensive French language course on Wednesday and Thursday which in reality was not intensive. The French teachers were really nice and put effort into what they did. However, it seemed to be more entertainment than anything else. But at least these days went by very fast.
During the weekend, all the exchange students will travel around. I will go to the coast with some other students. The weather at the moment is very nice. So I am looking forward to it.
I have now been in France at Rouen Business School for almost 2 weeks. This is a very short time period. I really have the feeling that everybody is already busy with courses at their exchange destination except for me. The majority of my courses will only start up from Monday.
Perhaps let me describe my first impressions here step by step.
On the arrival days everything was quite well organized, at least according to French standards. All the staff members were really kind and helpful. I guess that me mentioning "according to French standards" must mean that there was something going wrong. For some reason I faced the problem that I was not on anybody`s list. Fortunately, this was not that much of a problem since the French already assume that something in their system must have gone wrong. I just had to see another person, set things right and even already received my student card the following day.
After the enrolment process, a student took me to my accomodation, which is arranged by the university and which is near the campus. I chose to take a room of 20 square meters, as most of the other rooms which were on offer are only 9 square meters. My room also contains a small bathroom and a small kitchen (if you can call it that). I think my room is quite ok. Especially, since here you get so much more at a much cheaper price than in Tilburg. However, the problem is that not sharing anything else with another person means that it is difficult to get to know someone.
So the first day at university,where everybody got introduced into the organisation of the university, I was quite alone at first. Everybody already seemed to be part of a group and not interested in making more friends. As always everybody was mainly in a group of his or her own nationality. So, luckily, when I was waiting in front of a bureau that day I heard some German voices and started talking to the German students. Since that day, I am part of a group at least. Together we try to also make friends of other nationalities, but often trying to do so just ends up in regular small talk.
During the following 3 days at university (including a Saturday) everybody was obliged to follow a "Cross-Cultural Seminar". Not only exchange students, but also French first semesters joined in. After a quite boring introduction for everyone, we were split up into groups. The aim was clearly to make the acquaintance of other students. I was put into a group with only French first semesters. Together we had to make a presentation which was going to be presented on Saturday in small groups. All my French group members were really kind to me. They even tried to speak English to me. Furthermore, as Master Grande Ecole students they were very diligent. However, after those 3 days I rarely saw them on Campus. Anyway, they do not follow any of my courses as they are all beginners and only follow French economic courses. Unfortunately, after our presentation our group was chosen to do our presentation in front of an even larger audience of nearly 200 students. We did not expect this, since our presentation was not that special. So, suddenly, I found myself speaking in front of this big audience. The problem was that this presentation had to be delivered in English and the French team members really did not excel at it. I doubt that many students even listened to what we said. But it was an experience.
The following week (so this week) I could already follow one course on Monday morning, which even is a French course. It is about French Civilisation. Furthermore, there was an intensive French language course on Wednesday and Thursday which in reality was not intensive. The French teachers were really nice and put effort into what they did. However, it seemed to be more entertainment than anything else. But at least these days went by very fast.
During the weekend, all the exchange students will travel around. I will go to the coast with some other students. The weather at the moment is very nice. So I am looking forward to it.
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