France
-
La fête de Noël (even if a little late)
By Eva Kristinova (Sciences Po Toulouse, France) Hi everyone and happy new year! I’m back with another post, this time a little past its relevant time frame, but one that I hope you will find interesting nevertheless. I am, of course, talking about the wonderful end-of-year holiday (also my personal favourite) that has become celebrated pretty much everywhere – Christmas! Or, for those who prefer to go with the French spirit of laïcité, simply the holidays (so, belatedly, Joyeuses fêtes!). Now, even though I was lucky enough to go home for Christmas itself, I have still been able to experience and ask about the French twist to this popular time.…
-
Academia and the university system in France
By Eva Kristinova When you come to university in your first year you have a lot to learn about how it all works. Then, if you decide to spend a year abroad, you often have to go through that learning experience again at your host university. And because there are plenty of other things you could be (and you would probably like to be) doing instead, let me make it a bit easier for some of you. Here are four key aspects of student life and the university system in France that I learned about during my first weeks at Toulouse.
-
A Guide to the French Life (on a budget)
By Eva Kristinova (Sciences Po Toulouse, France) France is full of awesome places that you can explore, food you can try and events you can attend. But living the ideal exchange experience rarely comes cheap – don’t know about you but I certainly cannot afford to buy a fresh baguette from the local bakery every single morning (yes, this stereotype about the French is actually true). Well, don’t worry, I got you 🙂 Here’s five tips for getting the most out of a stay in France, and not going broke in the process.
-
Toulouse à Grande Vitesse… or not.
By Eva Kristinova, (Sciences Po Toulouse, France) Hello everyone and welcome to my year-long study exchange journey in Toulouse! We will start off with the good news so far: I’ve arrived. And I’m afraid that’s where it ends. To be fair I am somewhat to blame for all I’m about to tell you, but I hope that after reading this, you will admit that no amount of extra preparation could have helped. So let’s dive into my voyage from Brussels to Toulouse… oh, did I mention it was all by train? Well, now you know (and those of you familiar with the French TGV probably guessed as much from the…
-
What I wish I’d known before I moved to Paris…
By Sophie Todd I have been so lucky to enjoy my year abroad in Paris, but I remember how nervous I was when I first arrived. I got on the Eurostar in September and realised I was moving into a flat I’d never seen; I couldn’t speak a word of French and I had no idea how lockdown and Brexit regulations were going to change over the coming months. Despite these worries I have muddled my way through and had such an incredible year! But here are the things I wish I’d had more information on before I left. Living Options Accommodation in Paris can be expensive and hard to…
-
A Brief Study Abroad in France
By John Charlton (McGill University, Canada) During my summer I spent four weeks in France, at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) learning about neutron and photon science, with 17 other students from across the world. It provided a taste of what a year of study abroad was like: the cultural, social and work changes involved. All 18 of us were in the same boat, meaning we quickly formed a close bond between each other. One aspect that stood out to me was that many of our conversations were around cultural diversities between the different countries we were from. What seems tedious and ordinary to one…
