Student Blogs/Sarah in France
I have been living in Europe now for almost four months and it's already been an adventure. I have been fortunate enough to travel a fair bit throughout Europe and have already learned so much.
My travels have taken me to Munich for Oktoberfest, the Greek island of Santorini, the Scottish Highlands, a never ending layover in Kiev, Ukraine, and Paris, France, where I was caught in the midst of a massive protest (to name a few of my adventures). Each trip has allowed me to learn about the local culture and about myself. I am constantly learning more about my values and what I am capable of.
However, as amazing as these adventures have been, I can't downplay how much I have come to learn through my adaptation to French life. I live in the small French town of Chambéry, which is located halfway between Lyon and Geneva and is surronded by beautiful mountains. These past few months in Chambéry have not always been easy, but I've managed to meet some amazing people and make some pretty incredible memories.
The moment I first arrived in Chambéry I started to run into some problems, and pretty much all of them revolved around paper work. Everything from registering with my school, to setting up a bank account to getting a phone was so much more complicated that what I had expected. I am still dealing with the never ending mess of paper work.
Hopefully at the end of this week I will be able to say that I am finally done the visa process, but even then, who knows. I'm also working for my university as an assistant teacher in English classes and the paperwork that I have had to go through just to get on payroll has been more extensive than anything I've ever had to do in Canada.
The French school system has proved to be very different than what I was used to at Carleton. Basically, there are a lot less resources and organization. The time and date of your classes get switched every week and occasionally this means two classes you are enrolled in will overlap. When that happens you just have to choose what class to go to. It took me a while to figure out how the whole system works, but I think I finally have the hang of it.
Luckily I have made a really nice group of French friends in my business classes and they have helped me out a lot. The classes are not worth as much at my university so I have a lot more in-class time than what I am used to back home. Fortunately, my courses do not have the same amount of out-of-class work as they do in Canada, so the workload has pretty much evened-out.
Despite the extra complications and difficulties of living abroad, I have managed to establish a pretty amazing life here in Chambéry. I am living in a university residence which is made up of about 50 per cent French students and 50 per cent international students. It is a pretty basic, no-frills kind of residence, where we have individual bedrooms and a communal kitchen on each floor. These communal kitchens have turned out to be the best thing for making friends and practising my French.
Every night I get to cook dinner and relax with a great mix of friends from all over the world and since we come from so many different cultures, the common language is French. By establishing myself with a diverse group of friends and having the ability to speak French every night, my second language ability has improved a lot. I now feel confident enough to give presentations in my classes (not that I would've had a choice not too).
Chambéry as a city is great as well. Since it’s smaller, I always run into friends whenever I leave my building and I know where everyone will be on a Friday night. It is also close enough to Lyon and Geneva that travelling and getting to a bigger city every once in a while is easy and not too expensive.
When the weather was a bit warmer earlier in the fall, I was also able to take advantage of the surrounding mountains by going on several spectacular hikes with my university sports department. Some friends and I even went bungee jumping one weekend, now that was terrifying.
As for now, I’m starting to get ready for exams and then Christmas vacation which will be a much needed break!