First Day at French University - Quoi?!

First Day - Being lost

And there it was - the first day of university in France. It felt like my very first day at university, even if I had already studied for 1, 5 years in Germany. So I took the Bus to the station that was written down in the internet as "station next to the faculty of economics" and 20 minutes later I was there.

But only at the station, not at the building I had to go. So I was at the middle of the road and felt a bit lost. There was nobody I could ask, so I just asked Google Maps and found my way (actually only 50 metres down the street) to the university. I entered and fortunately there was a reception with a nice woman I could ask where to find the "Scolarité" - the person that was responsible for my courses. I was a bit afraid because the semester had already started and I didn't know anybody who could help me or show me rooms etc. But at first, the courses.

I entered the office and told the woman that my Erasmus coordinator told me to come here in order to talk about my courses. I gave her the list I did during the whole Sunday and she started to go through it. Actually, I expected that she would now say "no, impossible" or that she would add me to the course lists or anything like that. But nothing. She just explained me that one course has a theoretical and a practical part and that I had to do both in order to pass it. Then I asked how the professors would know me if I am not in any list. She smiled at me and told me that I just had to go to the course and talk to the person, tell the professor that I am an Erasmus student and that I arrived one week later because of exams in Germany. Well, not the desired answer but okay, that's life.

Where are the Room Numbers?

So my first course would be 2 hours later. "Sociologie économique". And I decided to look for the room now, because it was quite a large building and I had no idea where "Amphi Ruskin" was. There were no room numbers or something like that and I didn't want to ask the woman at the reception again. I wanted to find it myself. So I was walking through the building, trying not to seem as lost as I was. I discovered a place with information about all the courses just hung up at the wall - didn't they write emails? It seemed quite weird to me to have small notes about exams and courses instead of writing emails. But obviously that was how they did that here. I found a note about a course I chose - fortunately the professor wasn't there the week before and I didn't miss any lesson. But there was attached another note that there would be a recap lesson next Saturday. At 8 a. m. But well, I couldn't change anything. At least I had already found the most important part of the building - the one which told me if lessons don't take place. But I still didn't know where the course was that I had this morning. And they were all quite "cold" so I didn't want to ask anybody.

Finally, after half an hour of searching I found the room. So I decided to go outside, drink a coffee and come back 20 minutes before the lecture. That's what I did and 15 minutes before it should start I was there. Alone. I went to the door of the room and heard somebody speaking. But as it wasn't a woman it couldn't be my professor. So I sat down in front of the door and waited. Finally, 5 minutes before, there was a girl sitting down next to me. I asked her in my best (and still bad) French if she was also attending the course I took. She said yes and I was a bit more relaxed. Even if she didn't seem so interested in talking to me or getting to know somebody like me - at least I knew that I was at the right place at the right time. So we entered the room after the other lecture had finished and I went to the professor in order to tell her who I was and that I wasn't there the week before. She was quite nice and told me that it wasn't a big issue and that I should just ask someone to give me the notes from the week before. So I sat down and waited for my first French lecture to begin.

Quoi? - Overestimated my French Skills

Well. It was a quite special moment. It was the moment when I found out that my French wasn't good at all. And it was even worse for having 8 French courses (and no English one) and passing exams. I didn't understand anything what she was talking about. And the other students were just typing and typing and typing. I tried to understand the main point of the lecture but as I was really tired it was hard. I was sure that I would need to ask somebody to give me the notes. But whom? They all looked so cool and not nice at all. As if they were telling me "Don't bother me, it's not my fault that you don't understand anything". So I just sat there and waited until the end of the lesson. Then I had a very, very courageous moment and ask a girl if she would mind letting me take pictures of her notes. She let me, and I was very proud of myself. But in fact, she used so many abbreviations that I could hardly understand anything. But well, it was a start at least.

Unfortunately it was not the only lecture I had that day. One hour after the other had finished I had a lecture of 3 hours. I didn't know how to survive that, as I was already dead after the one before which was only one and a half hours. But well, I chose the country - so let's go.

Fortunately, the lesson was in the same room as the one before so I didn't have to look for another room and could look for something to eat instead. After a cold sandwich from the supermarket and some encouraging chocolate I returned to the Amphi Ruskin and waited for the professor. I repeated the same thing I did in the first lecture - I went to her and told her that I wasn't there last week. She gave me some pages with a plan through her course (which was quite nice for me, because at least I could understand the purpose and the chapters of the course) and told me that everything was ok. So I sat down and waited for the "language shock". Fortunately, it was better than before. She used PowerPoint slides and I could understand her better. That released a bit the fear I had after the first lecture. But 3 hours were long. Even if there was a short break inbetween.

After the lecture I was happy that the day was over. I bought something to eat in the supermarket and looked for a bus to get back to the residence. I just wanted to eat something and sleep. And that's what I did in the evening. I was a bit afraid of the lecture the next day because I didn't understand so much yet. But my parents and my friends told me that I would improve and everything would be alright soon. So I believed them and went to bed.

Photo gallery