Study Exchange in France: my experience

Niina

09/04/2024

Hi all! Are you planning to do a study exchange in France? Or just interested in knowing what it is like to study in another country? Look no further! In this post, I will tell you more about what it is like to study in France as an exchange student. The stuff in this post is based on my experiences as an exchange student in France. I will describe the practicalities of studying at a French university but also give you some tips on how to get the most out of exploring France as a student.

In the spring semester of 2022, I did my Erasmus exchange in a small city called Albi, near Toulouse (more about the city here). If you are interested in doing Erasmus, I wrote a detailed post about the program and how to apply to it earlier.

The university where I studied in France was Institute National Universitaire Champollion (or just Champollion for short). It is one of the smallest public universities in France and the number of exchange students was according to that. There were only ten of us in spring 2022. I was the only one in my department, which made me a bit of a special case. Some of my problems were probably related to the size of the university and hopefully are not issues in universities of bigger cities.

Albi!

From the beginning of my studies at the university, I wanted to do an Erasmus exchange as part of my studies. My options for destination were limited to places my department had an Erasmus agreement with. I chose Champollion mainly because I had studied French before in high school. Every year, a group of students from Albi comes to my university, but Finnish students are not keen to go to Champollion. I was the only one that had applied there for years!

Studying at a French university

Courses

I did five courses (27 ECTS) during my exchange. All of them lasted the whole semester. One was a French course (Français Langue Étrangère or just FLE) for exchange students (3 ECTS). The other four were history courses (all 6 ECTS each) about things such as ancient history, medieval history, and history of science. In my Finnish university, we do not have courses about ancient or medieval history in our program so it was pretty cool to study them in France. In the fourth history course, I did a little research based on archival material, which was interesting. I had not done many similar assignments at my home university. In my opinion, one of the coolest things in exchange is to be able to do things you cannot do at home. Thus I would advise anybody planning an exchange to consider courses they do not have in their own universities.

The archival material I studied
Languages of the courses

Since I was the only exchange student in the history department, my courses were the same as the French students took. The only special thing Champollion organized for the exchange students was the French course. However, this meant that my studies were mainly in French. I asked a permission to do the exams and an essay in English. It would have been too hard to do anything that complicated in French! But all other things, such as the lectures and materials, were in French. Despite trying to learn as much French as possible beforehand, you can imagine how much I struggled with my poor language level! If you are considering an exchange in France, start learning French as early as possible!

That said, the French people not knowing English is a bit of a myth, in my opinion. I met a lot of young French people who actually spoke English pretty well. The attitude towards English at the societal level is just a bit negative, and you cannot get the information in English everywhere.

Something we saw during a city tour of our French class
Structure of courses and assignments

The courses were divided into two types of lessons: the CMs and the TDs. The CM lessons were lectures where the professor talked and the students listened and took notes. If you missed a lesson, the French students were quite generous with sharing their notes, which was lovely! The TD lessons were more interactive. I do not know what people in other subjects do, but in history, we got original sources and made little exercises or presentations based on them. I really liked the chance to do something practical like this for once.

At the end of the semester, there were big exams. We wrote essays for about three hours. In some exams, we could choose between two essay options: one was just a subject we needed to write about, and the other had a source material. In addition, there were also other assignments during the courses: presentations, essays, mid-term exams, and stuff.

An important thing to know about the assignments in the French academic world is the importance of structures. For example, in dissertations, you should make an introduction, three main parts, and an ending. All these parts should have three subsections. Three is the absolute number, no two nor four! Or this is at least the case in history. In my case, no professor told me about these rules (maybe they think this kind of obsession with structures is a thing everywhere in the world), and I need to find out about it by asking my friends and other students.

Champollion

Other practical things to survive in an exchange at a French university

One of the big issues in exchange in France is information and communication. If you face problems with finding enough information on the page of the French university or if it is hard to communicate via email with the international office, you are not the only one. I got the impression that the international office of Champollion was not very keen on emailing. It was, of course, a bit problematic. Even if I found the information quite nicely on the university’s website, many things were unclear (like, did they organize a French course for exchange students). I wish I could have received answers easier via email.

After arriving at the university, communication was more convenient because I could just go to visit the international office. This was something we did on the first day after our arrival. We made the registration for the university and the courses there. This was done on paper, which for a Finnish student seemed a bit old-fashioned. There were no special orientation programs to introduce us better to the French study system or the university.

Leisure time activities and other support the university offers to students

In France, there are some leisure time activities organized in the university such as sports and other clubs. Because I was not very interested in them, I did not know much about how they worked. Subject associations also exist in France, and they may organize events for students. Many French universities also have their Erasmus Student Network (ESN) sections, which events are especially for international students. In Albi, there was unfortunately no ESN because the university was so small, but we found another international organization to which events we went.

The last thing I would like to mention in this section is l’épicerie solidaire for students with financial difficulties. I do not know if this exists in other French universities, but I would believe so. In Albi, students could get groceries and other necessary things from the university’s social program once a week by paying just a little (1,50 euros). So, ask your university if there is assistance like this and how you could get it.

Student housing in France

The question of accommodation. I was lucky because the university had organized a special housing for the exchange students. It was so cheap, I won’t even tell you!

Notre maison!

Before arriving, the international office informed me I would share an apartment with three other exchange students and a room with one of them. Because I had some experience with the shared apartments in this kind of program, I was expecting to move to an apartment that included two bedrooms and a small kitchen between them (a window optional). So you can imagine how surprised I was to find out that my new home in France was an actual quarter of a house! We had two floors, three bedrooms (so I did not even have to share a room!), a big living room to spend time together, a little garden, and an odd, scary basement (we avoided going there). It was perfect! The only strange thing for me was that we needed to go to an office to pay the rent with cash.

However, I have heard that the housing situation in other universities in France is not as lovely as in Albi. In bigger cities, there might be fewer options for exchange students. It might take a bit more effort to find accommodation. You should ask the university if they have something to help you. There also exists an organization called CROUS that organizes housing for students. Those are available for exchange students, too. An apartment from the private sector is also an option, but that is more difficult.

If you are worried about paying rent during your exchange in France, there is financial support for housing called CAF, to which international students can apply as well. However, you would need several documents and a French bank account. If you are going to stay in France just for a semester, it might be a bit too much hassle to apply for CAF. But for those who are planning to stay in France for longer, it might be worth knowing, there is this kind of support available.

Easter lunch my flat mates and I made! We spent a lot of time together and did activities like this. It was interesting to learn about their cultures in addition to French one.

Other interesting things for an exchange student (which are not related to studying)

In addition to studying in France, all exchange students want to explore the country. A couple of useful things to know about experiencing France:

Unlike many other countries, in France, it is typical that shops, restaurants, offices, museums, and all possible places close for a couple of hours in the middle of the day for the staff to have lunch. So when planning to go to places, this is something to consider. It is quite annoying to arrive at the place when it is closed. By the way, this also includes university offices.

If you like museums, you may be interested to know that the majority of museums are free on the first Sunday of the month. In addition, the national museums are free for EU citizens under 26 years old. You can enter at no cost to places such as Carcassonne, Musée d’Orsay, Arch de Triomphe, and Musée du Louvre! Non-EU citizens might get this discount by showing their residence permit.

Places to explore during an exchange in France: Louvre, Nice, Barcelona, Bruxelles, Carcasonne…

There are a couple of options to get around France. The train service is called SNCF. Usually, the earlier you book your tickets, the cheaper they are. If you rather travel by bus, the Flixbus works in France as in many other European countries. In addition, there is an app called BlaBlaCar. They have buses, however, it is most known as a carpool service. You can book a seat in the car of a private driver who is going to the same place as you. This gives more flexible options to travel. For example, my friend and I booked BlaBlaCar to go from Paris to Bruxelles when we could not find an affordable bus or train option.

Oh, and French tacos are not like we understand tacos in other parts of the world. Be aware!

Here are all my tips and bits of advice about doing an exchange in France! Hope you found my post interesting and helpful. And if you have something to ask more, please, leave a comment!

Related posts

Category :

Blog

,

Ideas for traveling

Share :

Hi all! Welcome to my blog!

I’m Niina, I come from Finland (out of all places in the world) and I really like travelling. I’ve been lucky to do all sort of cool things in many different countries.

Now I would like to share those experiences to inspire you to go your own adventure. So go explore the stuff I’ve written for you!

Follow:

Popular Post