La Rochelle

 

My name is Weronika Wasiak. I study Tourism with French at Aberystwyth University. I am one of those students who had the possibility to participate in a full year abroad. I spent my year abroad in France and I thoroughly enjoyed it!  I also gained so much experience.

My French adventure started in Bordeaux-(Aquitaine) doing there 12 weeks of the Leonardo-Go Wales Programme. That was an internship in the Office de Tourisme. It was my first time in France in my life and I fell in love with the country from the beginning. The architecture is stunning and beautiful. There are small characteristic cafés in every street. I loved it!

Working in the Office de Tourisme  was a great opportunity to meet a lot of new people every day from all over the world, speak with them in different languages, but especially that was the greatest moment to force myself to start speaking French in real life because that was my AIM! Beginnings are not easy, but day by day things got easier and better, especially with people around you, who helped you to understand everything. I also spent beautiful moments with my French families in Bordeaux, and then another four months later in the neighbouring smaller city of La Rochelle (Charente Maritime) where I spent my first semester on the Erasmus exchange at a French university. That was the time to continue my observations of real French life, culture, habits, ‘’la cuisine’’, etc.  Although Bordeaux and La Rochelle are about two and half hours from each other, they are totally different. Bordeaux is really a tourists’ heaven, with its rich history, beautiful and rich architecture, and lots of concerts, festivals (Festival du Vin, Festival de la Musique). La Rochelle is a very friendly, small port city on the Atlantic coast. Both are really beautiful.

The time went very fast, four months of trying myself in different and sometimes strange situations. For example, in the first semester in La Rochelle, I chose to learn the Indonesian language in order to experience something different. And it was a good choice. I felt I could discover much more about the culture and the country.

The first semester ended in December and I had to move to the University of Franche-Comté at Besançon for another 5 months to continue with my Erasmus studies. Besançon is situated on the other side of the country on the Swiss border.

ESN (Erasmus Student Network) welcomes international students to work and to enjoy their stay in the foreign place. They help organise different exchanges, events, forums and trips in France as well as abroad. They are responsible for the Buddy’s system. From the beginning they helped me with all the required information. In the end I became the active member responsible for organising the cultural events.

During the whole year abroad I had ups and downs, which I understood as a normal thing. So don’t think you’re alone, don’t give up!

Is it worth doing the Erasmus Year Abroad? Is it fine to move from one place to another and start literally everything from the beginning?

It’s just your choice and your willingness to see and experience as much as you want.

You know what my experiences were!

Good Luck! Bonne chance!

 

I stayed in La Rochelle, France, for my year abroad. I did a French language course in the University of La Rochelle, which I would recommend anyone to do. I became almost fluent in French in the first month, as I shared a house with people from a variety of different countries (it was almost like “L’Auberge espagnole”!) and therefore, no-one could speak English. I enjoyed the French course, it made me more confident in speaking the language and I have also become more confident and independent whilst being in France.

While in La Rochelle, I had the chance to go to Ile de Ré which is a small island off the coast of La Rochelle, I also went to Bordeaux and Nantes a few times and I really enjoyed seeing the differences of the language in different areas of France. I made loads of friends, French and many other nationalities.

I thoroughly enjoyed my year abroad and would recommend anyone to take a language course.
Bonnie Price