Hi, I’m William and I am a third-year student in the Southampton University language faculty! I have just spent the past 10 months on exchange at the University of Strasbourg in Eastern France. As part of the 4 year language degree, the 3rd year is spent abroad either completing a study or work placement. I chose to do a study placement since I wanted to develop my academic skills further and I also felt that going to university would be the best place to meet new people and have a good work life balance!
In this blog I am going to discuss several important aspects of the entire process including: choosing the destination, the accommodation, the university and travelling around!
Choosing the destination
This was the hardest decision for me. On the list of places we could choose from, I liked many of them. And so I decided to choose one which had the most positive aspects to it from my personal criteria – and Strasbourg ended up being that final choice! I recommend making an excel spreadsheet with all possible destinations and ranking them based on different aspects including: cost of living, university, quality of life, accommodation, transport costs, leisure and travel costs/quality. Doing this, made the decision a lot easier, and it also made me feel more comfortable with my choice.
Strasbourg
The city of Strasbourg is located in the Alsace in the Grand Est region, on the border with Germany, and only an hour and a half north of Switzerland. It’s known for its timber buildings, Alsatian food and traditions, storks, many canals and mix of influences from both France and Germany. The city has a large student population as well as full-time residents and the city centre (Grande Île) is on an island surrounded by the outer suburbs. The University of Strasbourg is around a 20-25 minute walk to Place Kléber which is the centre. This makes it perfect and easy to go into town during lunch break.
The city is rich in history and serves a very important role in present-day Europe as it is the seat of the European parliament (EU) as well as hosting other institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights, and the Council of Europe. Due to this international setting, I met so many people from a wide range of cultures and countries from all around the world, which contributed to an incredibly enriching experience and I really appreciate having been able to experience this. The border aspect makes it the perfect place to travel from, due to its location. I was able to do several trips to Germany, Switzerland and other parts of France, most within a day and a few with a one or two night stay over!
Accommodation
This was a major priority to me before arriving in Strasbourg, as well as the visa – thankfully, bar a few problems, the overall process was pretty smooth and everything went to plan! I stayed in private student accommodation, and if you plan on doing so, make sure to check if you need housing insurance and or a guarantor – this was the case for me! I used Garantme for the guarantor, and Etudassur for my housing insurance – both companies were very easy to deal with, and Garantme helped me with my search for accommodation! Overall, I was happy with my accommodation and enjoyed living in a studio apartment not too far from the city centre! I also lived by the tramway, and for only 28 euros a month, you get unlimited CTS tram and bus travel.
Studying at the University of Strasbourg
For me, the part which I had the most uncertainty about was how I would adapt to the academic system at the University in Strasbourg. There were many things, which were very new to me, including the problématique style of thinking and writing (I recommend researching about this if you plan on studying in France), and the general exam culture was very different to what I had experienced in Southampton. The majority of my exams, were entirely based on memorizing content from what the lecturer had taught us and there were no external readings required. By the second semester this was a lot more natural and I felt less stressed about the exams and coursework, as I had a much better grasp of what was expected of me.
In addition, the marking system was quite different, grades were given a mark out of 20 with 14 being the equivalent of a 2:1. In order to adapt well to these changes, the university offers a buddy scheme, and I strongly recommend participating in this, as this gives you the opportunity to speak with a full-time student and ask them any questions about the university and the academic system in France.
Another important thing to mention is that there are no equivalent of societies. This may sound strange, but do not worry too much. The university does offer many arts and sports activities, which I very much enjoyed, and was able to make friends from that and speak French! They also host many cultural and sport events which you can attend. This reflected in the fact that many of my French friends had more of a separation between life and university. The ones who lived close-by to Strasbourg would go home at the weekends, whereas in Southampton most of my friends stay on campus at weekends and get quite involved with societies etc.
Therefore, I strongly recommend that you find people who have similar hobbies and join clubs at the university or in Strasbourg! Facebook and Strasbourg.eu (the official website for the city) are good places to start. Equally it is important to join the Erasmus Student Network at the university. They run many events where you can meet other students from different countries! Overall, I have found personally that experiencing the two systems in England and France has been really interesting and insightful in my understanding of the two countries.
Travelling
As I mentioned earlier, I was really able to benefit from Strasbourg’s location when I travelled and went on day trips! I was able to visit Zurich and Basel in Switzerland, Freiburg im Breisgau and Tubignen in Germany, and several cities and towns in France including Nancy, Metz and Colmar. I really enjoyed being able to travel to a wide range of places with ease, for instance, I was able to go to Zurich in a day. I left Strasbourg at 11:00 and was in Zurich around 13:30-14:00! I found it incredibly interesting to see the different styles of architecture, the different customs and cultures. Below are a few pictures of my travels in France and Switzerland!
A final reflection
Post Southampton, I would like to live and work abroad, and the year abroad has really helped me grow my confidence and abilities required to do so, and I now feel ready and prepared to do that!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, I hope you found it insightful and interesting! I am very happy to answer any questions with regards to accommodation, the university, the city or the visa process, so feel free to message me at wh2g21@soton.ac.uk
Enjoy your time abroad!