INTRODUCTION:
Hi there! I’m Seb a third-year English literature student undertaking a minor in French at Southampton. For my year abroad I made the choice to head over to France and put my French to the test.
When applying for this year abroad I felt overwhelmed by the number of universities I had to choose from. I began to whittle down my options and started with deciding against big cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille as these all seemed too overwhelming for me as an autistic student. I ended up picking Albi as the destination for my year abroad. Being from a rural English village, photos of Albi and its size reminded me of the town nearest to me.
When first applying, I had imagined a rural and quiet town in disrepair with age and few people my age. Yet, this was the opposite of what Albi had in store for me. I ended up in the jewel city of the Cathar crown, the pristine ochre city which bustled with students.
LANGUAGE HURDLE:
Being thrown into your second language is incredibly daunting but ended up being easier than I had expected. Following classes solely taught in French took a week or two to get used to but by the end of term 1 I was making solid notes and following the majority of the content.
One thing I wasn’t prepared for however was the regional accent in Albi. Though I had heard the Toulouse accent before, the accent in Albi was something I had to tune myself into. I have grown to have grown to have a real fondness for the accent and now when I hear people from the north of France I find their accent to be less charming.
The biggest challenge I encountered on this year abroad was being funny when speaking French. Oftentimes I tried to make jokes or tell stories and found myself unable to pull the vocabulary to convey a story I know I could make funny in English. When speaking to the other international students we all agreed mimicking French humour was one of the most challenging parts of the Year Abroad but something which I have for sure improved upon over the year.
UNI:
One thing which I found daunting at first was the completely different structure of classes at Albi university. To match the number of credits a Southampton term has I ended up taking 10 modules per semester on my year abroad. 10 modules was a lot more work in less depth then the 3/4 modules at Southampton. In the first term the majority of my classes were French grammar and translation classes as these were to rapidly improve my language skills.
I found myself coming to miss the lecture-seminar division which is the norm here at Southampton. This was a structure which brought me comfort in my first two years of my English degree, as the lecture helped give me ideas for the seminar discussions. Yet at Albi lectures and seminars were lumped together. This meant it was a lot easier to ask questions and clarification which on one hand was good. However, on the other hand professors often did not make slides or handouts so if you didn’t ask for them to repeat elements it became a bit tough.
One thing which I enjoyed heavily was how classes were very interdisciplinarian. For example I took a comparative literature class which brought together Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Primo Levi’s Si C’est Un Homme. Week by week we moved across 14th century Italy, classic philosophy, religious views of the afterlife to concentration camps, the geography of warfare in Europe and the chemistry of Zyklon B gas.
Overall, the structure of the classes was incredibly different to what I had expected, but I ended up finding a new structure of studying.
LIFE IN ALBI
Life in Albiwas so much cheaper than my first two years at Southampton. I ended up in halls where I was able to rent a studio apartment (with a lovely kitchenette and decent bathroom) situated on campus. This room cost me half of what I paid in my second year at Southampton in a house share. It also meant I didn’t have to share with anyone, something which the other international students had decided to do. I was surprised when this apartment was offered to me because it seemed too good to be true:
- 5 minute walk from the nightclub.
- 10 minute walk to train station
- 15 minute walk to Lidl
- 20 minute walk to the medieval centre
- 20 minute bus ride to the shopping centre
- 25 minute walk to restuarants and bars.
When I would walk into Albi the city was bustling and there were so many bars, restaurants, clothes shops, museums and churches, as well as the cathedral and the medieval bridge. I would often go out for walks in the evening with students at the university or with friends and family when they came to visit.
I really enjoyed being able to walk around Albi. On these walks I would head to fromageries, butcher, Italian epiceries, and a plethora of other independent shops. There were so many interesting food shops where I was able to try different bits from the region. The only part I found tough was the lack of south and east Asian supermarkets in Albi. This meant I had to get the train over to Toulouse and pick up spices, tofu and even noodles.
On my walks around Albi I fell in love with the winding medieval streets, the churches and the gargantuan cathedral. Albi is built up from long and thin pink bricks and still contains some of the original roman pillars and sandstone blocks. I found the town incredibly beautiful as the medieval centre is unchanged and in a constant state of being repaired. I found the gardens and the parks to be planted in ways which England doesn’t do. For example, in Albi cabbage plants and rosemary are planted alongside lilies and agapanthus reflecting medieval planting styles.
REFLECTIONS:
This has been a year of pink bricks, French pastries, black coffees, lemonades with violet syrup, meandering through churches and cathedrals, watching fish from the medieval bridge, delving into new books, learning French grammar alongside native speakers and pushing myself far beyond my comfort zone. Despite the stress of the paperwork and the anxiety of packing up to leave England I had an incredible year.
In leaping through the hoops of bureaucracy I found a new resilience and drive to achieve things which I set myself towards. This year abroad has exposed me to a plethora of new people who have introduced me to numerous hobbies. This year abroad was a privilege and I recommend for everyone to undertake one.
