\u201cYou can never understand one language until you understand at least two.\u201d \u2013 Geoffrey Willans<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all too easy to forget the reason we\u2019ve come on a year abroad, especially in that first month when we\u2019re busy settling in and adjusting to a new city and culture. But whilst I\u2019m sitting here reminding myself (with the help of some inspiring quotes) why I\u2019m here in Nantes, here are some of the things I\u2019ve learned about Nantes, French universities, life\u2026<\/p>\n
Kitchens (in your uni accommodation)<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a sink, a microwave and four kitchen hobs. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n Gone are the days you can throw a pizza in the oven after a long day in uni (or a night out) and gone are the days where you can bulk cook anything and then freeze the leftovers (that might just be me who did that). I thought I was going to find this aspect really difficult but after ordering pizza pretty much every time I went out in the first few weeks, overcompensating for the lack of oven by eating more pizza than I usually would, I soon realised it\u2019s really not that bad. I promise. Or maybe I was just sick of pizza.<\/p>\n Each room is equipped with a fridge so depending on how you look at it, it\u2019s either a blessing (the days of anyone nicking your food are also gone) or a curse (some people don\u2019t like the noise). I\u2019ve invested in a kettle (it really was an investment, 16\u20ac later) but otherwise, I\u2019ve found the kitchen adequate.<\/p>\n Lastly (who knew you could write so much on the topic of kitchens? I should\u2019ve written a blog just on this\u2026), the kitchens shut at 22:30, so if you\u2019re someone who\u2019s likely to want a midnight snack, stick to something you don\u2019t need to heat up.<\/p>\n These kitchen differences (or quirks) are by no means limited to Nantes University. This is the norm in France and most other European countries so enjoy those oven pizzas and midnight snacks whilst you can.<\/p>\n Early starts\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Lectures start at 8.00. Spare a thought for your French counterparts when the 9.00 seems bad.<\/p>\n And late finishes<\/strong><\/p>\n My evening classes finish at 20:00 which I imagine will get harder as winter draws near but for now, this seems infinitely better than the 8ams.<\/p>\n Timetables<\/strong><\/p>\n Pas de panique. Pas de probl\u00e8me. Pas de souci. Pas de\u2014 Things are a lot more relaxed in France and this is simply a cultural difference which may take a bit of time to adjust to. After hearing the above phrases a dozen times when I was (meant to be) starting my first week at uni and didn\u2019t have a clue where to go (or what modules I was actually studying), I realised, along with fellow Erasmus students, that there was no point in stressing and really, everything would be sorted in the end. And it has.<\/p>\n Allergic reactions<\/strong><\/p>\n If I were to write a diary, this is how I imagine the 1st<\/sup> September entry would go\u2026.<\/p>\n \u2018I could barely open my eyelids when I woke up this morning because it appears I have suffered an allergic reaction to the make-up wipes I used last night. As it goes, I didn\u2019t think amongst the swollen face and constant stinging, this day could get any worse. Yet this is day one of my year abroad and I really couldn\u2019t just go back to bed and sleep off the pain. So equipped with a pair of sunglasses and a face that resembled a tomato, I spent the day checking in at the Guichet Unique (the first port of call when you arrive in Nantes) and then my accommodation, all whilst coming across as either hungover or rude because I couldn\u2019t take off my sunglasses. Not to mention when I was at the accommodation, the office closed while I had been in my third queue of the day and I was informed I would have to wait until Monday for Wi-Fi. Not good.\u2019<\/p>\n I was tired, grumpy and annoyed when I eventually got into my room and I remember distinctly thinking if this is what the year abroad was all about then I wanted out. But (call it clich\u00e9d, unoriginal, cheesy) things really do get better! I think the mixture of emotions had gotten the better of me and even that night when I was on my way to a jazz festival with some fellow Cardiff students (I was still wearing the sunnies), I already felt happier and settled.<\/p>\n Cat caf\u00e9s<\/strong><\/p>\n I told you things got better.<\/p>\n Not long after getting here, we discovered a cute cat caf\u00e9 in the centre of town (apparently there is another one!), and this was a definite highlight of my first week in Nantes.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t like cats\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m aware not everyone likes cats (sadly) but fear not, the tourist attractions, restaurants and bars we\u2019ve discovered along the way are (almost as) great. A personal favourite is le nid (the nest), a bird-themed bar which can be found at the top of the tallest tower in Nantes. It has the most amazing views of the city and the cocktails are good.<\/p>\n This blog just about scratches the surface of what a roller coaster of a ride September has been. I could have discussed the mundane task of opening up a bank account in France, the difficulty of obtaining a travel pass or my experiences of a French lecture (don\u2019t get too excited that I haven’t, it\u2019s just given me ideas for my next blog\u2026) but I feel this will suffice for now. Here\u2019s another (hopefully inspiring) quote to keep you going until next time\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cIf you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.\u201d \u2013 Nelson Mandela<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou can never understand one language until you understand at least two.\u201d \u2013 Geoffrey Willans It\u2019s all too easy to forget the reason we\u2019ve come on a year abroad, especially […]","protected":false},"author":1420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[268],"tags":[51,75,78,90,19],"class_list":["post-2682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","tag-culture","tag-france","tag-nantes","tag-studying","tag-uponarrival"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-Hg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1118,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/campus-timetables-and-lectures-in-nantes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2682,"position":0},"title":"Campus, Timetables and Lectures in Nantes","author":"Susannah Hadden","date":"September 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Having been in Nantes for almost two weeks prior to the start of lectures, I was really excited for them to begin, but as Monday grew closer I started to get a bit nervous too. I spent hours on Sunday trying to compile my timetable, which I've since had to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1056,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/adapting-to-life-in-nantes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2682,"position":1},"title":"Adapting to life in Nantes","author":"Susannah Hadden","date":"September 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I moved to Nantes a little over a week ago now and it's slowly starting to feel more like home, a foreign, temporary home, but home all the same. Without wishing to jinx it, I think I've pretty much overcome the homesickness that got me down when I arrived, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2753,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/nantes-month-three-birthday-celebrations-are-a-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":2682,"position":2},"title":"Nantes month three: birthday celebrations are a go!","author":"Clarissa Le Neindre-Hubbard","date":"November 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I cannot believe how quickly time flies\u2026 I only have two more weeks of lectures and then that will be the end of semester one of my year abroad. These past few weeks have been manic (hence my lack of blogging) but I\u2019ll try to summarise some of the things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/11\/IMG_3562-e1511779858986-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/11\/IMG_3562-e1511779858986-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/11\/IMG_3562-e1511779858986-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/11\/IMG_3562-e1511779858986-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/11\/IMG_3562-e1511779858986-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/11\/IMG_3562-e1511779858986-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2783,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lingomap-being-a-young-person-in-a-french-speaking-society\/","url_meta":{"origin":2682,"position":3},"title":"LingoMap: Being a young person in a French speaking society","author":"Osian McGuinness","date":"January 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bonjour \u00e0 tous! \u00c7a va\u00a0? This is my first blog post for the\u00a0Routes into Languages LingoMap blog. I am a third year Law and French student at Cardiff University, and I am currently on my year abroad studying law at the Facult\u00e9 de droit\u00a0(Law School) at\u00a0 l'universit\u00e9 de Nantes.\u00a0As part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2018\/01\/fac-de-droit-blog-450x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":285,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/making-it-to-nantes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2682,"position":4},"title":"Making it to Nantes","author":"Chlo\u00eb Hathway","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Bonjour from France! I\u2019m a third year BA French & Italian student, currently on my Year Abroad which is a compulsory component of my degree (lucky me!). Although I've been living in France for almost three months now (!), I thought I would start by telling you all how I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2014\/12\/IMG_2200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2014\/12\/IMG_2200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2014\/12\/IMG_2200.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3309,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lingomap-understanding-the-french-speaking-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":2682,"position":5},"title":"LingoMap: Understanding the French speaking world","author":"Osian McGuinness","date":"May 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bonjour \u00e0 tous\u00a0! Bienvenue \u00e0 mon troisi\u00e8me blog pour le blog Routes into Language LingoMap. Le sujet de ce troisi\u00e8me blog est de \u00ab\u00a0comprendre le monde francophone\u00a0\u00bb. Vous pouvez trouver mes deux premiers blogs en cliquant\u00a0ici et ici. Alors, pour mieux comprendre le monde francophone je vais vous parler un\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "European Placements"","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flag of Nantes","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d9\/Drapeau_de_Nantes.svg\/532px-Drapeau_de_Nantes.svg.png","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2694,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions\/2694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}