Swedish Course and first frustration

26/01/2008

The Swedish language started right after, and we all had to get back to work. I was really upset by the differences regarding the way of teaching foreign languages. During two weeks, our teacher has constantly been talking English 80% of the time! In France, we are used to have teachers that almost don’t speak French during the entire class. This is much better in a way because you understand the situation instead of just translating it. I think that this difference comes also from the fact that we were with Erasmus students coming from all horizons. But the thing that really upset me was that our teacher never asked me any question during the class because she simply could not pronounce my name!! So she kept avoiding me and when she had no choice but to ask me, she just nodded or said “Continue”… This is very frustrating coming from a language teacher! On overall, I think everybody learned a lot of Swedish in a short period of time (the class was very… intensive! Almost 40 hours a week), so this is a good thing.

Sweden !

08/01/2008

After a short week end in Stockholm, which is a wonderful city that I will certainly visit many times during the semester, I arrived in Linköping. First, I felt like the Ryd was quite depressing, even if I was very excited by the snow, which I rarely see, but afterwards I realized that the campus life would make that place look much more colorful and warmer. Then came the time of meeting the others! Everybody wasn’t arrived but it was still very nice to get together, I really missed them all!

Monday 7^th is the orientation day; back to school! I finally discovered Linköpings University and its campus! And my first impression is… it is impressive! French campuses don’t really look like that, Linköpings is pretty much Americanized: it is just BIG, very modern, it seems like all the buildings are brand new. It really seems that there are very good conditions for a study abroad semester.

The flight - time for a thought

Here I am, in the plane, not really realizing the scope of the trip. So many things in mind during these past months, I did not really think about Sweden before. I was very excited though, because Sweden is really perceived as a successful model across Europe, and that therefore going there would be only positive. Everybody makes up his mind about a university through its students, and the Swedish students from the program have shown so much discipline, been so friendly, motivated and professional concerning their study, that I could only have high expectations for Linköpings Universitet. So far, the only fear I had was about the climate. I was born and raised in Bordeaux, and never really experienced cold temperatures; my “winter jacket” would become really obsolete.

Winter break - Bye bye Lyon, Hello Linköping

As the French phase of the Atlantis program ended, I had to prepare myself for Sweden. I have to say, the semester in Lyon was like being abroad for me: another school administration, an unknown city, and 4 month in a residence with 10 American and 6 Swedes (+ Other nationalities from Erasmus). Except the cultural chock (well, maybe a little), I shared the same situations as most of the foreign students did, and without the stipend, which made it pretty tight. Anyway, this was still a very good experience and despite of the frustrations of some of the students, I had a very good time with a group of people that I now consider as very good friends.

Nevertheless, the winter break and being back home was more than welcome and extremely necessary. I had the opportunity to enjoy good food, rest and see the family before a very long trip. It seems like I spent most of my time in administrative tasks, family meeting and presents hunting. I managed to keep in touch during the break with some of the Atlantis students which proves that we really feel an unity. Finally, these two weeks seemed two minutes and I was already re-packing the bag that I hadn't really unpacked actually. On the road again!