Student Evaluation Form

Transcription

1 Student Exchange Office Victoria International Room 229, Level 2 Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus exchangestudents@vuw.ac.nz Ph: (04) / 6794 Student Evaluation Form A. Student Information Degree(s) enrolled in at VUW BAS ( ) MArch(prof) Major(s) Architecture Exchange Institution École Spéciale d Architecture (ESA), Paris, France VUW Trimester(s) and Year of Exchange Trimester two 2010 B. Finances Please provide an estimate on how much you spent on your exchange (in your host country s currency). Food & personal spending To date since August, food at least 800 Euros, personal around 300 Euros Accommodation 500euros per month(halved as I share a place) +500 agency fee Airfare, local travel Airfare return NZ 1300euros, local metro card 60euros per month Books, misc. levies (e.g. student Architectural supplies and printing, euros association) Visa, insurance Other (please specify) euros 120euro deposit to be able to use school library. Gifts and parcels to NZ 50euros, future travel airfares 200euros, future contiki tour 760euros Total = around 7000Euros, - Living in Paris is very exspensive, but definitely worth it! How did your financial expenses compare to what you originally expected to spend? There is always the unexpected finance that pops up and squeezes the original budget. For example; costs of temporary accommodation whilst finding permanent accommodation that took longer than anticipated, agency fees, mobile phone reloads/sim card being more expensive than NZ equivalent, transportation costs like monthly metro card, un-resistible crepes, and the culture of the architecture school spending lots on going out for a long French lunch and also expensive model making materials/ architecture supplies. By what means did you maintain your finances? (Credit card, foreign bank account, travelers checks, etc)? A Loaded for Travel card from any NZ postshop/kiwi bank is definitely the best way to go!! (you don t have to be a Kiwi bank member even). Everywhere that accepts bank cards accept it. There are NO fees when you use the card in shops to buy things, (unlike visa cards and eftpos cards from NZ) the only fee is when getting cash out, (NZ$6) so I made sure to take plenty of cash, and when needed, to withdraw an amount that would last me a long time again. They are the perfect way to travel as you get two, one for back up, can reload online and lock in exchange rates, lock a card easily if you misplace it, they were great. What financial advice would you give students attending the same university as you? Always budget for the more expensive options.. as there are so many little things unaccounted for

2 that undoubtedly will pop up. Also, at ESA, photocopying and printing is MUCH more costly (and confusing..) than at architecture school at Vic. For example, an A3 colour print is 0.90 euros ($1.80, rather than 40cents at Vic!) Materials for models and general drawing supplies are costly, so bring some basics with you. And always ask at a shop if they have a student discount, because most times they do but unlike Gordon Harris don t initiate the discount for you! Also the culture at ESA, especially on studio days (which I had all day Fridays and Saturdays) is to go out for a long French lunch- 1 or 2hour break, which always means a French café, restaurant, and things can get pricey. C. Academics Which courses did you take while on exchange? Please rate the difficulty of each course (1-5, 1 = Very Easy & 5 = Extremely Difficult) and leave any comments you may have. Course Title Rating (1-5) Comments Atelier 3X (in semester 6) the big architectural design course. 3 Great course. 3 different projects with 3 international guest tutors (Spanish, Indian, Russian). All in English due to the international tutors. A great way to learn under well-known international personalities in the architectural world and learn from different perspectives. Awesome course, very fast paced and therefore quite intense with workload. The course was worth 16 out of the 30 points I had to credit, so it was a lot compared to other courses. A lot of time in expected to go into this course. Art (in semester 6) 2 I LOVE art and drawing by hand so I found this course easy, especially compared to the high majority of French students who only like computers. Although entirely in French and a critique in French I really enjoyed this course and got the top in the class! It s all hand drawing. History of Paris (compulsory) (course from semester 2) 3 This course was entirely in French (very hard to understand the professor while following him around crowded narrow streets) but the standard of assignments was easier than expected, and the professor accepted them in English, and spoke in English if you asked him to when asking a question, so it ended up being moderate.

3 French (compulsory) 2 You can either take beginners or advanced, advanced was way beyond my level and there was no intermediate, so I went along to both but sat the beginner s exam, which was easy. Concrete Metal Glass (compulsory) (course from semester 6) 4 All entirely in advanced technical French, very hard to understand all lectures in specific architectural language, when I had only learnt the basics of the foreign language. The exams were in French, but I was allowed to write answers in English. Very hard in terms of understanding the level of French, but the exams (with help of the teachers translating for me) were quite easy mostly multiple choice. How did you find the teachers at your exchange university? Great! Most could speak a little English, or were very good (which was helpful at the beginning when I was not good at understanding French). I had a total of 10 teachers. (3 for atelier and 1 assistant, 1 for art, 1 for history, 1 for French, and 1 each for concrete metal and glass respectively.) They were all very understanding towards my low level of French and very approachable and friendly. The 3 from Atelier class were especially great, being from Spain, India and Russia, so the different cultural perspectives towards architectural projects was really interesting and very valuable. How did your academic experience differ from your time spend at Victoria? Academia in architecture school at Vic is in my opinion ideal. Course points are weighted more or less evenly across all subjects, as construction is just as valuable as design. Students are punctual and turn up for lectures and tutorials. I found ESA very surprising, I was expecting it to be strict and maybe difficult, but it was relaxed and laid back. In terms of time anyway students are late, constantly leave for smoking breaks and very long lunch periods and only are attentive about their Atelier course. It was very good for me to experience as now I can adapt fast and also value the student atmosphere at Vic and appreciate it so much! How did your academic experiences differ from what you expected? They were both harder and easier than I expected. I had not been informed by ESA before I arrived if my classes were going to be in French or English, so it was very hard to plunge into all classes in very technical French (apart from Atelier in English because of the international tutors). This was very difficult, but I managed to adjust and my French listening has improved a lot! They were easier from what I had expected in terms of standard, as although in French, the standard was not as difficult as I had anticipated. D. Accommodation

4 What form of accommodation did you stay in? No student accommodation was available in this semester, so I shared a 16m2 (or 19m2 if you count loft bed) studio apartment with someone also from NZ on exchange (but not from Vic). I knew them before hand, and came over with them. We arrived in Paris and for a week stayed in a very cheap hotel on the outskirts while we visited apartments that we found on online agencies. We rented this place through an apartment agency we found online. We rented the apartment through them and all in all it was absolutely great! What were the pros and cons of this form of accommodation? + Our landlord was VERY nice and brought us a bottles of French wine a few times, speaks both French and English, + the apartment was intended for long term rental so was equipped with everything we needed unlimited internet, washing machine also a drier, free international telephone calls to landlines, and even a dishwasher. +The best part; we were at the top of Montmartre by the Sacre Coeur and had an unbelievable view over all of Paris, with of course the Eiffel Tower! It was magic. -Unfortunately no oven (space is a huge issue in Paris studios!) and because we rent it through an agency, we ended up having to pay quite a high agency fee on top of the rent (which wasn t budgeted for!) -The lack of spaciousness took a little getting used to, but it was expected. What accommodation would you recommend to future students? Student accommodation is probably good if it is available because it would be cheaper. Else, as I found, renting a small place in a great area provides you with awesome independence, and you get to feel like a local. I would recommend the latter. F. Culture What were some of the hardest cultural differences you faced while abroad? Attitudes towards attendance (not a French thing at all, more of a school culture - I was used to the expectations of punctuality at Vic, and was surprised to see little of this in my classes at ESA). The very long French lunch breaks, and sometimes but rarely hostility if you don t speak French very well. A lot of strikes, which always affect transport systems.. ( the transport website, VERY USEFUL and has strike details) Humorous but good fun getting used to- kissing on each cheek as the greeting for hello and goodbye. Also pit-pocketing and other scams, there are SO many people with different scams to get money or steal. How would you recommend students to prepare for these differences? Always, as I did, turn up on time, even if you are the only person/student present for quite a while.. and always attempt to speak French first. Do lots of observing so you know how to act in situations such as greetings. Check out wiki travel or research areas to know how to identify scammers, this proved very helpful for me! I knew what to do when approached by them, and once by pure luck I

5 caught someone stealing my phone out of my pocket, even though I felt nothing! Did you face any issues regarding discrimination in your host country? What were they, and what advice would you give to future students? The huge majority of French people think NZ is extremely exotic and immediately are very friendly, want to speak English to practice their English, and are really interested in learning about NZ ways, but there are always a few who are hostile and think you should only be allowed to be in France if you can speak French fluently and are quite unfriendly towards foreigners. On the whole though, not much discrimination at all!! My advice is of course try your utmost best to speak the local language, and don t be shy to speak and make mistakes. G. Personal Response Please write one paragraph about your exchange experience. Plus, don t forget to submit some photos to the exchange office!! I absolutely have LOVED my exchange experience. Even though ESA was not at all how I expected (and I didn t expect it to be how I expected, but it was still surprising!) when I settled in after a little while and plucked up the courage to experiment and figure things out for myself, or ask, I really enjoyed the school life. I have loved living abroad, because of so many different reasons. Getting to know the French culture and the systems of Paris have been a GREAT experience and I have loved it. So different to NZ in every way, but SO interesting and awesome to be a part of. Becoming to feel like a local was the best part, once getting settled somewhere, having figured the essential things out, exploring the endless streets and being immersed in such a culturally and historically rich place was truly amazing. I would recommend an exchange or travel in general to anyone, it is so much fun! My family joined me for Christmas and New Years, and we travelled to North Africa, Spain and Italy before I went on a Contiki tour with a friend. Contiki was absolutely incredible and I now have a deep appreciation for Eastern Europe. Everything has turned out so well, getting to know some really awesome French people and other exchange students has been absolutely great, and I am eager to return and catch up with them in the future, and hopefully show them NZ one day! Studying at ESA has been a really good experience for me, because I have learnt the ways of a French architecture school, worked alongside and with amazing professors and tutors who were brought in from all over the world to direct projects (this aspect of the school is the best the exposure you are subject to being in central Europe, so many opportunities). And of course from the hard things here such as the frustrating French bureaucracy I now appreciate so many things in NZ that previously I took for granted! Having learnt from such culturally different perspectives towards architecture, from the international tutors has really enriched my experience and knowledge, and I will forever be thankful to this exchange for that. I can t wait to be part of the Buddy Programme at Vic through Vic OE!! I am really looking forward to introducing new students from abroad to Wellington, and of course helping them make the transition easy and painless, as now having been on an exchange myself, I know exactly what I would have wanted to know when I first arrived!

6 Over and out!