Pre-Departure:
So, if you are reading this, you probably have already been accepted into the summer school program of your dreams, CONGRATS, the hardest part is over! Although, not really. Planning your stay and travels overseas is hard, but not impossible. You can even plan during the busiest time of the academic year, June exams. When I saw that I had been accepted to EM Strasbourg, I was over the moon, and then reality set in. The reality was that I had to plan my travels down to the last cent as I was on a VERY tight budget, and I had to do all this planning without the never-ending assistance parents supply when they are nearby AND during the run up to June exams. With all this in mind, I thought planning everything would be impossible. But as I said above, it really isn’t.
The first thing I remember doing was chatting to the person I was to be traveling to Strasbourg with, Johan. We got together and discussed what both of us wanted out of the experience, if we wanted to travel before the summer school started or after or even during. Once we saw that we had the same idea for our travels, we booked our flights. I booked my flight with a travel agent, for me this was the best thing, they really look after you and make sure no mistakes are made. I would definitely recommend using a flight agency if it is your first time flying overseas alone.
For many others I believe that planning flights and their trip in general was a lot harder than it was for me as I have a British passport and didn’t need to get a visa. This made my preparations much easier and less time consuming. However, even though I didn’t have to worry about getting a visa, all the little things started to accumulate. These “little” things are the ones no one really thinks of and can really mess up the perfect travel experience if you forget about them. For example, you have to notify your bank which cards you will be using overseas and here’s the tricky one, if you have a layover in another country you have to tell them about that too. Just so that they don’t think someone has stolen your card to go on a shopping spree in Dubai International Airport. Another little thing, getting an adaptor for your hairdryer! This is so important for us girls; we could never forgive ourselves if all our pictures at the Eiffel Tower are with frizzy, crazy hair. Then there’s travel insurance, which you can get from whichever bank you bank with. It shouldn’t cost too much, but when you are on a budget like I was, it all counts.
Planning was hard in amongst of the academic pressure but it’s so worth it in the end. If you do your planning well and you know where you’re going, how you’re getting there and have a back-up plan if anything goes wrong, your travels and time in the summer school will be the best time of your life! I know that everyone says that, but traveling is a privilege, so plan it perfectly so nothing silly like your card being cancelled can ruin your time!
Handy tips
- Go to your cell phone service provider to see what is the best option for you to stay in touch with family through sms’s while overseas
- Make sure your bank knows which cards you are going to use overseas and where you will be using them
- Get a prescription for a general anti-biotic (yes, I know it seems extreme, but you never know when you might need something like this)
- Learn the language (no one is going to expect you to speak fluent, 3rd year quality French, but knowing a little can go a far way)
- Take certified copies of all your passports, I.D’s and all other important documents
- Plan all extra trips in advance, flight are only cheap in advance
- Make the most of EVERY situation!!
In Strasbourg:
Arriving in Strasbourg was the most exciting and tiring day for me. Johan and I had to make a two and a half hour train trip from our 10 day stay in Paris to Strasbourg. Paris had been amazing, a fairy-tale but I was ready for the stability that the summer school would provide. There was no more hopping from hostel to hostel, which was a welcomed change! I was SO excited to meet all the people we would be doing the summer school with.
On the second day we all met at the school and went for a tour of Strasbourg. It was very overwhelming at first to meet 26 other people from all other the world, with exotic names, which were very hard to remember all! But they were all so great. We were treated by the school to a boat tour of Strasbourg, as well as a guided tour and a delish lunch. Classes started the next day.
Although I wasn’t expecting summer school to be easy or totally relaxed, I did somehow manage to convince myself that it would be easier-going than my timetable here at Stellenbosch. So when we got our timetables for the month, I was surprised. Every day we started lectures at 8:30am and went until 6:00pm. Of course we had lunch breaks, but this was much more intensive than I expected. We took classes called European Integration, which gave the history and forms of the European Union, Business in Europe, which involved marketing, cultural studies and logistics and lastly, French. These subjects were all very interesting to me! The lectures are not what us Stellenbosch students are used to, every morning we would have European Integration for 3 hours, no such thing as a 50 minute lecture in France! I remember the one day we had logistics for 5 hours! That was rather tough.
In most of the classes we had assessments and presentations to do. Presentations were the most fun as we all got to work in groups and get to know each other better. For the one presentation I worked on, our group consisted of an American, a Brazilian, a Chinese, a Scottish and a Romanian. That is a dynamic variety and I bet I won’t be able to say I was in such a culturally diverse group ever again.
Even though we had a busy class schedule, every week we would go on at least two official excursions. These included going to the European Parliament, Mercedes-Benz Museum, Heineken and a castle! When going to formal places such as the European Parliament or the Council of Europe we all had to dress smart, this was a refreshing thing from what we are used to in Stellenbosch.
For me the best part of the summer school in Strasbourg was meeting all the different people. I made friends there that I will keep in contact with for life. I can now say that I have a place to stay on nearly every continent! More than meeting and creating amazing memories with these people was the fact that we were a small group. I feel that sometimes it’s very easy to feel lost among the crowd in Stellenbosch, so to be a part of a group of only 27 people was very special. Everyone got their say, everyone was able to teach the rest of us about their culture and home and we were all able to become a formidable group of friends. It’s not often that you can do that in a 50 minute lecture hall filled with 300 students.
Back home:
At the time, I was ready to leave Strasbourg. We were some of the very last people to leave and going through the process of say goodbye to everyone was heart aching. I also remember thinking that it would be nice to be back in South Africa, where people speak my mother-tongue. Being a tourist for over a month can really take ones energy and ability to speak French away.
Coming back to Stellenbosch was like a whirlwind. After a complete 48 hours of travelling back from France and then home to Durban for 4 days and then back to Stellenbosch was disorientating and almost confusing. When I got back to Stellies, I didn’t even have time to unpack my room before classes started and while everyone was complaining about how long the holidays were, I felt in those moments that I hadn’t even had a holiday. I’m definitely not complaining but the flying can take a few days to recuperate from.
When seeing family and friends, they all would ask what my “highlight” was and I still can’t answer them. The whole experience of summer school and getting to make friends with people from so many countries will never leave me, but yet, the Eiffel Tower on the most beautiful summer’s day won’t either. Initially I thought the course, titled “Business in Europe” wouldn’t really benefit me in my course, yet after learning so many fundamental things, and many specific things I saw the value that it added to my course. I feel like I have returned to Stellenbosch with something extra and extremely valuable.
Our one Irish professor told us the one day that going on exchange programs like this would make us students aware of other cultures that opposed our own in many ways, yet we must not forget to learn from those clashes about our own culture and what we value. This really struck me, as although yes, you notice how the South Americans don’t mind coming late to class and the Turkish girls don’t really like to sit with everyone, you also notice how you value time and value being active in making friends. You also notice what your flaws are. For me, I noticed how I am petrified of being late for flights and buses I am, where I am to the extent of being silly. You can only really learn these things about yourself when you’re put into these kinds of situations.
The one thing that always struck me in Strasbourg, was the fact that everyone couldn’t believe that Johan and I both came from South Africa. They would say that we both had completely different accents and many differing values. Being from Durban and coming from British decent, I could see how I didn’t really match the image of a stereotypical South African, whereas Johan being Afrikaans did. This was always interesting to me and made me question my South African-ness a lot. It was interesting because it look going to a completely foreign place for me to see how varied and multicultural SA really is. When you look at yourself through a foreigner’s eyes, you can see just how special we as a nation are.
I feel that this course really influenced the way I see the working world. I believe that I have now seen how small the world really is and that my options for the future are much more varied than I originally thought. My experience of France and EM Strasbourg has made me seriously consider doing my Master’s degree there. I have come back to Stellies with a fierce love for all things French and would love to study there after my amazing experience with EM Strasbourg.