montagnarde1793 | L'année prochaine

I know nothing of this sort of thing - my uni does study abroad as a matter of course - so I won't vote on something I can't help with. ^^;;

However, I do want to note for the record that I desperately want to see your annotated translation of Quatre-Vingt-Treize, because that will be COMPLETELY epic.

I can respect that. Just out of curiosity though, what exactly do you mean by "my uni des study abroad as a matter of course"?

It may take a while, but once it's done I'll be happy to share. ;)

My university has a study abroad program - you don't need to sign up with anything, the university has arranged everything with all the other universities, teachers, etc. All you do is apply and you get housing, meal plans, classes, work opportunities, etc. Our university sometimes makes study abroad a mandatory part of courses (depending on the study programme you have) and it costs the exact same amount as it does to have a normal semester, so almost everyone inevitably goes abroad here. As a result, though, I know absolutely nothing about studying abroad in any other format except "go to uni website, put down name, pick classes and pack", so thus: utter ignorance.

Yay! ^____^ Take your time, but still: yay! Know that you have an eager audience.

I think I understand where you're coming from... It's one of those programs where your university has its own campuses in cities in different parts of the world, is it not? (Because mine too has similar programs and that's exactly the kind of thing I wanted to avoid in order to actually be able to study at a French university.)

That is always good to know. :D

Very clever decision.

It's just one of those things where, to me anyway, those programs only make sense if you're going to a country to learn the language. Since I already know French, even if it weren't my goal to live in France once I've graduated from my current university, why would I want to go essentially as a tourist?

I doubt its usefulness even for learning the language. The students are taught in English, have Enligh-speaking classmates, socialize with their countrymen. All they usually learn is to ask for a pint of beer and for the bill. I think it's more of an experience of being far from one's parents and knowing a foreign city ;-)

My school isn't like that - I went abroad to England because I didn't want to learn a language, but even then you're essentially kicked out into city on your own, and in the other countries I know that most students are housed with a family of the area and not really given the option of sticking with their countrymen, so to speak; and that's the ones that choose to go to the official "campus" of the university rather than just use my uni to get into another school - but I'm certain quite a few schools are. ^^ Actually, I'm pretty sure that's a universal student custom - certainly the tourist-students that come to my town don't bother learning any more English than that!

I see. I shan't generalize, but what I have seen was:
1) no contact with local scholars, no contact with local students
2) ok, they live with local families, but socialize with their classmates, who are almost exclusively from the university of origin.
It's quite common to stick with other foreigners when one studies abroad, but if one studies in a local branch of his/her national university, then one generally does not mix, never mind the locals, not even with people from other countries in similar situation (which is what usually happens when people study at the local university). Of course, there are always exceptions. What I've seen were people who spend most of their time in company of their countrymen.
For academic reasons it's also better to get directly to a big university, as the important experts are there. I mean, if you are coming for longer than a year, this is very important. if it's just a short stay, then the branch can be a good option.

I think that's certainly true for some of them, but I think others are geared specifically toward learning the language at a basic level. (Which of course means that they would still spend all their time with each other and not really see whatever city they're in except as tourists.)

Yeah, I've made too strong a statement. You're right. There are different kinds of programmes for different kinds of stays. As nijerseki has written, her university seems to offer a pretty good, integrating options.
I was probably under the impact of reading Duval on Gallica and discussing in with maelicia on her LJ ;-)

Doubtless that had something to do with it. XD;;

Well, it certainly dazzled my reason for a couple of hours. I couldn't get back to work until late in the evening. Early 19th century memoires of young notary assistants are not for me. They sem to have similar effects on my brain as LSD. :-)

No doubt about it, they can be dangerous. Just look at all the damage they've done to the historiography!

No, actually. ^^ We have the option to do that - our school has 7 "official" campuses around the world - but if you prefer not to do that, you just go to the office in charge of it and tell them. In Paris, for example, you have the option to go to
"our" uni campus, but also to the University of Paris and take classes there. If you prefer to go somewhere else, you tell them, and they work out a program with the school you want to go to - anywhere in the world - and get you a discount because you go through the school. And then you attend the school as a normal student of that school for a semester/year.

But my uni is particularly unusual in that regard, as it considers its study abroad program to be Very Important to its reputation, and thus puts emphasis on it. ^^

Wow, that's great, then you're very lucky.

Thanks. ^^ But don't worry! Our school screws us over in many equally annoying ways. That, unfortunately, is a general characteristic of universities...

Does it? How? If you don't mind sharing..

Oh, in all the usual ways - regular unexpected increases in tuition, services getting cut, suddenly charging for necessary services that had previously been offered for free, obligatory purchases of unnecessary things...but, well, as I said, it's just all the usual ways.

Okay, that makes sense. I think most schools have some kind of unofficial way of getting students into whatever program or lack there of they want (within reason), but I suppose some might emphasize it more. (Obviously, when I say one of my options is to study on my own, that doesn't mean various professors wouldn't be available to help me with the process if I chose to do that.)

Probably just that. ^^ What have you decided to do, if you know...? Or at least am leaning towards?

I'm probably going to go with CUPA. Although they just apparently suggested I take a class taught be Gueniffey, so that's not a good sign. (To be fair though, my French professor did only ask them to find a class on the Revolution, not one that wasn't taught by a revisionist.)

L'année prochaine

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject