That's just the title, no I’m not
going to write this post in French, so don't worry :)
I would like to share my first month experience being
a foreigner student in France. The main difficulty, the obstacle, or should I say
the challenge, hehe...
Just so you know, I moved in France in
September, to continue my master degree in urbanisme. I live in a very nice city named Nantes,
about 3-4 hours from Paris, and will stay here for about one year. If you plan
to continue your study in French,
maybe this post will help prepare your mental a ‘lil bit :p
- Language is truly a habit
That was my english teacher
in high school said. So, in order to master a
language, we need to listen, read, write, talk using that language frequently. And
here I am, joining the class in which all the lectures were delivered in
French >.<
Before my departure, I managed to pass the
French language test and certificated for B2 level. For
those who don’t know, B2 is for the level “upper intermediate”. Those B2s are supposed
to be able to understand complex text, join a discussion, interact with native
speaker fluently and spontaneously, produce clear and detail text on a wide
range of subjects.
Howeveeeer..., real life is not as
easy as that piece of paper called certificate. My teacher was right, the best
way to master a language is use it every time, not just by taking a course and
test.
Right here, I struggle and have to
do lots of effort to understand the lectures, the group discussion with my
classmates, or even simply to listen to and share a story or jokes. As native, they
talk way too fast for me and sometimes use an “un-standard” language just like we do. For
example, we frequently use “ntar aja” instead of “nanti saja”, strangers definitely
can’t hope much to understand this only by joining a language course, I
believe.
HOW TO COPE?
I record and re-listen to all
the lectures, borrow, take photos, and re-write my friend’s notes (I have to get used to with
the French writing and font since it is different with its pronunciation, so I choose
to re-write instead of photocopy the notes), keep the online TV streaming in France
channel even when the channel plays trash, and of course...Google Translate
are with those who need a simple help in language! Hahah...
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| this is very helpful |
Thank God, I’m staying in a very
friendly city, the Nantais are very kind.
My classmates, my lecturers, my apartment owner are friendly and very kind, so I get lots of help and understanding in terms of language
difficulty.
Yeah but, believe me my friend, I won’t stop trying! :)
- Administrative thingy
If you frequently whine about the complexity
and uncertainty of the bureaucracy in Indonesia, try living in France. You will
be surprised :)
As a foreigner, there are lots of administrative
procedures and
forms to be
completed and submitted. Some of those are commonly known as complicated, no fixed standard, take too long, even for French people.
- The residence permit. You have to send (or bring
by yourself) a form you got from the embassy to the respective office, wait for at least 2-3 weeks to receive an application receipt, then wait again for...I don’t know how long for
an invitation of medical check up... I heard some different versions of my friends, one of them even got it after 6 months
waiting!
- Housing allowance (CAF). The officer
told me that he would contact me the next 3 weeks after I submit the form. In fact, I got the confirmation of my application in the 5th week. My french friend told me that it’s common for CAF and sometimes it's even longer!
- Bank account application. I had a quite bad
experience on this. In France, almost all the
transaction can be done by using bank card, and some others even can ONLY be
done by it. To give you a bigger picture, here you do many things in machine:
buying bus and tram ticket, laundry, rent a bicycle, pay your purchase, etc. Those
machines accept bank card or coin, so if you don’t have bank card, you have to
prepare some coin. See how hassle your life without having it in your wallet... And up until now, I haven’t got my
bank card yet. First, the bank officer told me that I still need to complete a document
related with my residence, but my friend who submitted exactly the same
document already obtained the card at the day I sent my complain. Afterward,
the officer told me that the bank missed another document and had to redo several
steps backward. Again, some French people said that it’s common treatment,
especially for foreigners. Oh lalala....
- Climate change
I won’t talk about the global
warming here, hehehe... What I mean is the difference of climate with your
origin country. In my case, it’s really a big gap to stay in 4 season country after spent
more than a quarter of century living nearby the equator. In addition, I came here during
the autumn season, the wind is so damn cold. I already wore 3 layers of clothes
while the others still wore 2, I eat a lot to compensate the energy lost to warm
my body temperature, I use 2 layers of blanket, and never forget to put the
eucalyptus oil on my chest, back, and stomach.
Yet, the autumn is look very sweet by the
way, in spite of the strong wind, the color change of the leaves turn to yellow
or red and then fall off, combine with the clear blue sky are romantic, in my
opinion. There’s no such thing as it in tropical country, right? So, for this,
I’m gladly enjoy :)
And well, this is a great time to wear your stylish boot, coat, scarf, gloves, skullcaps, etc. Do that in Indonesia and people will think you're insane. :p
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| beautiful, isn't it? |
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| how about this? more than beautiful? kapan lagi bisa dress-up like this? :p |
- Culture shock
- This is the first time I do feel
as a part of minority, in related with religion. I grown up in a biggest moslem
country, although I’m not a religious person, but it’s rather weird not to hear
adzan at all. Thank God, for the latest Idul Adha, I had no class so I could go
to one (out of two) mosque in Nantes to do Sholat Id while some of my friends
had to attend a mandatory class. At that time I met lots of moslem family, they
asked for my number and invited me to have a dinner in their house someday.
Awesome!
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| Idul Adha in a mosque at Renne Cassin :) |
- The next thing is, BE ON TIME! If you’re
included in those who prefer to cook your meal or dry your hair and come late rather
than come on time, CHANGE! My class usually start at 8am
until 12am then 2pm until 6pm. And all of those classes were started and ended right
on time. The bus and tram have fix and on time schedule up to minute units and
you can find the schedule easily and informatively in brochures, all the
shelters, or website. So, there is no reason to be late if you can manage your
time to prepare yourself. Furthermore, almost all of the meeting, formal or
informal, were done by an appointment in advance. Respect your own time, respect
other’s.
- Food!!! There is no cheapy "tukang nasi goreng tek-tek" or "mang buryam". Your choice is to cook or to eat at a restaurant, which is expensive. Rice is less common if you
eat in resto but you can find it easily in supermarket then cook it by yourself.
Chilly is also uncommon, but you can substitute it with paprika or pepper for your cooking. The famous Indomie are
available at some chinese stores, the import version for Netherland. The
one that barely found are tempe and kecap manis...sometimes those are usually available
at the chinese store, but most of the times not. KBRI in Paris sell some Indonesian spice and food,
sambal pecel, sambal terasi, balado, kemiri, Indomie, Sukro, etc. If you’re far
from Paris, the alternative way is to have all of your need directly from home! Just
like I got this afternoon :)
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| believe me, this is priceless, thank you, you :) |
- Last but not least, Public Display
of Affection (PDA) is soooo common, you will see a couple hugging or kissing on
the street, at the bus shelter, inside a tram, in your way to campus, everywhere!
Not only a male-female couple, yeah but also those gay or lesbians. You can enjoy it if you want, hehe...but just don’t too obviously stare at them >.<
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| photo taken from a significant distance :p |
- Homesick – boyfriendsick –
friendsick
Godbless the
inventor of electricity, internet, blackberry, and all the application such
skype, internetcalls, gtalk, etc. Use it as much as you need!
Before my
departure, I installed and taught my mother and sisters to use Skype and assured
my notebook and my boyfriend’s are able to connect each other properly by using those
various application. Sometimes, I still really miss them even if we just had a very
long video call. Well, that’s the challenge!
Realize and take into your consideration about the awful quality of internet in Indonesia, be patieeeentttt...let alone a clear video, sometimes you hear robotic voice, or suddenly the connection is disconnected, hahah, again...just be patient, don't be tired of trying :)
Aaaaand, not to forget, the different time zone... I’m so lucky to have a boyfriend who usually stay
awake over midnight, so we can “have a date” at my normal time, around 7 or 8
pm although we have 6 hours of different time, heheh... Otherwise, I get up
early so I can meet my family and him at their lunch time :)
Voila, those are the things that really matter...
I’ll surely update if I find another.
Au revoir!
