#askluce

Thanks for the love!! 💜

Yes, I have lots of advice! I am going to assume you are going to be going as a student, but if not I'll include some more general things. There will be too much to write in one post but if you have any specific questions do feel free to send me an ask.

If you aren't offered CROUS accommodation or you aren't a student, rent through an agency or private company to avoid scams! I have found rental scams to be really prevalent in France and you have to be really careful.

If you don't have a french guarantor, sign up for VISALE as most people require to have a french guarantor if you are renting.

If you're a student, sign up for CAF asap! This is basically money from the government to supplement your rent. They get a lot of applications at the start of the academic year so it can take a couple months to receive your money.

Sign up for Carte Vitale! This will save you so much money on things related to health and medicine.

Doctolib app will enable you to book doctors appointments in your area. You can find specialists, book covid tests, find people who speak your native language, and even book online appointments. I know health is a really scary thing when you're abroad, especially booking doctor's appointments, and this application saved me from a lot of anxiety.

French pharmacies are great! They usually have something available for most minor problems you may have and the medicine is actually quite affordable.

If you're in a city with a travel subscription card, BUY ONE! It will save you so much money.

Download the metro app for your city (if it has one). It is much more sufficient than google maps and will show you the best mode of public transport to take.

Travel around France or even the rest of Europe. It's so cheap to travel around and see new places and a great experience.

If you receive paperwork, fill it out as soon as you receive it. French bureaucracy is a mess! So the less time you take to get things done the quicker of a process it will be for you.

Keep passport photos of yourself in your wallet/purse!!! A lot of paperwork will require you to give them a photo of you.

Save copies of your important documents on all your devices. You're going to need a lot of different forms for different services. Like I said... French bureaucracy...

Use leboncoin to buy secondhand items for when you first move in and even to sell your unwanted items when you move out. This is a great platform to use and really helped me when I moved out of my apartment as I couldn't take certain household items on the plane for me. It also meant I could earn a bit of cash.

Download the Covid app for France. You are going to need to show proof of vaccination for most things you want to do in France. You'll also be required to have evidence of having a booster jab soon.

In terms of speaking French:

French people speak quite fast so don't be afraid to ask them to repeat themselves or slow down

Try to speak the language and they will appreciate the effort. I wouldn't feel offended if they switch to English either as they just want to make you feel more comfortable,

Also if you get stuck- feel no shame in using a translator to try and communicate. What matters most is that you try your best to learn the language and you will certainly find yourself improving very quickly.

There are Facebook groups or even the app meetup designed to help you meet people for language exchange so I would highly recommend that. Check out your university services to see if they offer a language exchange program, my university's program was called MINERVE.

I was wondering if you have any tips or resources recs for people who are starting with learning french?

Yes of course! I have a post here which could get you started. I forgot to add that I love to use the textbook I mentioned with the Progressive Français textbook series. Their grammar book is great to use for grammar drills at each level and comes with some great explanations.

Thank you! 🌷

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hello i just finished them! i can tell you a little bit about each class

intensive german and trimester german; i paid for these courses myself but i got a huge discount because i am a student at the university of vienna. since i am also an erasmus student and i got a positive grade for the intensive course i got a refund and only had to pay 100€ for roughly 50 hours of classes. the classes were fun to be in because i studied b2.1 and b.2.2 so everyone could talk to each other and have fun. also we were all adults who were finishing our degrees or were working, so it was nice to not feel like just a student to the professor. i got a lot of confidence in speaking which was absolutely great.

business german; to be totally honest i didn't like this class. i would only recommend if you want to work in an enterprise in a german speaking country. the content to me was boring and i didnt have a lot of motivation to do well in the class. the professor was really nice though.

french; okay i loved loved loved french class here, i was so motivated to study and i really improved a lot in speaking and writing. it was heavily grammar based but it really helped me to have a strong level of basic but accurate french, which is then easily built upon. gosh thinking about this class makes me want to take another class with my professor. i am so motivated to study french this summer *-*

machine translation; this class i took was in english but it was so interesting. the whole class was basically theory based i guess. it was about using machine translation and advising clients on the best services to use. really heavy content but i enjoyed it a lot and it gave me a chance to see how i can professionally apply my degree.

morphology; to be totally honest this class got boring very quickly to me, i didn't want to go to class and being there only made me want to leave really badly. it was sometimes hard to understand the lecturer and she never uploaded any of her presentations until after the lecture so it was particularly hard for me to take cohesive notes. the professor was also very monotone and quiet and kept pacing as she spoke. i think maybe they were a phd candidate so i don't know if they liked teaching or not lol.

transcultural communication; wowowow very very interesting class. it was also recorded so i never went to the live lectures and instead watched them an hour after class so i could pause and rewind whenever i wanted to. i loved the content and although i never spoke (not just because i didn't go to the live lectures) there were some very interesting discussions

compared to england; exams here in my department are really casual and very short (like 6 questions short lol). i feel like you really don't have to study that much especially if you're a native speaker. you can also leave the exam when you are done which usually isn't allowed at my uni. also the teachers spoke to us during the exam. it actually made me feel more relaxed in a way.

Hey! Sure!

I study BA Modern Languages (German and French) at a Uni of London College. I have taken lectures on the French and German language, German Translation, German History, International Film, Transcultural Communication and French Literature.

- nat

Hi Nat!

It's totally normal to feel like this and is actually a great starting point to make new friends!

My first advice would be to join facebook groups for your university or even the Erasmus groups (even if you're just an international student not on an Erasmus programme!) that have been set up. If you dont have facebook it is worthwhile just making one for the purpose of your year abroad and then deleting it after since a lot of events are advertised on here and you will have access to lots of info.

From these groups you might be able to join some WhatsApp group-chats. In my first couple of weeks abroad people were very eager to make new friends and meet up. I met up with a lot of different people and suggested things like going to the park, to a bar, to museums, ice skating, seeing tourist attractions etc. People are always up to do something new! After that, I recommend finding events hosted by your university or maybe activities you are interested in so that you can interact with native speakers. Please just dont care about making mistakes whilst speaking- you aren't going to be perfect straight away and as long you get across what you want to say, no matter how disheveled your sentence, you can perfect your grammar later!

In regards to adjusting to the uni experience, I trust that a lot of students are also not used to the system of university in Germany. Help each-other navigate things and also ask your mobility coordinator or the international office if you have any problems as they are there to help you.

B2 is also a great starting point to study in Germany. It is enough to understand lectures (I recommend taking first year lectures due to content being more linguistically simple), and to get around! There will of course be things that you wont understand but you will be quick to pick up on what is important for you to know. If you become uncomfortable with your level of German after arriving, maybe try to see if your university offers a German language programme. When I was in France my language course was free, but here in Austria I have to pay for my German classes.

I would advise to learn, for example, how to format an essay in German and practice every now and then and even ask advice from your professors on the format of exams and if you can have access to any past papers. Also before I forget, when you're sitting an exam, write at the top that you are an Erasmus/exchange student, the professor is usually more lenient and will focus on the content of what you write rather than heavily penalising you for grammatical errors.

Most of all just try to have fun and get a good balance between study and exploring. Studying abroad isn't all sunshine and rainbows, you won't escape problems you encounter at home, and you will especially encounter some new problems. I have faith in you! You can achieve everything you set your mind to- its hard and requires a lot of work, but it will be rewarding!!

Hey anon!

I have had my blog for 12 years and for the past ~2 years it has been a study blog. I have only just started seeing growth in followers in the past year since I didn't really post anything and kept deleting everything.

What I can say however, is I noticed a growth in following when I started posting what I wanted, and not what I thought people wanted to see. Posting what you think other people want to see is so much more exhausting and starts to become something thats not enjoyable. It's also hard to keep up with. Posting what you want feels very natural and very easy.

I would also say, luck is something that plays into it. When you start posting, you aren't going to have a lot of interaction. But one day you'll get a post that a lot of people will interact with and it becomes a sort of catalyst. Of course that momentum can easily be lost if you are not active. Don't post with the expectation of interaction. Post because you like posting, and interact with other people- that's the best way to meet people and share great things.

Personally I used my blog as a way to hoard resources for language learning and also a way of posting and reblogging images to curate a blog. I like to post what I am studying for the day, or post a nice photo I took whilst taking a break. I sometimes write things and post them as if tumblr was like a diary or I write things that people might find relatable and to know they are not alone in their struggles with education. I also have 4 years experience in higher education so have a lot of advice for people, so I really like to help people and ease their worries.

Basically:

Post what you want not what you think others want to see

Don't focus on numbers

Post fairly regularly (it's totally okay to take a break)

Have fun and use this space to relax too!

hello @manuel-the-resolute! sorry for the wait!

voronezhskaya black; what or who is your go-to outlet for when you need to vent?

easyeasyeasy. my go-to for general venting is my boyfriend, if he's stressed about something or really busy then my mum definitely. my mum and i both have anxiety so mostly i need to vent about anxiety so shes the person that really understands me in that case.