The Classes You'll Take on Erasmus
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Chosen to spend your Erasmus experience studying rather than getting a taste of the working world? Great decision. You, like I was, were clearly hungry for knowledge and keen to experience academia from a new cultural perspective. It definitely had nothing to do with the stress of writing CVs in a language that wasn't your native one, or the lack of paid internships due to the economic crisis.
Some people don't have to sit any exams at all while they're on Erasmus but the rest of us are expected to turn up to lessons and participate at least a little. Most British universities give MFL students near-total freedom when it comes to picking their modules; unfortunately a lot of us aren't very good at dealing with this huge range of choice. After nearly two semesters at two different universities, I can make a pretty good set of predictions about what kind of educational experience most of us will have while studying abroad.
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| http://erasmus.wiwi.uni-mainz.de/174.php |
Some foreign universities offer classes specifically for foreign students. Even at the ones that don't do this, there will be modules that are broad and easy-sounding enough to attract them in their hordes. Look for modules about cinema or modern literature. Alternatively anything with "introduction to" in the title will almost certainly be full of foreigners. It may not be the best way to integrate with the local culture but you will have the treat of hearing your target language spoken in a wide and wonderful variety of accents.
The Class With No Erasmus In
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| http://www.people-communicating.com/small-group-communication.html |
This could go two ways. Your teacher will either take you under their wing, asking you if you understand after every other sentence and offering to let you sit the exam in English if you're struggling, or they will hate you with the passion of a thousand scorned Medusas. Unless you're already fluent in your language of study (in which case you're probably used to being hated by your envious classmates back at home), the second type of teacher will regard you as a burden and a hindrance to everyone else's learning. The best course of action here is to make friends with the native-speaking classmates and improve your fluency as quickly as possible.
The Class You Can't Do
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| http://www.pinterest.com/pin/110408628338822537/ |
So you thought taking a class in a subject you've never studied before would be a fun new challenge and now you're teetering on the brink of nervous collapse because none of your lecture notes make any sense? Don't worry, you're not alone. From Anthropology to Philosophy to Linguistics, there will be some poor foreign MFL student on every course who convinced themselves that they were capable of picking up a subject from scratch that everyone else in the class has been studying for 3 years. Expect to spend a lot of the next semester borrowing notes from classmates and begging the teacher for help in order to avoid a full-on psychological meltdown.
Some advice from personal experience on this topic: if you're going to attempt a course in a completely new subject, make sure you know what "Master's degree" is in your relevant language. If you think being the only foreigner in the class is embarrassing, try being the only undergraduate.
The Class That Never Happens
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| https://www.msu.edu/course/ams/280/text.html |
Teachers in certain countries have a slightly more relaxed attitude towards attendance than we do in the UK. This does not just extend to the students; no one seems to care whether the teachers turn up, either. In the same way that I became desensitised to dogs wearing hoodies in Pavia, I am no longer shocked by people telling me their teacher decided not to come to class because the traffic was too bad. It's not all bad, though. Despite the lack of classroom time this will be the easiest pass in the world as the teacher will feel too guilty to penalise you. After all, your complete lack of knowledge is their fault.
The Class You Ace
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| http://www.dramabeans.com/2010/09/child-genius-seo-shin-ae-in-drama-special/ |
Maybe you signed up for a literature module only to find that you've studied the books on the syllabus before. Maybe you purposefully picked a class on a subject you already a know a lot about in order to bump up your mark for the year. Maybe you pretended to be German, snuck into an "English Language - Level A1" class and are now sitting there smugly conjugating every verb the teacher throws at you. Either way, this will easily be your highest mark this semester. For those of you studying in Italy, 100% is possible and your life's mission will be achieving it on this course.
The Class With The Teacher You Can't Understand
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| http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/low_concept/2014/03/john_travolta_called_idina_menzel_adele_dazeem_what_s_your_travolta_name.html |
You came to this university feeling confident about your language skills and this teacher has single-handedly destroyed that. From the moment you step into this classroom you are an insecure, shaky mute, crippled with the overwhelming fear that the teacher will ask you a question and you'll have nothing to give them but your best goldfish impression. Whether it's due to an unintelligibly strong regional accent, a complete lack of volume control or talking so quickly that you think they must be trying to break the sound barrier, you can't understand a word they say. If tuning your ear to their strange voice fails, your only options are borrowing notes and praying that there are no oral assessments involved.
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