Programme: European Language and Cultures (Culture and Literature). Martijn Kooi – p.m.kooi@student.rug.nl
Host University: Université Paul Valéry Montpellier
I spent my semester abroad in Montpellier. Because I have the major profile ‘Culture and Literature’, I mainly took courses from the bachelor program ‘Lettres Modernes’ in Montpellier. I took the following classes from various years (S=semester), giving me a total of 26 ECTS credits:
- Histoire littéraire du Moyen Age (S3), - Histoire littéraire du XVIIe siècle (S5) - Histoir littéraire du XIXe siècle (S1) - Approches des sciences humaines (S3) - Littératures comparées (S5)
- Poétique (S5)
- Histoire et esthétique du cinéma français (Course for Erasmus students) So I mainly had literary history (Medieval and from the 17th and 19th century) and
more thematic courses about, for example, the representation of everyday life. I passed all courses, but it was far more difficult than I’d expected for various reasons. First of all, the teaching methods were very different, since there was in general very little interaction, although this did also depend on the teacher. Secondly there was also the fact that the courses in general were more traditional: while at the RUG we looked more at the function in society, in Montpellier it was mainly literary analysis and simply a lot of factual information in the lessons themselves. Lastly, the methods of testing were really different than I was used to. You either had to write a
commentaire linéaire or composé, where you simply had to explain the texts or a dissertation. This is very different than I was used to in university, since in our
program we usually have to think of our own question and justify its academic and/or societal relevance, which in some ways can be more difficult (but in some cases also easier since you don’t entirely rely on the passage/citation the teacher gave you) and gives you more freedom. Also, in order to be able to pass those tests it really helps to have memorized most of what the teachers said, while in my program memorization of simple facts is less important.
I think communication could be better at times, but often the Erasmus office did reply quickly. I had contact with them mainly to get my learning agreements signed and this all went okay. One thing I do recall was that the message of whether you can get university housing or not was relatively late (I think mid to late June), so it might be handy to start looking earlier into private housing than I did. Personally I found it also quite difficult to find housing, also because many preferred to have someone who would stay the whole year. Eventually I took an AirBnB which was relatively
expensive (in total ~700 euros a month), which was located really in the middle of the city center. I think I spent around 200 euros on groceries each month. Also, I ate quite often at the university restaurant which had warm meals for around 3,30. I think it’s more difficult to estimate the costs of sightseeing activities, since it depends on what you do as well. There were quite a lot of cheap cultural activities, such as
concerts in the Opéra for ten euros and many museums are also not that expensive (sometimes even free). In general, the public transit in France is also a lot cheaper than in the Netherlands.
In terms of language, I think the first weeks were the most difficult, since you have to really switch to taking all your lessons in French. However, I personally found it quite doable to follow what the teachers were saying and I found the difference in teaching and testing methods to be more of a challenge. Unlike in Groningen, most tests were done with pen and paper, so here the language aspect was more challenging, since you have to be able to use high-level vocabulary without using a dictionary too often (This depended on the teacher as well, some only allowed a monolingual dictionary, most a bilingual one and one teacher I had even allowed electronic dictionaries). As for the courses, I would recommend to simply try most of the courses you are
interested in within the first few weeks. Even if the course topics are quite far removed from what we did in Groningen, it is probably worthwhile to take out some more time to try different courses and see whether there are any teachers you like or don’t like. Especially for the Travaux Dirigés (TDs) this can be helpful, since they also tend to have a different topic for each group. Also, the courses for Erasmus students were also quite interesting and they really are aimed at a more international
audience. This was not at all the case with the other courses I followed, since many teachers referred to things that French students had already learnt in high school, which at times made it very difficult to follow the lessons since I lack that particular knowledge.
In general, I thought that the city was really cool and there are really lots of things to do. I lived in the city center, which was really great. The city center is quite old and there are many things to see, such as the cathedral St. Pierre and it was a really nice experience to have lived there because it felt really like a Southern French/European city. The southern French weather is also a really a plus, you could visit the beach and have a nice time until quite late actually, it really remained nice until the end of October.
