MadmoiZelle speaks English

[Ancien membre]

Friday afternoon, I've my english test and I think I'm not very "prête" (ahah , comment dit-on "je ne suis pas vraiment prête" ?)...

 

[Ancien membre]

Of course, "ready"... shame on me thanks Léontine !

 

[Waukesha.]

EVS stands for European Voluntary Service. It's a bit like the Service Civique but abroad (only in Europe though). Basically, you volunteer in an organization for 2 to 12 months. You also have to find a French organization to help you out with the paperwork and stuff. You can find more info here. I didn't send my cover letter on time so I guess I'm screwed for Poland, but I would have lived there for 9 months to work as a teacher assistant (among others things) in a boarding school for kids "with difficult backgrounds" (I'm quoting).

Oh, that must be interesting! Why did you choose Poland?

Besides, what (girls, in general) do you study?

 

[Ancien membre]

Oh, that must be interesting! Why did you choose Poland?

Besides, what (girls, in general) do you study?

I study Contemporary literature (I don't know if that say like this, in french "lettres modernes"). I'm in my first year. You ?

 

[Ithurielle]

Oh, that must be interesting! Why did you choose Poland?

Besides, what (girls, in general) do you study?

4th year Russian and Arabic at Manchester University, currently avoiding writing my essay really badly?

 

[Waukesha.]

Last year I studied LEA (English/ German) at the University, but did not really enjoy it. So now, I study in a business school.

@Ithurielle : so you are currently living in Manchester? For how long so far? How did you manage to get accepted in an English University? It is something I wish I had done, but I never knew how to do it.

(I'm not sure I am understable... sorry)

Actually I am supposed to do a work experience this summer for school, and I was thinking of doing it in the UK, but because of rent prices, I'm not sure anymore...
Besides, do you know good websites to help me to write an application letter in English?

 

[Roonil Wazlib]

I miss speaking english so much u_u
I was au pair near Bristol for a year 3 years ago and i need to speak english very badly, i'm glad this forum exist. Even if i'd like to talk "for real".
I was thinking about studying in the UK but i don't know if it's possible outside ERASMUS program.

 

[Waukesha.]

I didn't really chose Poland. Well, yes I did but it's a bit more complex. I chose 8 countries (Poland, Austria, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain) and then my French organization selected 3 projects that could fit my interests. My favorite was in Poland, so here I am. But I chose the 8 countries quite randomly, without too much thinking, I just picked the ones that most appealed to me. By the way, I just got the answer : they're interested in my candidacy!

Personnaly, I'm in high school, Terminale L.

All right, so what are you going to do there? For one year?
Is it something you attempt to do after passing baccalauréat and before University/ graduate studies (how do you say "études supérieures" in English by the way?)

I am sorry if I look quite insistent, you may don't want to develop it, but I am really interested by those projects.

 

[Ithurielle]

Last year I studied LEA (English/ German) at the University, but did not really enjoy it. So now, I study in a business school.

@Ithurielle : so you are currently living in Manchester? For how long so far? How did you manage to get accepted in an English University? It is something I wish I had done, but I never knew how to do it.

(I'm not sure I am understable... sorry)

Actually I am supposed to do a work experience this summer for school, and I was thinking of doing it in the UK, but because of rent prices, I'm not sure anymore...
Besides, do you know good websites to help me to write an application letter in English?

Sorry, I didn't see your message before, I don't think the "mention" tag worked properly! I've been in Manchester for 3 whole years, now. My degree's four years long, but I had a year abroad in Syria and Russia, and I'm now in my final year. And I simply went through the same application process as British students, I was really set on going to England, so applied to 5 universities (all for Russian and Arabic), made sure I fulfilled the requirements when applying and got made offers

Regarding application letters, I suggest you poke around universities websites and find the link to their career centres, generally there's a wealth of information available on how to apply for a job, write a CV (it's different in the UK), etc. Here's the website for my university, but don't hesitate to have a look around other websites!

I miss speaking english so much u_u
I was au pair near Bristol for a year 3 years ago and i need to speak english very badly, i'm glad this forum exist. Even if i'd like to talk "for real".
I was thinking about studying in the UK but i don't know if it's possible outside ERASMUS program.

It most definitely is possible, but as mentioned, it's costly (even more so, now that they've raised the tuition fees). If you're really keen on the idea and think you could afford £9,000 a year, I suggest you have a look at the UCAS website to understand how it works, and if you've got any question about it, I'm here to help!

I think it's pretty expensive. I wanted to do the same but then my cousin who is a native, he told me the prices I was like " Are you serious? So basically with my bachelor I can barely study a year in England. "
But a friend of mine she's doing a double diploma in law and she studies 3 years in England and one year in Toulouse as long as I remember.

It is indeed. I'm lucky enough to pay "only" £3,000 a year, but I'm not gonna lie, I fully believe it's worth it. I would not have had nearly as many opportunities back in France to do all the things I've done in the UK, would not have been able to do my subjects, and my English wouldn't be as good now if I had simply done LEA/LLCE English as I was gonna do if my plan to go to the UK had failed.

All right, so what are you going to do there? For one year?
Is it something you attempt to do after passing baccalauréat and before University/ graduate studies (how do you say "études supérieures" in English by the way?)

I am sorry if I look quite insistent, you may don't want to develop it, but I am really interested by those projects.

Undergraduate studies I believe!

Undergraduate studies is only "licence", postgraduate is "master" and "doctorat", but I'm fairly sure "études supérieures" is simply "further education", and "higher education" stops at "lycée" level.

 

[Waukesha.]

@Ithurielle: It sounds so great when you speak about your studies... It makes me really dream actually. And I feel so more dumm not having tried to do that kind of stuff. I like my business studies, but I'm not sure that it is the best choice I could have done.

What do you want to do for a job? (I'm not sure it's correct, don't hesitate to correct me)

And what were your English level before you went to this college? I would reallllllllly enjoy read about your "education story", how did you choose your college/ how was your first year/ what are your classes, etc.

 

[Ithurielle]

@Ithurielle: It sounds so great when you speak about your studies... It makes me really dream actually. And I feel so more dumm not having tried to do that kind of stuff. I like my business studies, but I'm not sure that it is the best choice I could have done.

What do you want to do for a job? (I'm not sure it's correct, don't hesitate to correct me)

And what were your English level before you went to this college? I would reallllllllly enjoy read about your "education story", how did you choose your college/ how was your first year/ what are your classes, etc.

To be fair, I had wanted to study in the UK since I was around 14, and I tried to get my parents to let me go when I was 16, but all I got was a "passe ton bac d'abord", so I did a Bac L mention européenne, and had probably reached a solid high B2/low C1 level, meaning I didn't have too much troubles understanding people in normal conversations about normal topics. I also spent quite a lot of time on a forum for UK university applicants and learnt a lot of slang on it, which definitely helped when I moved to the UK.

About my 1st year, which seems sooo far away now, it all just seemed normal. I never felt out of place, never felt I shouldn't have gone over, and leaving my friends and family was just natural, I think it was time for me to go. I had applied to 5 unis, and got 3 offers, one that I had to decline in order to make one choice my firm and a second one my insurance choice. I had offers from Leeds (they wanted 14/20), Manchester (13/20) and Exeter (10/20), but I didn't like Leeds much as it just looked like a Manchester wannabe. I picked Manchester as my first and Exeter as my insurance because I didn't like Exeter as much as Manchester (the degree wasn't as flexible and the town is tiny, although lovely) and managed to get in.

About what I study, it's a mix of things really, I get language classes in Russian and Arabic which comprise translation (Eng-Ar/Ru or Ar/Ru-Eng), oral, listening, speaking, writing and are really nice as we're never more than 20 in lectures, because no-one studies my languages. I also have "content modules" which are mainly stuff like History, Cinema, Literature, etc., and I also study Politics on the side. I know the teachers really really well and I'm really involved in uni life, I help 1st years with their work, I'm a student rep (déléguée), a student amabassador for the open days, and I also row (aviron) and help with the Russian society.

As for the job? A part of me want to work in the diplomatic corp, another part of me just wants to be a librarian, but they are two very different careers and I find myself struggling to make a choice as of yet!

 

[Charlis]

Oh man this is such a good topic!

I didn't read everything you girls wrote, but I know I definitely love to see some english around here

For those who are interested in studying abroad, there is a group called Calvin Thomas. They have different kinds of programs that give you the opportunity to study/work (and other things, I don't remember everything) abroad (particularly in the us).

Thanks to CT, I've been studying in the us for almost 2 years now (I'm working on my bachelor in criminal justice, and international languages), and I still have two years left to graduate.

Definitely something worth it