Today was our first official day at L'Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (or The University of the French West Indies and Guiana for you Anglophones). The campus itself is absolutely beautiful to say the least, with views of the Caribbean Sea and mountains as well as palm trees and brightly coloured flowers, which I’ve been told can also be seen when staring out the window in class (I wouldn’t know because I concentrate 100% in class Mum, honest).
So at 10am, around 25 ERASMUS students (EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students for those of you not in the know) gathered in the international relations classroom for our ‘première rendez-vous’. There's people from all over here which is great: Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, America, Slovakia and the slightly closer Barbados, St Lucia and Jamaica (for those smart Alec's, yes I am aware half of these aren't actually in the EU). I even met some fellow Yorkshire-folks!
So after about fifteen minutes of wondering what was going on and whether we’d actually got the right location, we met Madame Elisée who popped her head around the door to tell us they were just looking for the right forms, timetables (a watch?!) etc. and wouldn't be long. If I’d known this was going to be the reoccurring theme for the next few weeks, I would have just walked out that door to the beach and come back four weeks later (fully tanned) once the university admin staff had decided what was going on. Alors... we waited. And eventually met the staff who work (excluding two hours every day for lunch and most afternoons, ie when you probably will have the most free time to go to their office...) and were given some information about how the university registration works (mega jokes), a couple of tourism guides and some irrelevant module booklets. Half the students then got their registration sorted until 11h55, because gosh, you weren't expecting them to work in to their lunch break because they were late were you?!
So after returning to halls and finding out the majority of international students were living in the same building as me, I finally got my room changed to the first floor (less likely to have another 'flashing accident' there, although still no curtains). I'm now on a predominately foreigners' floor and have a balcony again, check out the view!
So once all this was sorted, Nicola and I braved the trip to Géant, the French equivalent of Tescos. I knew it was going to be expensive but I wasn’t expecting to blow nearly 100€ on next to nothing. Even worse, the university halls’ kitchens include… some cupboards and a sink. And that’s it. I wasn’t exactly expecting masterchef but a hob or a microwave would have been nice!
Guess I'll be leaving the baking skills til I get back to Bangor!
EmJ x
EmJ x
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