I've recently been getting feedback from outgoing erasmus students with questions I have not addressed on my blog prior to this. Therefore, I'm making a quick list here of the most frequently asked questions and providing my response to them.
1)How did the Intensive langauge course go for you and what level of French did you need?
Intensive language course? ENSA La Villette only do a langauge course in the first semester as far as I know. Either way there is no course available in the second semester. Before I left for Paris, I did a 10 week refresher course in French at www.marinocollege.ie for €75 and also attended some of those free English/French language exchange programs in the public library in the ILAC centre on a Wednesday night. You would be surprised how little French you can get
by on, I am crap at languages and hadn't a clue what was going on for awhile but you will get an ear for it over time. The course is very different to DIT, not just the course framework but also the professors' attitudes and work standards. Don't stress it though, my lecturers knew my French was a joke and they were pretty relaxed about it. All you have to do is be present as much as possible for every lecture, even if you have no idea what's going on, they will take you far more seriously and perhaps even give you a better mark just for being in class regularly.
2)How did you go about the application in relation to what topics and course material in France relate to ours in DIT?
Our application to the college was a joke. We had completely misunderstood the documents and had put in the wrong subjects, or even worse, a module name instead of a specific course! They processed it all on the day we arrived to start the semester so we had a chance to correct it. The subject forms were not stamped immediately though - you had time to get your new professors' signatures during the first few weeks to confirm you had signed up for and attended their classes. This was the tricky bit. We had no idea what any class was like until we sat through a lecture - the result: we spent 4 weeks jumping from class to class, constantly changing our choices! I still remember the look on the face of the woman who processed our final
forms after all this time, she practically spit in our faces hissing in broken English ''This is
a joke!''. Fun times! I brought home the book on the course options and the credit system for individual classes, I'm going to leave the book in the care of Noel Brady after this to ensure
its available for future erasmus students as a reference tool. (the book changes every year and is available online in pdf form but sometimes a paper version is good to have just to flick through)
3)Can you be more specific in terms of what you did study?
The main issue here is to not too stress too much about the subject choices; if a subject sounds interesting and managable then go with that one. Your DIT co-ordinator isn't going to refuse your application if he thinks your subjects are unsuitable, he'll simply advise you to rethink your choices.
The new erasmus document from Noel Brady specifies that you should choose a studio subject worth about 15 credits, the studios in Paris are worth 13. However I did an unusual thing and choose two studios - that's 26 credits and thus took a lot of pressure of me from doing other lecture based classes where I would have been lost with the language translation. Noel did approve this approach, although I'm unsure whether he will approve the same choices again depending upon furture feedback from erasmus students such as myself. I would recommend this route if it was open to you although prepare for 2 weeks of working hell at the end of the year! I was lucky as all of my subjects were constant assessment based so there were no end of year exams looming. Have you consulted the pdf of the course choices in Paris yet? Its HUGE,
about 220 pages long so it takes awhile to learn how to use it. This is a pdf of the book I mentioned in question 2 above, check it out here. I'm trying not to complicate things so I'll add a list of my choices. The final subject list ended up quite different from the original subject choices I first made when applying for the erasmus semester in 4th year. Thus don't sweat your choice too much, you can change it all again once you arrive in Paris.
The subject list:
-P804: Approche de la mixite: activites et lodgement (ASM)
This studio involves the design of a steel workshop at present and is
followed by a housing scheme next door after Easter. The lecturer
speaks good English which helped. Although forget about designing and
just draw what he tells you to!!
-Po805: Programmation and conception (ASM)
This is a complementary class to the one above; its taught by the same
professor and is treated as an extension of the design work we do in
studio. (it is mandatory, as it involves site visits and other extra
studies that we don’t have time for in studio)
-P814: Architecture et qualite environnementale (AEDD)
This is a second studio class. For this semester, students choose an
urban block in Paris and analyse all aspects of the site with a view
to focus in on a built project for the area in their fifth year. I
believed it would be good for my analytical abilities and
presentations in fifth year. I found it very interesting, far more
relaxed than the other design studio and one of the two professors
(Jean Michelle) speaks English.
-Po819: Conception des details et chantiers (AMC)
This class is the closest to Tectonics that I found. The class
involves several visits to different sites is followed up by an
investigation of one of the different details we seen on site. This
involves a series of drawings, studies and detail comparisons. It was
so easy!!
-CT 808 La Construction Seche
This is the equivalent of structures at home. It overlapps on several
common topics; it's a little new work but mostly its revision of what
we have completed at home.
4) How do I use the pdf booklet you've linked to above, its a very confusing document?
This is last year's book (2008/09) that I have linked to as the current year is not avaliable at the time of posting this. The pdf covers all the options of the two year masters course so make sure you focus only on the Master1/Année 1, Semestre 8 section for your second semester. The first few pages explain the pole and credit weights. NOTE: ignore anything that says a certain subject or module is obligatory; you are an erasmus student and can pick and mix any subject from any pole you want. The pole is a theme that connects different lectures and design studios under a common subject matter; sustainable development for example. There are 9 different poles - the idea is that French students must first choose a pole and then choose a selection of lectures and one studio under that pole. This does not apply to you. You can choose any subject and any studios from any pole. Also there are two other areas outside of the poles:
1)construction and law and 2)history and philosophy.
These are stated as mandatory areas from which you must choose a subject but like I said earlier, this does not apply to erasmus students. I chose Construction 2 from the construction and law section but I avoided any philophy or history subjects as they were very text focused. In the pdf booklet you will find:
page 6: the poles explained
page 11: the credits each class is worth.
pages 14-70: the course choices for semester one
pages 71-158: the course choices for the 2nd semester
5)How would you rate your educational experience in Paris?
Paris is amazing. The course isn't the best but you're going for the whole erasmus experience more than the academic side of things. Paris is amazing. Did I say that already? There is so many urban,architecture and design exhibitions, bookshops and resources that you will see and do so much more outside of college than in the course itself. Plus the college is flooded with erasmus students so you won't be the only stranger floating around the corridors. I met students from Peru, Sweden, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, Scotland, England, America, Italy, Algeria, Greece,...all in ENSA La Villette. It is also common for students to change from one college to another within Paris and so for many of the French it is their first year in the college too!
In a nutshell, it was the best experience of my life. You must go and try it!! :D
