“We got it! We got it!” My friend Kellie shrieked excitedly from across the arts block in February this year.
Emotionally and physically exhausted as I was, it took me a few moments to comprehend. “We’re going to Strasbourg!” she exclaimed as she held out her iPhone so that I could read the much anticipated email announcing the successful applicants to the ERASMUS programme. On reading my name, a plethora of emotions struck me at once. A sense of achievement in the fact that I had been selected, delight for my other friends who had also been picked, a twinge of disappointment at not getting Paris, my first choice, a burst of excitement at the thought of living in another country for a year and experiencing a different culture, anxiety at the thought of being away from the people I love and my life in Ireland and at the same time a feeling of anticipation for the adventure that lay in store.
As a Bess student, my admittance to the ERASMUS programme was not guaranteed, and after carefully putting together an application form, working a little harder for my 2nd Year Christmas exams and months of waiting to find out my destiny, I had done it. Since secondary school I had harboured a passion for the French Language, and had always planned to go on Erasmus to Georgia Nicolson’s Froggy-a-gogo land. However, in my dreams of moving to France I hadn’t given serious consideration to the real-life implications; the logistics of moving country and the life I would leave behind. Consequently, my decision to accept my place was not an easy one and was much deliberated and debated. However, as someone special reminded me, at the end of the day, when you know that your past self has hoped and dreamed for something and your future self would profoundly regret if it didn’t come to pass, you have to just go for it. This thought really gave me the courage to make my mind up.
So after many tearful goodbyes, trying to fit my life into a 15kg Ryan Air baggage allowance and a starry bon voyage party in a barn, I set off for Strasbourg via Baden Baden in Germany. What followed was an unnerving week of searching for accommodation. As all college students know, the search for accommodation is never easy. It is fraught with time constraints, budgets and pressure from landlords who ‘have other viewers’ and need to know yesterday if you are going to take the place. However, I have to say searching for accommodation in France is a unique experience. Having signed up for every possible accommodation website, and researched where I would like to live, I began to try to find a “co-location”. There were a few glimmers of hope along the way, at one point I thought I had struck gold, when I found a beautiful apartment in a nice area for a very reasonable price, however it transpired that to procure this apartment one had to be Christian and male, and whatever about being male …!
You often hear the French are very bureaucratic. Be warned. It’s true. They are also fiercely proud of their language, but I suppose the lesson I have learned is that money speaks all languages. To secure the apartment I eventually found, I had to fork out four months rent in advance because I didn’t have a “French connection”.
After a brief settling in period it was straight into college life and I quickly realised I needed a friend to show me around Strasbourg. Her name was Lucy. She was old but she had great character and I fell in love with her at first sight. She carried me through thick and thin, sober and drunk, as any loyal friend would. She waited patiently for me every day after college, and every night I tucked her in safe in the knowledge that she would be there when I awoke. Alas! Our friendship came to an abrupt end last week when someone else took a shine to her and now that fecker is riding her around Strasbourg. I’m now on the look-out for a new bicycle!
Strasbourg is the quintessence of European spirit, probably because it knows both French and German rule. This fact, along with its strategic location as the “Carrefour” or crossroads of Europe makes it an ideal location for the European Parliament. I am very lucky to have secured a ‘stage’ with MEP Mairead Mc Guinness along with my friend Sarah-Kate. As a student of politics I was anxious to get a closer look at the European Union. Strasbourg, as the seat of the Parliament, provides a perfect opportunity. In keeping with the European theme that seems to prevail in Strasbourg, all of my politics courses have a European edge. I suppose as a country on the periphery of Europe Irish people are less likely to feel European but since I have been in Strasbourg I have realised the importance of creating a European identity and I really feel more European than ever. In one of my courses, European Integration, “the Irish” were put in the line of fire by our Lecturer who was very upset that we had not passed The Lisbon Treaty first time around. He posed the question to the class of whether or not Ireland should have been kicked out for their defiance to a regime that had only been good to them. Of course it turned out to be only a glitch in the evolution of the European Idea and I was especially proud of our country as an Irish person in Strasbourg when we passed the treaty on the 2nd of October last. I guess I’ve really caught the European bug.
One of the best things about being on Erasmus is obviously the opportunity to meet lots of new and interesting people. In Strasbourg, I have met some lovely French people but also people from every corner of the world who are also on exchange here. I know that I will have somewhere to stay no matter what continent I visit and the experience of meeting people from so many different cultures is definitely my favourite thing about my year abroad so far.
Of course it will be Vive L’Irlande instead of Vive La France on the 14th and 18th of this month and I am looking forward to showing the French how we celebrate victory!
