Let the Classes Begin
Jan. 19th, 2012 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yujiSo let's be honest right now, I'm not actually here in Bordeaux to learn. If I wanted to learn, I would be taking classes in a language that I could actually read and write in, as well, that's pretty much all my major is.
As it turns out, non of the classes I take here will really count for anything toward my major, and I'm pretty much done with my major anyways, so I'm mostly only taking studio classes (aka, slacker-classes-with-no-papers-and-next-to-none-readings) to fulfill stuff for my art minor. Thus, anyone who wants information on how "normal" classes work at Bordeaux will not be finding anything useful, haha.
My first class was super awesome, right now, I don't have classes on Monday or Friday or Wednesday (until DEFLE classes come out till the 30th), so my first class was actually on a Tuesday.
I only have 2 studios on Tuesday, which is where I made my first French friend (Marine). In the morning, I have a regular drawing/figure drawing class, and in the afternoon is a plastique graphique class, which really means just a studio of choice, pretty much? It was super awkward in the beginning because I'm pretty much the only person there who's new/foreign (and this is the second semester, so everyone knows everyone, and there are cliques and etc.)
I didn't have any of my art supplies because I didn't want to lug huge amounts of paper, so I came with nothing in hand except for my moleskin and some pens. D: The teacher was like ".. um, you need to find some paper :D" and the girl next to me (my friend~) lent me some, which led to conversations and friend-ness.
Nobody here speaks english. Haha, just putting it out there. Every university student I've met here has said that they can speak next to no english, so everyone just has to put up with my shitty French. But yeah, everyone has been super sympa and super gentil!
I had two design classes today, theory of design and a design studio class, where I made more friends. Y. says I have a very good clueless face, because people have been awesome. I asked at least 3 different people to explain the assignment today (making an A5 format poster). Haha. It's great befriending people my own age though, because I get to learn some slang, like how the LOL equivalent in French is MDR (literally, morte de rire, which means death by laughing xD).
Classes in general are very easy. For the most part, I can't really understand all that the prof says, which is typical. If what she says is a paragraph, for example, I always get the main point/thesis, but all the superfluous sentences (jokes), or even supporting sentences just go over my head. I basically just annoy all my new classmates by saying "what? I don't understand?" / just having a clueless face and having people try to tell me what's going on. On a whole though, each professor has been AWESOME and super nice to me, very understanding of how shitty my French is. :) They all seem excited/happy to see me in their classes, which makes me feel fuzzy inside.
Today in my design class, our prof. gave us 30 minutes to leave and "interview" random Bordeaux university students on their opinion on the definition of "design." Haha, um, that was difficult. Mostly I stayed close to the French ppl I just met, and had them interview people for me. >< It was awkward though, because everyone woud be speaking, and there I would be in the corner being silent. XD
As it turns out, non of the classes I take here will really count for anything toward my major, and I'm pretty much done with my major anyways, so I'm mostly only taking studio classes (aka, slacker-classes-with-no-papers-and-next-to-none-readings) to fulfill stuff for my art minor. Thus, anyone who wants information on how "normal" classes work at Bordeaux will not be finding anything useful, haha.
My first class was super awesome, right now, I don't have classes on Monday or Friday or Wednesday (until DEFLE classes come out till the 30th), so my first class was actually on a Tuesday.
I only have 2 studios on Tuesday, which is where I made my first French friend (Marine). In the morning, I have a regular drawing/figure drawing class, and in the afternoon is a plastique graphique class, which really means just a studio of choice, pretty much? It was super awkward in the beginning because I'm pretty much the only person there who's new/foreign (and this is the second semester, so everyone knows everyone, and there are cliques and etc.)
I didn't have any of my art supplies because I didn't want to lug huge amounts of paper, so I came with nothing in hand except for my moleskin and some pens. D: The teacher was like ".. um, you need to find some paper :D" and the girl next to me (my friend~) lent me some, which led to conversations and friend-ness.
Nobody here speaks english. Haha, just putting it out there. Every university student I've met here has said that they can speak next to no english, so everyone just has to put up with my shitty French. But yeah, everyone has been super sympa and super gentil!
I had two design classes today, theory of design and a design studio class, where I made more friends. Y. says I have a very good clueless face, because people have been awesome. I asked at least 3 different people to explain the assignment today (making an A5 format poster). Haha. It's great befriending people my own age though, because I get to learn some slang, like how the LOL equivalent in French is MDR (literally, morte de rire, which means death by laughing xD).
Classes in general are very easy. For the most part, I can't really understand all that the prof says, which is typical. If what she says is a paragraph, for example, I always get the main point/thesis, but all the superfluous sentences (jokes), or even supporting sentences just go over my head. I basically just annoy all my new classmates by saying "what? I don't understand?" / just having a clueless face and having people try to tell me what's going on. On a whole though, each professor has been AWESOME and super nice to me, very understanding of how shitty my French is. :) They all seem excited/happy to see me in their classes, which makes me feel fuzzy inside.
Today in my design class, our prof. gave us 30 minutes to leave and "interview" random Bordeaux university students on their opinion on the definition of "design." Haha, um, that was difficult. Mostly I stayed close to the French ppl I just met, and had them interview people for me. >< It was awkward though, because everyone woud be speaking, and there I would be in the corner being silent. XD
