I thought Dauphine was clean in comparison to Nanterre where there was poop spread across the bathroom walls, no toilet paper and no soap! I got UTIs because I would avoid drinking so I didn’t have to pee. Sometimes I would go home at lunch time just to have a toilet break.
French universities obviously lack sufficient funding but I am not sure high tuition fees are the best solution. Canadians start their careers with significant student debts unless they get a grant of some sort. The special interest-free student loans aren’t available to everyone. For example, I was not eligible. Going to university in France enabled me to have a good education for relatively little money (except my Erasmus semester which cost a fair bit for housing, etc).
For those wishing to study in a French university, you’ll need to equip yourself with hand santizer, many packs of tissues and for girls, good thigh muscles for squatting!
Fraussie
December 3rd, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Sounds like Dauphine when I was there in the late seventies. It’s much better today, though the floor’s often flooded. The toilets are always mixed of course and I’m not keen on the urinals down the end. There are soap and water but the drier’s broken. I preferred it when I was on the permanent staff and could use the staff toilets but you need a key!
Hi, thanks for your comment. UQ is a beautiful campus, isn’t it? The social clubs definitely make a difference. Black Cat really missed them when she came back as well.
[…] to mix the spices myself, guessing what proportions I should use, but when Black Cat came home from UQ, she brought me two boxes. Mum would do the creaming of the butter and sugar. After that, I’d […]
[…] – University: Where I’m still teaching translation, despite the sad lack of equipment and outdated […]
Lyn
September 11th, 2012 at 1:40 am
Hi Fraussie, I have worked at QUT in Brisbane for 16 years now and we sometimes complain about facilities but after reading your blog I realise that we are in paradise. I did my fine arts study at USQ (Toowoomba) and it was also wonderful and that was back in the early eighties.
Fraussie
September 11th, 2012 at 3:49 pm
They finished renovating my uni here on practically the day of my last appearance there!
[…] afford to buy or rent similar accommodation. While I was still teaching part-time at university (ESIT), we thought we’d find something in the Yvelines to the west of Paris so I could commute once a […]
[…] not nearly as popular in France and most people don’t know how to use them. We had them at the French university where I taught and I began each year with a lesson on how to open and close them! However, I had […]
[…] just had a lovely visit from of my former ESIT students now living in Maryland, with her husband and little Ada, which is my mother’s name. The […]
[…] of years later when I did a two-week language course in Salamanca while studying translation at ESIT. This time, I hitch-hiked by myself down to San Sebastian just over the French border then took the […]
I thought Dauphine was clean in comparison to Nanterre where there was poop spread across the bathroom walls, no toilet paper and no soap! I got UTIs because I would avoid drinking so I didn’t have to pee. Sometimes I would go home at lunch time just to have a toilet break.
French universities obviously lack sufficient funding but I am not sure high tuition fees are the best solution. Canadians start their careers with significant student debts unless they get a grant of some sort. The special interest-free student loans aren’t available to everyone. For example, I was not eligible. Going to university in France enabled me to have a good education for relatively little money (except my Erasmus semester which cost a fair bit for housing, etc).
For those wishing to study in a French university, you’ll need to equip yourself with hand santizer, many packs of tissues and for girls, good thigh muscles for squatting!
Sounds like Dauphine when I was there in the late seventies. It’s much better today, though the floor’s often flooded. The toilets are always mixed of course and I’m not keen on the urinals down the end. There are soap and water but the drier’s broken. I preferred it when I was on the permanent staff and could use the staff toilets but you need a key!
Love it!
I’m a french student and I was in UQ for one semester. The campus was clearly more beautiful than mine! Maybe because Queensland is also more beautiful than our sad cities 😉 And I was also impressed by all the social clubs you can find in Oz. I think France misses all of those social clubs, except in “Grandes écoles”… I think that make australian system more attractive than the french one.
But, yes you’re right the fees are not the same! It’s incredible over there!
Hi, thanks for your comment. UQ is a beautiful campus, isn’t it? The social clubs definitely make a difference. Black Cat really missed them when she came back as well.
[…] to mix the spices myself, guessing what proportions I should use, but when Black Cat came home from UQ, she brought me two boxes. Mum would do the creaming of the butter and sugar. After that, I’d […]
[…] – University: Where I’m still teaching translation, despite the sad lack of equipment and outdated […]
Hi Fraussie, I have worked at QUT in Brisbane for 16 years now and we sometimes complain about facilities but after reading your blog I realise that we are in paradise. I did my fine arts study at USQ (Toowoomba) and it was also wonderful and that was back in the early eighties.
They finished renovating my uni here on practically the day of my last appearance there!
[…] now no longer teaching at uni and my clients only care about whether my translation is any good or not so I’ve decided to get […]
[…] afford to buy or rent similar accommodation. While I was still teaching part-time at university (ESIT), we thought we’d find something in the Yvelines to the west of Paris so I could commute once a […]
[…] about six years during my career as a university lecturer, I was in charge of the dissertations at ESIT and I could never remember whether the word mémoire was masculine or feminine! I devised all sorts […]
[…] not nearly as popular in France and most people don’t know how to use them. We had them at the French university where I taught and I began each year with a lesson on how to open and close them! However, I had […]
[…] just had a lovely visit from of my former ESIT students now living in Maryland, with her husband and little Ada, which is my mother’s name. The […]
[…] of years later when I did a two-week language course in Salamanca while studying translation at ESIT. This time, I hitch-hiked by myself down to San Sebastian just over the French border then took the […]
[…] also giving up my university teaching in June after 16 years. Â I’ve loved teaching and gained many friends among my […]