To achieve my second year at ESDES, I have to do an internship or a work experience. I choose to work for my semester because I don't have a lot of lessons.

It is a assault course to find a job in Ireland. I want to work only few hours a week in a charity shop because charity shops belong to Irish culture and I think it is a good point in my CV.

So, I go to St Vincent's, Oxfam, and other charities shops but all of them don't want that I beging right now. I have to fill in lots of papers and send it to the Garda. Then, the Garda will verify that I haven't got a criminal record and I can work with children. The problem is that this process is long (between 4 and 7 months) so I have to find another solution.

I go to the head of the department of Humanities at school to find someone who can help me. I meet Angela and she gives me the name of Sian, a woman who works for Walk with me. I send her my CV and a letter of application. Few days after, Sian wants to meet me for an interview. The feeling is good and I can work for this association which helps mental disability persons.

The office

So, I go to the office every Monday to have an exchange with Irish teenagers: Joe, Sam and Alan. I speak with them and give them French lessons.  At the begining I was sceptic about this work because it is hard to work with people who are so different. I have to be patient. But finally I love it and I am glad to help them! Alan, Joe and Sam give me a lot in return. I think the best part of this experience is for the last lesson, when Sian (my tutor) and Alan give me a letter to say thank you. So cute! And Joe tells me very beautiful things like "I won't forget both of you. Merci beaucoup!"

 

European Cultural Sociology:

This lecture is actually divided in three other lectures: French culture, German culture and Spanish culture. We have a CA each 4 weeks and then, we study another country and its culture. Exams are related to the subject we discussed and to the movie that we saw.

We study health care, school system, regions, sport, culture, press and current events.

 

Marketing:

This lecure is about the 4P, the definition of marketing, Maslow, PESTLE... It is quiet the same subject as we saw the last three semesters. However this is really interesting to see the difference between France and Ireland in marketing, and to discover another approach. We have to do a group project. I am with Marlène and Michal (an Erasmus from Slovaquia). We work on Haribo comapny. I choose a part which is about PESTLE analysis.

 

Business Management:

I  think it is the lesson where we learn the more of notions. She speaks clearly and asks us a lot of questions like "what about France? what do you think?". We have to write 4 essays about 4 notions. No final exam but we have a presentation in group about an entrepreneur. I am with Linda, an Irish and we work about Cara pharmacy.

The lecture called Elizabeth teachs us some notions in

• Entrepreneurship (business plans sources of finance, barriers to entrepreneurship, meaning and important of entrepreneurship, support for enterprise, feasibility studies...),
• Business ethics (definitions, identification of the importance of business ethics, how companies can create an ethical business, the benefits of being an ethical business...)
• HRM (HR planning, recruitment, selection, training, compensation, performance appraisal, benefits...),
• Industrial relation (nature of industrial relation and collective bargaining in Ireland, trade unions, employer

 

Introduction Information System:

In this course, we are in a lab and we use Word, Excel and Powerpoint. We learn how to make a good presentation on word and powerpoint and how to use these tools quickier and easier. We also learn some formulas like IF on Excel. It is a different approach than we saw at ESDES for the first semester. The lecturer speaks a lot so it is very interesting to learn IT's words in English.

We haven't got any final exam. But we have to upload our work on Moodle (like Claroline) each week and we have to make a report/journal. 

 

Principes of Hospitality Management:

 This course is a mix between marketing and organisation lessons at ESDES. We learn the nature of management (what managers do, their process, roles, skills and functions), the evolution of management theory the motivations and leadership, the organisation of structure and design and finally the business environment.

It is not an interactive lesson, we write a lot of things so, we can improve our English. There are assessements and a final exam in May.

 

Spanish:

I decide to choose Spanish course because it is important to speak several languages. Even if I am in Ireland and I improve my English, I would like to improve my Spanish too. Lessons are easy for us. The level in grammar is under than the French level but we can review some grammar's points. It is not so bad. And I especially like one of the course because during one hour we translate a text inEnglish but the text is written in Spanish. So we learn a lot of vocabulary and structures. The teacher is very nice!

We have assessements about Grammar and a final exam which is an interview in Spanish for a job, exactly the same that we did at ESDES for the third semester.

 

To know more about the final exams, come on on my diary and the article about the weeks 17 & 18.

Days 112 to 114:

After going to parties for all the week-end to celebrate the end of courses, it's time to work for my final exams. I have already studied because I had CA for the last week. The exams are easy if you know the lesson by heart. It is just lessons questions. So I learn marketing and hospitality management's lessons. Marketing is okay because I had already seend that in France and I like this lesson. But hospitality management is soooo boring. It is about theories of motivation, leadership... I really don't like that. But I don't have the choice, I have to study!

 

 

 

Days 115 to 117:

2:50 pm: I go to the college because the place to do exams is not at the university. We have to take a bus and go to a gynmasium called National Basketball Arena. I remind me the Concours Accès, the test to integrate ESDES.

Lots of students, lots of tables, lots of chairs, lots of people who keep a close touch on, lots of papers... Be careful to not forget your student card because if you haven't got it, you have to pay €50 to do the exam!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday it is my exam of Marketing from 3:30 to 5:30. It is not very well organised because we enter in the room at 3:30 pm, supervisor haven't got my name on the list and they don't know where I can sit. They distribute the exams' papers at 3:40pm and we don't wait for everybody.

On Friday, I work for my second exam.

On Saturday (yes, it is horrible to have an exam for the week-end), I have my exam of hospitality management.

 

I have 5 questions but I have to choose only three questions to answer for both of the exams. It is not very difficult. I was very scared and stressed before the exams to not understand the questions and not find the good words to answer, but finally I am very glad and proud of me because my English is improved and I don't find any difficulty to write and understand.

 

Days 118 to 122:

I enjoy the week-end by going to Marlène's place. We speak and tell about gossips. Marlène is very friendly. Before to go to Ireland we were in the same class for 1 year and half but we didn't speak a lot. I didn't know her a lot. But I've discover a real good friend and my Erasmus wasn't the same without her.

 

 

It is the last time that we go to work. We feel an emotive sensation. It is so sad. Because it was a really good experience to work with mental disability persons. We have created links and we are attached to them. I'm glad to help them. It was a human experience. At the begining we were sceptical about this work but finally we love it! Alan, Joe and Sam give us a lot in return. For the last lesson, Sian (our tutor) and Alan give us a letter to say thank you. So cute! And Joe tells us very beautiful things like "I won't forget both of you. Merci beaucoup!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also go to the city center to do shopping and go to pubs the last time before leaving. It is so sad. I don't want to come back in France!

And we work for our final exam.

 

Day 123:

It is our last exam in Spanish. No stress because I have already passed thanks to my CA. Easy exam.

 

Days 124 to 127:

Let's enjoy the holidays and my last days in Ireland with all my friends. Parties, parties and parties. Chill during the day and eat fajitas. 

I think it is the best moments of my semester. We do a huge party with everybody and on Sunday we do a camping on Tallaght's moutain. Yes, a camping. I know we are crazy. At the begining I was septic about this idea but we organise us very well. We buy food for barbecue, and not forgot the Mashmallow. We go to the moutain, in the forest, do our camp (with tents, big fire), eat, listen to music, speak... Anyway, we enjoy ! 

We come back at the student accomodation and it is time to say "good bye" to everyone. I am so sad, I cry... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 128:

My semester is over. It was a wonderful experience and I want to study abroad again. 

I hope you enjoy to read and have my news.

A little bit nostalgic, but all good things come to an end... 

Days 90 to 111:

I write only one article for all these weeks because it is the routine. I go to school, study, come back at home, speak with my owners and during the week-end I go to see my friends, hang out to a nightclub and stay at the student accomodation with them, eating Mc Donald's and Dominos Pizzas (the real student life !).

 

But, by the way I have some stories to tell you!

I did a CA (continuous assessment) in Hospitality Management, but the lecturer lost my paper. I received an e-mail to tell me my mark which was O%. Very confused, I didn't understand and I decided to go to see my lecturer because it was not my fault. After a conversation, my lecturer decided to give me the mark of my second CA (80%) and she cancelled the 0%. It is a weird comportment but it is a good point for me.

 

Few days after, I received another e-mail from Elizabeth (Management's teacher) to tell me that my blog (a CA) didn't answer to the subject so she gave me 0% again. I was very hangry because I had already done the same suject in France, in Human Resources and I had a good mark. I asked her an appointment to explain the situation and try to change her opinion. I succeeded and she gave me the average mark (40%) because she told me that if I didn't write anything, I would have 0% as well. I was not happy but I respected her decision. But, at the end of semester, she sent us an email to resume all the mark that we had and for this blog I had 77%. So I really don't understand how teachers give the marks. 

 

I had a report and an oral presentation in Management, in group of two. I was with Linda, an Irish student. On the one hand, it was a good experience to work with her to discover how Irish work, but on the other hand, it was horrible because they have a very different method to us. They begin to work just few days before the deadline. The rules to edit a report are not the same. Referencing and bibliography are very important. When you write something in your report, you have to give the reference in the text, just after the idea even if you reformulate it and then, at the end of the report. 

Irish students aren't used to do presentation. It was so funny because they were shy and not comfortable. They just read the powerpoint which was very basic, they don't look at the audience and don't speak loud.

 

The weather is not nice. I can't sleep a lot because of Corey, the child in my family who does a lot of noises from 7am on the morning. So I sometimes want to come back because I miss France, my family, my friends and habits. But few minutes after, I am really happy to be there because it is a wonderful experience!

 

This is my free article. I am going to try to discover how French people are seen by other nationalities. What are the best adjectives to describe them and their culture?

To realise a good job with real opinions, I decided to ask some questions to people that I met at the college, in the streets, at the airport wherever I went (you can see all the comments all over the article and a video to resume everything on the bottom of the article). I aslo found some videos on youtube to have more details.

Thanks to this article, I could speak with so many people. I learnt more about French and France but also about the vision and culture of foreign persons. It's true because I realized that all the old people are the same answer, all the rich people have another one.

 

♣  If I say "an adjective to describe French", what do you tell me?

Romantic
Nice
Rich
Suitor
Sexy with their French accent
Patriotic
Sofisticated

Individualist
Bad faith
Complainer
Lazy
Frozen
Critical

 

I did a video about French seen by others:

In this video, you can discover the main stereotypes of French people:

♣  If I say "France", what do you tell me?

 

According to the group of people in the pictures, France is synonym with:

Eiffel Tower, Paris, Louvre, Montmartre, luxe, perfect, beautiful, elegance, bread, French fries, coffee, croissant, café, ratatouille, crêpe, François Hollande, DSK, Nicolas Sarkozy, French language and 'je suis Charlie', smoke cigarets a lot, topless on the beach, good food.

I was so suprised because everyone says the same words and adjectives. So to live in France, you have to be at Paris in a café and wear luxury things.

 

In this video, you can realize that French people have a lot of tics when they speak:

 

 

 

♣  If I say "French author", what do you tell me?

" I studied l'Etranger written by Albert Camus at school"

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - Le Petit Prince

Tatiana de Rosnay - Elle s'appelait Sarah

Muriel Barbery - L'élégance du hérisson

"I know Patrick Modiano thanks to his Nobel Price in 2015 and Le Clézio in 2008 "

Andreï Makine - Le testament français

Molière - l'Avare

Sartre - l'Être et le Néant

"I think my favourite book is La fille de papier (Guillaume Musso).
I remember I read that book on the beach last summer."

 

♣  If I say "French cooking", what do you tell me?

"French food is the best food that I have ever eaten!"

Ratatouille, Quiche, Cassoulet, Tartiflette, Crème brulée

 

Crêpe, Ham called "bonne maman", Fondue, Wine, Escargot, Saint Jacques

 

 

 

 

Bread, Croissant, Cheese like Camembert

 

 ♣  If I say "French famous singer", what do you tell me?

 

   "I love Edith Piaf and her charism"
said Elizabeth.

 "For me, Aznavour! When I was young, my Nana always listened to his songs. Good memories", said John.

 "I don't know a lot of French singers, but I know Carla Bruni thanks to Nicolas Sarkozy", said Owen.