Colles - Oral exams and Christmas shopping

Hello pumpkins !

Just telling about colles. I think the best translation in English would be "oral exams" so I'll use that from now on :)

This week I have only 4 oral exams, French and German courses and one laboratory of inorganic chemistry. That means that my amount of work dropped from the normal 30-35 hours/week to 10 hours! I have to revise but I still feel like I'm on holidays.

Yesterday I can my oral exam of inorganic chemistry. I wouldn't party with the results.. But the professor also told me that inorganic chemistry is really hard so I feel a bit better. I still have time to read for the final exam. Today I had my oral exam for orbital molecular theory (or whatever the translation is..) so I'll still have organic chemistry and quantum chemistry to do.

Today was a nice day because I had 40 minutes of stuff to do. When I went to my oral exam I wasn't well prepared (heh) but I think I did really well! I almost had a heart attack in the exam when the professor started speaking Swedish. She read my name and asked if I was Finnish and then decided that she suggested to keep the exam in Swedish (she was from Sweden). I can't describe the feeling when I go to an exam that you think that is in French and suddenly someone wants to keep in Swedish :D I started sentences in Swedish and ended them in French so in the ends we had the exam in French. It has been such a long time since I spoke Swedish - like 3 years - that I just couldn't switch from French to Swedish.

Tomorrow I'm going to pack my back and on Saturday I'm heading to Finland. My friends told me that there is snow now so I can go :) I can't wait to see my pets!!

I have already bought some things to bring to Finland for my friends, but I still have to find something. Last weekend we went to Paris for Christmas shopping with my friend E. She is from England so we started talking in French but after maybe 10 minutes changed to English. She is so much better in French that she should be explaining everything she says so it's easier to talk in English.

There are huge Christmas markets on Champs-Elysées and La Defense. We went to Printemps first which is a huge shopping mall in Paris. It was packed with people and there were polices on the streets to make sure that cars can drive because people crossing roads were blocking all traffic. I didn't find anything from Printemps but after that we headed to Champs-Elysées. The original idea was that we'd check out La Defense too but there was just too much to see in Champs-Elysées that we didn't have time.

Champs-Elysées at the end of the Ferris wheel was packed with stands with different things. I found stuff to bring to my grandparents from there and I was really happy. We also tasted Glühwein meaning hot wine. In Finland we always drink that stuff with red wine but here I tasted it with white wine. I have to say I like the red version more.

Sadly the Christmas market was there only for one week. I really recommend it to everyone!

Exams

So.. our exams started yesterday with laboratory exam of organic chemistry. The exam was 8 hours long! First we had 30 minutes of writing theory and then we started with the laboratory test.

Next Monday I'm going to have a "colle" from inorganic chemistry. The word colle actually means glue, but when having colles it means an exam where the prof gives you 20 minutes to solve a problem and after that you have to solve the problem for him. Students told me that they use blackboards for the solving part. I'm kinda nervous about the fact that I'll be locked in a room with a professor and I have to show him how to do an exercise. I'm also going to have colles from molecular theory, organic chemistry and quantum chemistry.

I don't remember if I have mentioned the date when I'm leaving for Finland but it is the 17th of December! I'm really looking forward to seeing my pets and friends :) I'm coming back to France 29th of December to spent new years here.

I have to thank all the professors of this university for deciding that all the final exams are held right after Christmas! Holiday just isn't a holiday without reading chemistry. Thank you

My family in Paris

Mom brought me my favorite candies from Finland

The roundabout of L'Arc de Triomphe

Hello there little pumpkins!

My family visited me 24.-27.11.2011. In this case the wording "my family" includes my cousin, my mom and my aunt. I was really happy to speak Finnish with them and play guide because this was everyone's first visit to Paris. Of course I was also the only person who spoke French so I was doing most of the talking even though each of my guests was capable of speaking English.

On Friday I went to Gare Du Nord to pick up my guests when they came there from the airport. I had asked them to buy "5 day visit"-tickets to Paris and they payed 46€ for zones 1-5. The airport was in zone 5 and they wanted to visit Château de Versailles so I figured it would be the cheapest option for them. I still didn't have my ImagineR so on Friday I bought a 1-day visit ticket to Paris for zones 1-3 for 9,50€ and for Saturday and Sunday I bought tickets for young people for zones 1-5 for 7€/day.

Mom, me and my cousin

My mom wanted me to stay with them the whole time so she payed 3 nights in a hotel for me (thank you!!). They had chosen a hotel called Pavillon Villiers Etoile which is near to metro station called "Rome". The location of the place was excellent for we had to walk 5 minutes to the nearest metro and we had to change metro or train only once when we wanted to go somewhere.

We didn't waste any time so on Friday we visited L'Arc de Triomphe and Belleville. We also visited the top of the arch and my relatives were stunned by the view. For me and my cousin it was free and for the adults it costed 10€ to enter. Our timing to go on top was perfect for the sun was setting and we got to see Paris during the night too. The traffic in the roundabout was crazy and it was really funny for me to see the expressions on everyone's faces.

La Tour Eiffel seen from L'Arc de Triomphe

Belleville is a nice place for shopping and we headed there after seeing the triumphal arch. All the shops were closing so we started going back to our hotel after eating. My relatives were wondering the parking in Paris - all the cars are so close and non of them can squeeze out from the tiny spots. Their expressions were priceless when I told them that the drivers push other cars to get out from such tiny places. They didn't believe me and when the saw someone parking they had to stop to observe the event. I found this really entertaining.

Also my relatives likes the prices because everything eatable is cheaper here than in Finland. We tasted some good wines and went to bed early to face Saturday full of energy.

 On Saturday we visited Le Château de Versailles. We left our hotel kind of early to be there as early as possible because a French family had asked us to join them for dinner. I don't remember the cost of seeing the place for my mom and my aunt, but for me any my cousin it was for free. It took us around 4 hours to see the place. Actually I thought that the castle would be bigger. I would have spent more time there because I really enjoyed reading all the historical facts in French, but all the rest of the group were too busy going from one room to the next one. I think the castle is really worth seeing!

The garden of the castle wasn't really nice at this time of year so we didn't buy tickets to see it. In the end it was actually free to go there so I don't know why they sold tickets with costing entrance to the garden..? Anyhow, I have already visited the garden so mostly walking there a bit was just for everyone else to see how big it is.

After seeing Versailles we went to Massy-Palaiseau to have dinner with the family whose children I babysit. My mom and aunt had brought some Finnish candy (the same I'm hugging in the picture: salmiakki), Moomin mugs, Finnish alcohol and a book about Rovaniemi  for the family. Salmiakki (aka salty liqourice) is a special Finnish candy and most people find it disgusting. The alcohol was made from the same stuff. We were having fun when the dad of the family tasted all the different kinds of salmiakki.

All and all the dinner was really good and I was happy because my mom got to see the kids I take care of. The family had prepared us a really good dinner with starters, main course, cheese and wine and dessert. This is normal for French people but for Finnish people this is not common at all.

At the end of the evening the dad drove us back to out hotel and he was kind enough to drive us a bit around Paris. My family wanted to see the tunnel Pont de l'Alma where Princess Diana died and we also saw Moulin Rouge. We also got a glimpse of the light show of the Eiffel Tower. We also got a little tour in the worse roundabout in Paris - the one around L'Arc de Triomphe. I actually feel like I'm a real Parisienne now for surviving this roundabout alive.






















On Sunday we started the day with a breakfast in some café. After that we visited the Basilique de Sacre-Coeur which my family liked really much. After that we headed for La Tour Eiffel. When I told them that the queuing can easily take more than 2 hours we had decided to buy tickets in advance to see the tower. We had tickets for 14.00 o'clock which meant that we cut the queue starting at two. We were in the second floor in the matter of minutes and we started queuing for the last floor. All and all the trip took a bit more than an hour. For everyone else this was the highlight of the trip: now they have really visited Paris! For me it was the third time on top but I still enjoyed it. And judging from the amount of friends I have coming here it wasn't the last time for me to get on top of the tower..

For everyone it was a bit less than 12 € to go on top with elevators.

Last but not least we saw Le Musée du Louvre. It was a really quick sprint because the museum was closing in 30min when we got there. This was free for me and my cousin but my mother and aunt had to pay 10€ each to get in.

My cousin was really excited to see La Joconde (aka Mona Lisa). He was running like a little child to go see the painting. I understand him: for all the tourists the most famous painting in the world is a must-see but I had already seen it. Now I have visited the museum of Louvre two times. I think I'll go back there some day without any rush just to look around some more.

On our last day in Paris we managed to see the whole light show of The Eiffel tower after we came out from Louvre. We were all really tired to we went to do a bit of shopping in Champs-Elysées and after that we went to the hotel and to sleep.

On Monday morning I had to be at the University at 10 o'clock for my lectures and all the others had to be at he same time at the airport, so we woke up really early. The jams in Paris in he morning are amazing and the metros and trains are really full. We had a quick goodbye at Gare du Nord with my family and I headed for my lectures. The train was so full that it was almost impossible to breath..

In the end I was really happy that my family was able to visit me here. My mom would like to come here too during the second semester. I'll see them all in 2 weeks when I go back to Finland for Christmas holidays. Time has gone past so quickly! After the holidays we start with exams straight away in here.. I just can't wait ..

Now I think I have to go to sleep, I have 4 hours of laboratory of inorganic chemistry tomorrow :) Enjoy the rest of the pictures!

The campus

Home sweet home

 Long time no see!

Well yeah. I have no excuse but: I have been lazy.

Last weekend my mother, cousin and aunt visited me in Paris. I'm going to write an own chapter about it :) we saw a lot of things, we visited le château de Versailles, la Tour Eiffel, L'Arch de Triomphe, Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Champs-Elysée.. Well the idea was that I'm their free tour guide and transalor in Paris.

 I finally took my camera with me when I was going to my lectures. It's the beginning of December, but it isn't at all cold in here. We have more than +10C every day and I'm still wearing my summer clothes. All the rest are wearing winter clothes and swearing and complaining. I heard that buses inside campus aren't working anymore when the temperature approaches 0C and people aren't coming to lectures. Well.. The expressions on people's faces are priceless when I tell them that in Finland everything works even when it's -30C.

I had my first German exam today. I just love first exams in languages! You are still excited about the language and you have the energy to study and you score high points.

 I have talked lately with more and more people in French and I'm really happy when I realize how painlessly a normal conversation comes out from my mouth. I make a lot of mistakes with tenses, order of words and especially when I should know if the word is feminine or masculine but who cares. Lately I have accepted that I can't speak French perfectly but I should try. I'm really happy when I can follow a conversation and when I can actually say something back.

In the beginning my friends and my mom were worried that I might mix up English, French and German. Well: today I was speaking mixed German and French but I knew which word was which language. It's actually getting really bad with languages. When my mom was visiting I couldn't come up with word in Finnish! I also started talking in French to my relatives.. :D Also sometimes I can't find the word in any language and I just have the picture in my mind about what I want to say. Also my English is getting worse by the day and I feel really sad for this.

 Well to the point and to the pictures. The first picture is from the building where I live called "Les Rives de l'Yvette". This building has 5 floors and 4 of them are for student apartments. I don't know how many people live in one floor but around 20-30 people per side. The building has two side which are identical - northern and southern side if I'm not mistaken. There are 4 showers and 4 toilets on each side on each floor (and for this I feel the need to swear slippers when I take a shower).

Our showers were fixed two days ago and now we have water pressure and hot water. Before that taking a shower was a slow suffering with no pressure and cold water - a lovely combination.

All the rest of the pictures are taken from the way I take when going to lectures. All chemistry lessons are kept on the other side of campus so I have to take 15-20minutes every day to walk there. I walk a bit on a road and then I take a path through a small forest. The campus area is stunningly beautiful with trees, paths, streams and flowers. I should have taken pictures when I came here but I wasn't smart enough for that. I'll have to take nice pictures in spring when everything blooms!

In this university there are 27 300 students and a big department for biology and biochemistry. Resulting from this there are many exotic plants and trees in the campus. In this picture on the right shows how we have nice tags in trees to tell us what are the names. In Paris there are 13 universities and I'm studying in Paris-Sud 11.

The place where I live is called Orsay and it's 20 minutes from Paris with a car. With a train it takes 40 minutes! (What a shame..) When I took a tain this Monday it was a fight to get in. Especially in mornings RERs are really full.

Anyway the lectures and laboratories of chemistry are in 5-6 buildings, but I haven't seen them all. Usually my lectures are in 4 buildings and they are really close to each other.

The scene is overall really beautiful with hills and valleys. Also the buildings are really pretty and old.

Oh yeah. Today I had a really nice surprise when I came home: there were papers in walls telling that we have cockroaches!! So disgusting. But I have to think positively: I was in an total panic when I read the paper because I was afraid that they were warning about bed bugs.

I finally have my ImarineR card!! Party!

I'm off to sleep, enjoy the pictures :)

Sushi evening

 Hello lovers!

This has been a really nice week. On Monday we had someone cutting the power from our building ALL THE TIME. Because of this I lost 1,5 hours revising time for my exams on Tuesday.. I'm sure it was someone who had his exams last week so he could just do whatever he wanted this week. It was really hard to read when the lights went out every 2 minutes for longer period of time.

On Tuesday we had a sushi evening with other exchange students! It was so much fun! In reality I hate cooking (I'd rather starve than cook). Cooking in a group made it really nice and I actually helped with rolling the sushi. I think I'm going to do this in Finland with my friends :) This time all the pictures are from the sushi evening.

After the exams in L3 of chemistry we had 5 days of vacation. I used two of these days to go to work.. On Wednesday I went to work around four and I slept there to start working around 7 in the morning. On Thursday I was alone with the younger child the whole day for the first time. It actually really enjoyed it! Of course changing diapers isn't my favorite thing but still. I tried to talk as much English with him as I could but I still have to wait a bit before he starts answering me.

On Thursday evening we played draw and guess with the parents of the family and their friends.  The cards were in French so they had to translate the cards for me but I think it was OK. I had fun and I guess that's the most important thing.

Friday was a free day here in France so one of my friends asked me to go see The Adventures of Tintin with her. She wanted to see the original version with French subtitles. We went to Le Forum des Halles too see the film. There are two movie theaters so of course in the beginning we were in the wrong one..

After the movie we went eating and then shopping. Actually we didn't have too much time for shopping in other stores after finding fnac. fnac in Le Forum is HUGE. It's in three floors and every floor is so big that I was completely lost in there. I was really happy about the books that I found: I bought three comics and grammar book of German and a conjugation book of French. Now I just have to get around to reading them...






Today I went shopping to Paris all on my own. In the beginning it was my meaning to see one of my friend there but in the end we ended up being in different places in different times and we didn't see each other. I was quite happy all the same! Now I really have confidence that I can find my way around Paris.

In the beginning I spent a couple of hours in Le Forum des Halles when I was trying to find shoes. In the end I bought only one waffle from there (which was really good). After that I decided to go to Rue de Rivoli - which is a really big shopping street - to find my favorite store here: Jennyfer. I ended up buying a lot of stuff and I'm really happy for finally finding clothes for winter. I also found shoes. We don't have Jennyfer in Finland so I guess I have to go there as much as possible.

Ready to eat!

This reminds me that I have to whine about the French sizing. In Finland I'm size S and in here I'm L!! If I'm lucky I can find something with M that fits me. Today I tried one skirt and the biggest size they had didn't fit me.

I think these were the most burning subjects at the moment. My mom, aunt and cousin are coming to visit me in three weeks! And I'm going to Finland in one month and 5 days. Time just flies past here.

I think today I finally fell in love with Paris :) At the moment I so don't want to go back to Finland.

The best exam ever

I had the exam of quantum chemistry just now. It didn't go that well, but I loved taking the exam.

Let us start the explanation with saying that when I told the professor of quantum chemistry that I'm an Erasmus student, I was immediately on his list of "students that need special attention". He is generally a really nice person, he is really passionate about his work and he is helping everyone equally. Always when I don't understand something during lessons he comes to me and explains the thing to me with patience and really easy French. He has also helped me with my homework that we have had every week.

During the exam he came to me 3 times telling me that I can do the exam in English if I want. Earlier I've asked him if I can use English if I don't remember some word in French (and of course he gave this his blessing). I had only little idea of how the easier exercises were done, but I managed with the hardest one that we have had recently in class. The professor specially came to tell me that the last question was hard. Never the less I started with it and after he came to check on me again he said that it was going well :) The prof also helped me a little with small stuff in the exercises. I think that might have made the others a bit jealous..

I'm really sure if I were French I wouldn't have passed the exam with what I managed, but I'm actually really happy. The fact that I could do the exercise that we have done recently shows that my French has really gotten better! This is what I told the professor too: in the beginning it was impossible for me to follow the lessons and  to take good notes. It was really motivating to take the exam to see my own progress :)

I still have one exam to do: inorganic chemistry. I better continue reading to that!

Blackouts

Sigh.. I'm really irritated at the moment. We have someone in our building who is switching on and off the electricity. It's really hard to try to concentrate on studying.

Tomorrow I have 2 exams.. And I'm so stressed! Especially when I think about the exam today.. it was a bit of a fiasco :)

Off to reading for however many minutes we have light left! Thank you person who had his partials last week for ruining everybody else's last minute studies!

Pictures and a quick report

Quick report: I have my first exam tomorrow and I'm so nervous! I don't know what to expect, I hope it'll go well. The day after tomorrow I have 2 exams (because they aren't enough hard if you have only 1/day..)

I got really nice pictures for my friends S so I decided to share them :)

 My first weekend in Pairs! You can see the Eiffel-tower in the background.

From Disneyland! I got to pose with Tweedledum or Tweedledee from Alice in Wonderland.

Halloween

 Salut poussins!

It has been a while :P At the moment I should be reading to an exam but well.. I have to keep you posted!

So what has happened this week. My first laboratory courses started! They actually started last week but I forgot to mention it. It's really nice actually. With my partner K we are always messing things up and I'm causing accidents but it's OK. The professor knows that I'm an exchange students so I get a little bit of special attention. There are some totally new equipment for me so it's really hard for me to work with them (which is exactly why the prof has to look after me). The prof also told me that during the laboratory exam I have to ask for his help with the equipment so that I don't ruin my work.. At the moment we have laboratory of organic chemistry and quantum chemistry, then we'll have TP* of inorganic chemistry and molecular orbital theory.
* (the French abbreviation for Travaux Pratiques = practical work or studies)


I also had a talk with the head of the Licence 3 of chemistry and he told me that if I take 4 exams next week and I manage with my courses I'd get 22,5 credits (1credit = 1ECTS) from this semester. It's OK because I have to study 45 credits during my time here. At the same time I'm a bit disappointed because I would have loved to get 30 credits from this semester so that I didn't have to worry about my credits during the next one. BUT the professor also told me that we are going to have polymer chemistry next semester. I just love polymer chemistry! :)

This is a list of my courses at the moment:
[name of the course; ECTS]


Quantum chemistry 1: 5
Organic chemistry 1: 5
Inorganic chemistry 1: 5
Symmetry: 2
Molecule orbitals: 2
French: 2.5
German for beginners: 2.5


Hmm I don't really know how the professor got 22,5 from this but that's what he has written to my papers :D I wasn't taking the course of symmetry at first so I'm not sure if I can pass the exams next week. I doubt it.

And then changing the subject: Halloween! I really enjoyed Halloween his time! Normally in Finland it's no a big thing but in here it was. Many of my friends and me dressed up as zombies. I was the zombie version of  Minnie Mouse :P I just took the ears I bought from Disneyland Paris. What's the point of them if I don't use them every once and a while? I think we had really great time. I went to Paris into a party with all the others but I didn't stay there for long.

And then the story behind the first picture. The family whose children I take care of gave me truffles! Oh my they were SO good! I really like this family :) My mom is coming here with my aunt and cousin in 3 weeks and the family invited us to go to a dinner at their place.

But now I could read a bit of organic chemistry as a bedtime story! Enjoy the pictures of me with my friends :P

Hating, loving France

One wall of my room

Hello cupcakes!

I have been reading other exchange blogs and I think I should have a map here from where I am and so on. Also I would like to show pictures of the campus and my room. I should make a round soon with my camera :)

Well. I'm having problems with courses again. On Thursday in the lecture of inorganic chemistry the professor started writing gibberish on the blackboard. It turns out that there has been a course of symmetry that has ended already and the teachers are now using it as a base for the other courses. I talked with the professor of inorganic chemistry and she said that symmetry is a really important course and I should have taken it. WELL the exams are in one week and I should study this course of symmetry on top of all the other courses. And even if I study the symmetry stuff I'm not going to get credits for it because half of the exam has already been held.

I was really pissed about this because at least 3 people have seen my learning agreement and they didn't tell me that I should take the course of symmetry. I calculated the credits that I might be able to get and it seems like I'd be getting 15 credits instead of 32 that I was planning to have. I have to get 45 credits this year so I was really upset about this discovery. Next semester I should pass all my exams to get 30 credits if I get only 15 now - moreover what courses can I take in spring if I don't pass the courses now?

In Finland the courses are independent so we can take the courses in any order AND if there is a course you should take before some other course it's written in the info of the course. Nice to know that this isn't the case here 2 month too late.. Also in Finland the lectures and practises aren't compulsory and we can sign in to any exam, so it's really easy to replace credits if you don't pass one course. Also in Finland we can try the exam 3 times for every course. In here this kind of a system is unknown. I think in spring there might be renewal exams here too but I'm not sure. I'd prefer passing the exams now.

It's irritating me so much that stuff in this country don't work! I'm still wating for my ImagineR.. We talked to one guy from the office with my friend and we should send the letter for getting the card again.  I just might go yealling to some other office. It's really irritating not to be able to go anywhere from here without paying.

Then to some happier stuff: they put on the heating in our building!! Oh the joy. I was sleeping with 3 blankets and sitting in my room with shoes and jackets and everything on so I'm really happy.

 



I'm also really happy to realize how my French skills are advancing! Now I have been studying verbes every evening. Nowadays I also read out loud all the sentences from books when I know the meaning. I have also noticed that now I can most likely reason the meaning of some word when I don't know the meaning. I also talked with my mom and we discussed the possibility of me moving to study here permanately. I don't know what I want to study and in France there are more options than in Finland. I have to see what happens.

But I'm off to reading to my exams. Like I told you, the partials are in one week :P

Bisous!