Return to France

From the point of view of Eloi

• Eloi
• May 29, 2023

For our return to France, we had to manage a lot of things at the level of the university, our dormitory and of course the transport, the logistics... First of all, we started to book our plane tickets one month in advance in order not to pay too much and to have some space: our plane will leave on May 25th at 5.50 pm. When the exams ended (the week before), we asked for the certification of completion from our university that we had finished all our exams. We needed this form to get our deposit back. We also asked for the 13th week attendance certificate that our scholarship required. On the morning of our departure, we went through the process requested by our dormitory managers: our rooms were checked by the cleaners, the sheets were returned to the bedding, the contract was signed and the deposit was returned. Richard and I then went to an exchange office to convert our Czech koruna into euro and then we went to the train station in Ostrava.

After the exchange money

After a 3.5 hour train ride, we ate and headed for the airport. We went through all the security gates, ... and waited until our flight left.

In the plane

When we reached France, we were very happy to be back in our country and then we split up in Paris to go back home by train.

In Montparnasse Train station

It was a great experience to go on Erasmus because it allowed me to learn more about myself. First of all, I started to deal with what most students go through at the beginning of their studies in terms of logistics: shopping, bins, rent, all this was a discovery for me. Being abroad also gave me more confidence in English. Indeed, the courses as well as everyday life in English was new for me and I had to adapt to it. This made me progress a lot. The culture is also quite different in every way: the food (much more fatty and salty than the French), the cost of living (cheaper), their transport system (no TGV), the supermarkets (not at all the same products) ... Generally speaking, I had never really left France, and it was interesting to realise that everyday life is not at all the same from one country to another. I would have liked to go to Bratislava and Auschwitz but we don't always think about the cost of all these trips before leaving. So I am returning to France, grown up from this experience and happy to be back with my family and my country.