The best way to know what you’re getting yourself in for when picking your degree course is to understand what your average day will look like. Though this can vary day-to-day and can also depend on the university you attend, this is what the average day will look like for a French student (according to moi).
My typical day as a French student
07:30
Rise and shine! It’s a new day. I roll out of bed, make breakfast immediately and read my book.
08:00
Shower, get dressed, attempt to look presentable, etc.
08:45
Run out the door. I usually see my friends on the walk to campus so chat with them.
09:15
I get to campus and find a spot in the languages department. The seats there are coveted, so immediately claim one and put my bag on a seat to save a seat for my friend. Now’s a good time to do some vocab. I keep a running list of vocab that I collect from my seminars, seminar prep and personal study. Using active recall, you can keep on top of it all. I recommend noting the register of the vocabulary so you know when it is appropriate to use the word and not.
09:30
Time for seminar prep! At the University of Exeter, we have three French language seminars a week. One is a Francophone seminar (delivered entirely in French), a translation seminar (delivered in English) and a speaking seminar. The translation seminar also delivers most of the grammar teaching and the speaking seminar is the most interactive. In Francophone, we tend to focus on a particular topic (say climate change, for example) and work on our vocab for that particular topic. Today, I was working on Francophone prep. I had to read an article, summarise it in French and pick out the key vocab.
10:35
My first lecture of the day! Every term, I pick my French content optional module. This is delivered entirely in English and we focus on literature, phonetics or philosophy. My module is on Philosophers, Mystics and Prophets in French culture. It’s incredibly interesting. It can get a bit difficult as the French used in the texts can be a bit archaic. But with help from our professor, we manage. We were focusing on the mysticism found in fairy tales in this lecture.
11:25
It was a short lecture, so I’m out in fifty minutes. I catch up with my friends and head back to the café in the languages department. I vow to get on with work immediately, but invariably just chat with friends for a bit.
11:45
Time to do some work! I didn’t quite finish my Francophone prep from earlier so I try to bang that out, just so it’s one less thing to do.
12:30
I tick off that work from my to-do list! Time to eat lunch.
13:30
Now, a translation seminar! I have this class with two other friends, so it’s fun! We do the translation at home by ourselves, then we bring our translations to class and go through them together. Here, we get our grammar, vocab and register corrected. It’s super useful. The prep can take some time, but that’s okay.
14:25
Out of that seminar. I’ll take this time to catch up on my readings for my other classes. Sometimes, I’ll grab a coffee (if you take a reusable cup to Pret, you can get a filter coffee with any milk for 49p!!). Consult this Unifresher guide to find out about the best coffee shops in Exeter!
15:35
My final class of the day! It’s the seminar for the first class of the day. In this class, we focus on a chapter we’ve read. Today, it was Du Repentir by Montaigne. This text can be a bit tricky as it was written in the 1500s, so the French is quite different. But we manage.
16:25
Time to go home! If I’m feeling extra studious, I’ll listen to a French podcast on my walk home. It’s a super easy way of sharpening your comprehension skills without having to do too much.
17:00
Flop onto bed. Contemplate doing nothing. Decide that this is a bad idea. Get up.
17:10
I add to my flashcard set all the vocab I acquired today in my classes. I try to do this immediately so I don’t forget to do it.
17:45
Okay, now I can stop. Time to put some comfier clothes on and cook!
18:00
Dinner today is a veggie bean chilli! I add loads of veggies because I need all the vitamins I can get. This time of day is fun because I can catch up with my housemates! Sometimes, we’ll play some Wii sports or watch something.
19:30
Do all my washing up, clean my room and pack my bag for tomorrow.
20:00
I’m not going out tonight, so I’ll commit to being a Grandma and get into bed. I’ll read my book, watch some TV and catch up with my friends from home.
22:30
Lights out, ready to do it all again tomorrow!
Hopefully this provided you with some insight into the average day in the life of a French student. Language learning, particularly at a high level, is really rewarding and it equips you with a skill for life. The day-to-day is enjoyable, you just have to stay on top of it all!
