Unexpected local links

A few weeks back, we were following the adventures of our honorary graduate, film director Mark Cousins, whose most recent films were being screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. At some point while he was there, Mark tweeted a photo of a statue of Lord Brougham, an Edinburgh-born statesman who, it turns out, was involved in designing the town of Cannes and died there in 1868. This prompted us to start noticing the unexpected ‘local links’ between France and the various places we are from or where we currently live, and the ways in which they get us thinking about these connections. We’re hoping this might become a regular feature in the blog and to start the ball rolling, Aedín ní Loingsigh has sent us this article, following her recent trip to Ireland:

‘What has a statue of a Cork-born hurler got to do with French at Stirling? Putting it mildly, travel to France and the francophone world has been difficult this summer. As a result, I started to think more about French and France locally. I was lucky to see the Dubuffet exhibition in London and also generally get a sense of the significant impact of French-speaking immigrants on the capital just by encountering young French-speaking staff in restaurants, hearing parents speaking French to bilingual children on the tube, noticing the boulangeries and pâtisseries from the bus. It got me thinking about barely noticeable or unlikely local links in my own life, especially from earlier times growing up in East Cork.

Cue the hurler…

I had a vague recollection from childhood of people talking about the French sculptor who made it. Remembering our advice to students earlier in the summer to begin research with an idea and see where it takes you, I decided to look into it. And so I discovered a history I had known almost nothing about. The sculptor was a certain Yann Goulet and would almost certainly have described himself as an exiled Breton in Ireland rather than French. It turns out he was one of a number of number of Breton nationalists who fled from France at the end of World War II because they were accused of collaborating with the Nazis to further their political aim of separating Brittany from France. Goulet himself was condemned to death ‑ in absentia — in 1947. There are reasons why he and other Bretons found a home in Ireland, of course, and his subsequent activities as an artist show how he continued to express his political views in his new home, including through the statue in this image. In short, there’s a lot more for me to find out about.

Local links are often where we have our first encounter with other cultures and languages. Sometimes we are only vaguely aware of it. If you have any local links with the French-speaking world, try to find out more and let us know about it!’

Thanks to Aedín for the great post and here’s to a random selection of unexpected local links over the coming weeks and months! The more, the merrier.

A little bit of Art Brut…

At the end of the last blog post, our colleague Nina Parish mentioned that she’d been catching up with the series Lupin over the past few weeks. She’s not the only one of us in French at Stirling to be trying to catch up with things French and Francophone beyond the University. For me (Cristina Johnston, usually the person responsible for the bits at the start and end of our blog posts, and sometimes the bits in between), there’s been a little bit of time to catch up with some French and Francophone films I’d missed and there may well be an article on that to follow but, in the meantime, for Aedín ní Loingsigh, first on the agenda was a chance to see an exhibition she’d been very much hoping to get to:

‘Those of you who use the learning resources on the French at Stirling Canvas pages will know that the module image is from a 1961 print by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) called Nez carotte. Staff in Stirling have long admired his work and his efforts to ensure proper recognition for what he termed Art Brut (art made outside the formal academic contexts of fine art). The Pompidou Centre in Paris has just been given a donation of 900 works of Art Brut. But with trips to be Paris being complicated, to say the least, a recent visit to London meant I was able to visit  the Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty exhibition being held at the Barbican Centre. It didn’t disappoint.

To move through the different rooms displaying 1945 graffiti-inspired lithographs he produced to illustrate the Les Murs poems of Eugène Guillevic, his experimental portraits of literary and artistic personalities in Paris, his paintings of women, his disarming collages made from butterfly wings, his landscapes and the astonishingly original Coucou Bazar and Hourloupe works is to enter an endlessly creative mind. To its credit, the exhibition doesn’t shirk from some of the anti-Semitic statements Dubuffet made in private. In the end, I think the Barbican Exhibition is well worth seeing if you can. Alongside Dubuffet’s own work, a small selection from his Art Brut collection as well as wonderful rarely seen filmed interviews genuinely does justice to his singular view of life and art: ‘L’art doit toujours un peu faire rire et un peu faire peur. Tout sauf ennuyer.’’

And on that excellent note, many thanks to Aedín for this post. The blog will be on a break for the next couple of weeks but will be back at the end of July! In the meantime, bonnes vacances!

‘Busy with conference season!’

It’s been great to get a sense of how our students are doing as we shift from term-time into the summer months but we also wanted to let you know what French at Stirling staff are up to, starting with Nina Parish who is, indeed, very busy with conferences at the moment:

‘It was the Society for French Studies annual conference last week and I chaired an excellent panel on ‘Poetic Revolutions: Remediation, innovation and translation of 20th and 21st French Poetics’ with papers by Emma Wagstaff (Birmingham), James Wishart (KCL) and Jeff Barda (Manchester). The conference was cancelled last year so it was really good to see colleagues again albeit virtually and to listen to some fascinating papers and plenaries (our own Fraser McQueen was also live tweeting the conference).

This week, it’s the Memory Studies Association Conference and I’ll be chairing a panel on the ‘Memories from the Margins’ project  and the Journal of the British Academy special issue (‘Memories from The Margins: Violence, Conflict and Counter-Narratives‘) that I co-edited with Daniele Rugo (Brunel) and which came out last week, with papers by Daniele, Carmen Abou Jaoude (Saint Joseph University of Beirut), Adriana Rudling (Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen) and Chris Reynolds (Nottingham Trent University).

I’ll also be chairing a panel on ‘Memory in Music and the Arts’ and speaking with David Clarke (Cardiff) as part of a panel on the Disputed Territories and Memory project about ‘Diaspora Memories and the Virtual Museum: Remembering Lost Homelands.’

And I’ve just finished the second series of Lupin which I found very entertaining indeed!’

Thanks to Nina for this post, good luck with the various papers and chairing duties and there’ll be more updates from students, graduates and staff over the weeks ahead!

French at Stirling goes to Cannes… sort of!

Ok, so the title might be a slight over-statement but today sees the launch of the 74^th annual Cannes Film Festival and we are particularly proud to report that our honorary graduate Mark Cousins has two films screening there this year: The Story of Film: A New Generation and The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.

Félicitations, Mark! And we look forward to getting a chance to see the films, maybe not in Cannes but elsewhere and soon!

Tips for starting out studying Languages at Uni

And, as promised, to round off today’s trio of articles, it’s over to Louise who has just finished her first year with us:

‘Hi/Salut!

My name is Louise and I am about to start the second year of my degree in Primary Education with Modern Languages here at Stirling. This is my first ever blog post, so I hope this turns out okay!

I wanted to talk about my first year studying French at Stirling as it was a little bit different from previous years (to say the very least) and share some advice that I wish I had known before starting university. I chose Stirling because although I want to be a teacher, I really love studying languages and wanted to continue studying French. I loved the fact that Stirling offered this opportunity as opposed to the standard Education degree. The campus is situated around a lovely loch and it just felt right for me to come to Stirling.

Unfortunately, my entire first year of uni took place online which kind of killed my dream of spending time with friends and walking along the loch between classes. All classes, assessments, and lectures were completed at home which was a weird experience. On the one hand, I managed to save some money through living at home for an extra year and it was really nice to not have to wake up at 5:30am to travel. Plus, I had all my home comforts and could lie in bed and watch lectures if I wanted to. However, the second lockdown meant that my first year lacked a lot of the social events and fun which everyone looked forward to.

Pandemic aside, my main worry about starting university was that my French was not good enough. I hadn’t studied French in over two years and didn’t feel confident in my abilities at all. I had nightmares about everyone speaking perfect French while I couldn’t string a sentence together. But I needn’t have worried! The lecturers provided resources to practice with before the course started so that we could refamiliarise ourselves with the language. This definitely made me feel more confident in my French skills and meant that everyone was starting on the same page so try not to worry if you feel the same way I did.

Here are some pieces of advice I wish someone had told me before I started first year:

1. It’s okay to be nervous

Going to university brings big changes for most people. It is perfectly natural to be nervous as you’re adapting to this new stage of your life. My advice would be to talk through your anxieties with someone you trust like friends and family. You can also talk to your personal tutor or one of your lecturers to let them know that you are anxious about starting your course. A problem shared is a problem halved!

2. Join a club or society

There are lots of societies and clubs available at the Student Union. Whether you’re an expert at something or just wanting to try something new, you’ll meet loads of new people and it’s a great way to take your mind off your work. I recommend the Language Exchange Society as it is a great opportunity to practice your French in a relaxed and informal environment. You can see the list of sport clubs and societies on the Stirling Union website and if you don’t see anything that tickles your fancy, you can always create a new society or sport club!

3. ALWAYS ask for help

There is always someone to talk to if you need help. If you are struggling with your course, PLEASE reach out to your lecturer or module coordinator. They are there to help you and they can’t help you if they don’t know you’re struggling. I really struggle with writing essays, so I emailed my tutor Julie Hugonny for help and advice on many occasions (thank you, Julie!).

4. Look after your mental health

Possibly the most important tip I can give. Although uni is exciting, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Make time for what makes you happy because it is so important to recharge your batteries and make yourself feel calm and content. I recommend going for a walk, catching up with friends (whether on Zoom or in person), reading, and meditation. If you feel like your mental health is suffering, there is ALWAYS someone who can help you. I recommend talking to your personal tutor, student support, a friend, or family. There is always a solution!

5. Have fun!

Work hard but make sure you’re having fun too! Enjoy your time at uni, don’t take it all too seriously and do what makes you happy!’

Many, many thanks for the brilliant post, Louise, and for the great advice for future students, whether of Languages or any other subjects, for that matter. Enjoy a restful Summer and we’ll look forward to welcoming you back when the Autumn semester starts up in September!

From the Eiffel Tower to Cherry Blossom: Perspectives from the end of second year

We’re going to round the week off with another couple of views of life as an undergraduate taking French at Stirling. In a moment, we’ll hear from Louise who has just finished her first year but first up is Daisy who has just finished Year 2 of a BA Hons in French and History with us:

‘“Excusez-moi d’être en retard.” Despite never usually being late, this is what I’d have to say almost every day of my first year of high school. I absolutely hated studying French at first. All the words sounded the same, the conjugations were impossible to remember, and my teacher was incredibly strict (and evidently followed a different time schedule to the rest of the world). I only started to enjoy the subject after I visited Paris on a school trip. Although I completely wasted this opportunity by making the smart decision to only speak in English, seeing the view of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower, wandering around the markets eating crêpes and floating down the Seine in a little boat inspired in me a desire to learn French fluently. I wanted to be able to communicate with the people at the market stalls and in the restaurants. I wanted to be able to hold a conversation with my pen-pal and her friends. And most of all, I wanted to be able to live in one of the cute little apartments that we kept passing in the school coach.

This new interest later inspired me to apply to Stirling to study French and Spanish. The thought of studying something I love for four years and being able to spend time abroad sounded like a dream. In First Year though, I found French incredibly intimidating. I suddenly found myself faced with texts intended for native French speakers rather than the short extracts written for Higher French students that I was used to. I genuinely didn’t think I’d be able to make it through the course. I remember sitting up late at night before a seminar searching up every other word from a text in an online dictionary. Reading texts in a foreign language is certainly a difficult skill to master and it took me a while to get used to it. I can now see, however, that almost every improvement I have made in French over the past two years has been as a result of persevering through these texts. One day I remember sitting down to practise writing and I noticed that verb conjugations, grammar structures and noun genders were suddenly becoming intuitive to me. I am convinced this is because I had been reading all those texts I once hated so much.

Since I had always been interested in languages and had succeeded at Spanish at GCSE level, studying French and Spanish seemed like an obvious choice. For the first few months I really enjoyed the course. I was learning about both French and Spanish history and culture, felt like I was quickly improving in my language abilities and was always enthusiastic to learn more but then, after a while, the disadvantages of studying two languages began to reveal themselves. I felt like all I was ever doing was memorising vocab, practicing conjugations and learning grammar. It began to feel repetitive and I wanted something more. That’s when I decided to switch from French and Spanish to French and History. History was another subject I’d always enjoyed at school and when I was younger, I’d seen myself persevering with that in the future rather than with languages. I was delighted to see how much my French and History courses intertwined with one another. I got the chance to study African History where many of the countries we studied are former French colonies. I felt that at the same time as learning about these African countries, I was also discovering more about France. Some of the sources we used for History were even written in French, presenting me with the opportunity to practice my reading skills too.

I made this decision during the pandemic which made the switch even more challenging than it would have been otherwise. Since I had decided to change my course after completing my first year, I was required to take the first year History modules and the second year modules simultaneously. This magnified the workload, pressure and deadlines and there were many times where I felt overwhelmed. This, in addition to the stress of the pandemic and learning from home, made me realise the importance of taking breaks. This year, I tried to spend as much time with friends and family as possible even if that just meant going for a walk in the park near my house to see the cherry blossom. I found that spending some time each day in a different environment really helped my mental health and I will definitely continue to use this technique throughout the remainder of my studies.

I think next year will be a lot different to how this one has been. I see us all being able to see each other again and attend classes in person rather than through a screen. This year has taught us a lot but I think we are all ready for everything to go back to normal. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. À bientôt !’

Many thanks to Daisy for finding the time to write this great post and for the honest reflections on the challenges and positives of this past year. We’re all hoping along the same lines for next year and, in the meantime, we wish you a restful Summer and we’ll look forward to welcoming you back in the Autumn.

Virtual Graduation Celebrations

Unfortunately, our in-person graduation ceremonies have had to be cancelled this year but Languages at Stirling organised an online graduation get-together for our graduating cohort on Wednesday this week. An excellent reason to repeat our congratulations to them all, to pass on special congratulations to Rachel who was this year’s recipient of our Simone de Beauvoir Prize for an excellent performance across her French modules and, for those who were unable to attend, to reiterate French Programme Director Elizabeth Ezra’s congratulatory message:

‘On behalf of French, I’d like to give my heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2021. You’ve not only successfully navigated the obstacle course that we normally put in place for our students to ensure they can handle anything and everything that might come their way in the future world of work or study; you’ve also had to deal with much, much more than your fair share of additional obstacles that fate added to the mix, all of which you have borne with grace and good will. Here you are on the other side, having succeeded, frankly, against the odds, proving that you are indeed ready for anything. You really are a pretty wonderful group of accomplished, kind, and well-rounded students, and we will miss you. Please do keep in touch with us in the years ahead; we love hearing about what our students get up to. My colleagues and I wish you all the very best in your future endeavours, whatever the future may hold for you. Félicitations!’

My First Year of French at Stirling: Finding myself

The past couple of posts have been by students who are about to enter the final year of their degrees with us, giving a sense of what their experiences of Stirling have been like, particularly over what would ordinarily have been their Semester Abroad. We’re really pleased to also get some perspectives from students who are just starting out on their degree and who have just completed Year 1, starting with Julia whose degree is in Psychology with a European Language:

‘I wasn’t entirely sure if I was coming to Stirling as a fresher until the middle of August 2020. When this decision was made I had only three weeks before the beginning of my first year. Because I lived in Poland at the time, I needed to quickly organize the whole trip to the foreign country. I have to admit – the time before arriving to Scotland and the first few weeks there were pure madness. Completely different from the rest of the year which I mostly spent in front of the laptop, surrounded by my four walls and with my cat, which saved my life in the middle of pandemic by becoming my true companion.

Nevertheless, although I am an international student, who moved out of the family home and came to the unknown country (which was in the full lockdown for a few months) I can’t regret my first year in Scotland. What a year it has been!

I’ve decided to come and study in Stirling because I fell in love with Scotland when I came here for the first time in my senior year of high school. I was particularly fascinated by the landscape as well as by people’s kindness. I experienced both during my first year, which made it much more enjoyable. I was really surprised by the friendliness shown to me by strangers – talking to random people on the streets or in the shops has become one of my favourite activities! When it comes to the Scottish landscape, I am unable to sufficiently describe what a positive impact it had and still has on me. When I felt down during this year, a simple walk in the forest or in the hills almost always lifted me up. One day, when I was walking near the main street in Alva – a village near Stirling – as I looked at the hills, small, local shops and those old, stone walls to which I am partial to, I thought: ‘That’s the place I’ve been looking for.’

I am currently studying Psychology and a European Language – a degree to which I switched from Single Honours Psychology having taken French in my first and second semester. I enjoy both subjects but during the first year, learning French was the greatest pleasure for me. Almost every lesson left me with a big amount of a positive energy. I just simply wanted MORE. And there was more – additional materials given by the lecturers (French natives!!!), which not only helped me to grasp the structure of the language better, but also to understand, to get to know French culture and French history. I felt welcomed into the French world in which I really wanted to stay. That is why now, during the holidays, I’m practising my language skills and reading about France, as I am thinking about living there after I graduate. Furthermore, because studying French at the University of Stirling requires us to spend time in a French-speaking country, I have a chance to travel, meet new people and experience French culture first-hand. This requirement can be fulfilled by working in one of these countries for the whole year – an undertaking supported by the university. I’m definitely going to try and use this chance! 

Despite a lot of positive aspects of this year, I wouldn’t say that it was easy. It certainly challenged me in many ways: intellectually – studying in English as an international student – and emotionally – being away from my family and friends for months. Nevertheless, I have never developed as a human as much as I have done this year. I was forced to face myself with all of my fears, insecurities, plans and dreams. It was a mix of everything. But, in the end, I found myself. I found my place in Scotland. At the University of Stirling. And I am happy and eager to continue my journey there, to make mistakes and achieve my goals. Even in this weird world that we are living now. In the world in which I know I am not alone.’

Many, many thanks to Julia for finding the time to write this great post and we’re really pleased to hear how happy you’ve been at Stirling and in Scotland. Enjoy the break over the Summer and we look forward to welcoming you back into your second year in a few months!

Semester Not-Quite-Abroad: Inspiration for life beyond University

Time for more (non-)Semester Abroad tales today. Following Pauline’s post last month, July is getting off to a fantastic start with this article from Isobel who has just finished the 3^rd year of her BA Hons programme in French:

‘When I first decided to study French at the University of Stirling, it was the amount of time abroad offered that really swayed me. In 2019/2020, I had the opportunity to be an English Language Assistant at a lycée in a suburb of Paris. Unfortunately, COVID-19 sent me home early. During the summer of lockdowns and restrictions, I thought to myself, “It’s okay, you still have your semester abroad next year.” For my semester 6 abroad, I was lucky enough to get my top choice University; I would be studying in the sunny south of France at Aix-Marseille Université. Suffice to say that this was not the plan that COVID-19 had in store for me…

An online semester abroad, studying classes at French times, while living in Scotland, is not quite what I expected from my semester abroad to say the least. When the decision to cancel the in-person aspect of our semesters abroad and move it online was made, I was devastated. I worried for my French language skills that I already felt like I lacked. What would happen now without this immersion in French culture? Nevertheless, it turned out to be a semester I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

The online learning that has resulted from this pandemic has certainly been a learning curve for everyone. From a lack of classes available for international students, to my own constant internet connectivity issues, it felt like one thing after another. In the end, at AMU, I took classes in translation and in FLE (Français langue étrangère), alongside an extra French class with the University’s language learning centre. As well as a 30-minute conversation class with Stirling. While it wasn’t your normal semester abroad, and it wasn’t quite the level of cultural immersion I had been hoping for, I realise now that it was a semester focused on language learning, where I could get to terms with the bits of the language that I had struggled with up until now. Even though my French still isn’t at the level I’d like it to be, this semester ‘abroad’ helped me become a little more self-aware to the fact that my French is miles better than it was this time last year. I am improving. Maybe not as quickly as I’d hope, but that’s okay. If anything, it just gives me more motivation to go back to France after my degree and get the cultural immersion I want. The lack of classes gave me plenty of free time to work on my independent research project that was compulsory for semester 6. In fact, this project turned out to be my favourite one I’ve researched and written throughout my entire time at Stirling.

While it was recommended that we write about the area we were in for our semester abroad, I never made it to Marseille. I have never been there, and I know practically nothing about it (which is essentially the main reason I wanted to go there in the first place). Therefore, I was lucky enough that my supervisor agreed that I could draw inspiration for my project from the place where I completed my British Council English Language Assistantship, Aulnay-sous-Bois, a banlieue of Paris. My experience of living in a diverse area such as the suburbs of France, as well as my personal values, led me to my choice of research topic. I have always had an interest in Human Rights, and I try to be as much of an ally and activist as I can. Therefore, I decided to focus on something that is prevalent in our lives – police violence against people of colour.

In the end, this project was an extremely enriching experience for me. Not only in terms of how much more I learnt about the Black Lives Matter movement and learning all that I did about systemic racism in France and how it disproportionately impacts people of colour who live in the banlieues of Paris, but also the way it impacted my French learning: I learnt so much vocabulary, including slang, and lots of grammar structures were really driven in. I read two French books, watched films, and I deciphered many official French reports. All of this culminated in over 12,000 words of research (which was practically a dissertation in itself), which I then narrowed down to exactly 2,470 words (in French). The funny thing is that it never felt like an assignment. It was so easy to get lost in researching a topic that genuinely fascinates me. I was extremely invested in this project because it truly meant something to me.

This project, along with many other experiences I’ve had here at Stirling, helped me to realise how much more I can do with my French degree. I am so proud of my project, and the grade I received, that I hope to use it as a foundation for my final year dissertation next year, hopefully being able to branch out to a similar topic from this project. This has inspired me to look down other paths such as working for international organisations, exploring the third sector and volunteering with charities. Even now, I have just completed a business summer school with EM Strasbourg in order to gain more experience in that domain.

I can say for certainty that I wouldn’t be in this position were it not for my online semester abroad…’

Many, many thanks to Isobel for this brilliant post and we’re really pleased to hear that you feel you’ve got so much out of the past semester, despite the challenges! We hope you’re able to enjoy a good break over the Summer and are looking forward to welcoming you back into your final year in the Autumn. More news from our students to come…