This article is part of the "Summer School" series, which presents students who spend their summer abroad.
The Bachelor students are back on campus after their summer break!
Many students took advantage of the time off to go to a Summer School. Paul, third year student in the program, shared his experience at Tsinghua University
Why did you decide to go to a summer school?: I chose to go to a summer school for two main reasons. The first one was that it proposed a course very different from the pure scientific ones: I took a Gender Studies course. It was interesting, with a really diverse population! I learnt a lot of things, not only about women in China, but also throughout the whole world.
Where did you go?: I chose the Tsinghua International Summer School in China, since it was a country in which I wanted to go since quite a long time. Moreover, let’s say it, it was the only summer school that gave a full scholarship, which was quite interesting from an economic point of view.
Tell us about the other people in the Summer School with you: We were around two hundred students from all around the world. There were around ten French people, if I remember well. Two from Ecole Polytechnique (including myself) and the others from various Instituts d’Etudes Politiques, mainly Sciences Po Paris.
How did your integration in the program go?: It went quite fine. I made some friends quickly, and while I was not often going out late at night, since I do not really like it, we bonded a lot!
A few words about the classes?: We had between 3 and 7 hours of classes a day, depending on whether or not we had a field trip. We studied different parts of gender studies and gender separation in China, through case studies or through the examination of traditional philosophy, like Confucianism.
What is your least favorite memory?: It was when I got lost on campus. Unlike in France, where everything is crooked and peculiar, it was so squared, well ordained and uniform that I was unable to find the direction leading to the lecture hall in which we had the first presentation, but it got better during the week.
What other activities did you participate in?: I participated in an initiation to Chinese language and in the two optional trips organized by the program: one at the Temple of Heavens, and one at the Great Wall. It was impressive and beautiful.
How was the campus life?: Since most of the people on campus only spoke Mandarin there was not really a campus life to properly speak about. But, as I said before, the bonds between the different people of the program were quite strong, so it was fine, because we organized different activities together.
What is your favorite memory?: I have two: the visit to the Great Wall, which was just super, and the visit of the Summer Palace, that I did with friends I made in the program, during our free afternoon. While the weather was a bit foggy, the place was amazing, and we had a lot of fun.
Did you face any challenges?: The main challenge I faced was the communication with people that did not speak English. For instance, in the cafeteria, people spoke only Mandarin, and the signs were only in ideograms, so I always chose what looked the best, hoping that I would like it. Most of the time, it was fine! I overall had only one bad surprise.
Any cultural fun fact about the country you went to?: Not really. However, I have a fun fact regarding the people I was with: indeed, at one point, they were all talking about how expensive the studies were in their respective countries. When they asked me what I thought about it, I told them that, in France, at least for scientific studies, nearly all the schools were free. They told me that it was only the worst ones, and that the best ones, the private universities, were still requiring a fee. I answered that our best “Grandes Ecoles”, the ENSs and Polytechnique, were public, and that the French students there were paid to study in those institutions… Their faces were very funny to see.
What did this experience bring you (on a personal and academic level)?: I think it brought me a new point of view on the world, and especially on gender issues. It is not something that I often talk about with other students of the Bachelor, since it is not our main field of study, but it was interesting to discover it, and I will remember what I learnt there for a long time. Moreover, I was able to see China, something I wanted to do for many years, so I am glad to have been able to go on this summer school.
