Chasing a Dream to France: What to Plan and Prepare

BINUS Warung Prancis had the pleasure to invite Caroline Samosi, an alumna of Université Paris 13, to speak in a sharing session “Chasing a Dream to France: What to Plan and Prepare” held on March 9th, 2022. In the virtual session, Caroline shared her stories and experiences on being an Indonesian student pursuing her master’s degree on innovations and communication in France.

The first topic Caroline brought up that has very much piqued the students’ interests was the subsidy that the government of France has generously offered to international students, which were actually equal to the ones being offered to local students. Subsidy starting for a place to live in, transportation, and even entertainment. Caroline had expressed her enthusiasm at how cheap it is, compared to what one might expect, for an international student to live in France.

Caroline moved on to her experiences of studying in France. She had explained the difference between university life in Indonesia and France, starting from the course delivery method, the professors, grading system, and peers.

“Doing presentations is the most common thing to do there. So, for me who is still learning the language, it was very very challenging. But don’t worry, people there aren’t the type to make fun of you for not being fluent. Instead, people are very helpful. Even the professors have guided me on what to do. They taught me that I shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes. And that is one of the most valuable things I have learnt, that making mistakes is okay” Caroline remarked about her early struggle of being an international student in France.

After sharing all about her university life, Caroline proceeded to give us an insight on the culture shock she experienced for the first three months of living in France.Then, Caroline also shared her career path after moving back to Indonesia. Her experience on joining a startup program from the governor and her choice of not wanting to work in an office, which led her to open up her own restaurant. All of that was done with a high satisfaction result that she said were thanks to her one year studying in France.

Last but least, the Q&A session was executed well with students’ enthusiasm regarding the sharing session, which were related to studying in France, learning French, university in France, and even Caroline’s career.

The session ended with words of encouragement from Caroline for students to hopefully gain more interest in studying in France.