"France was my immediate first choice!"

My name is Elena O Céidigh Hayes, I am an electronic engineering student from Bray, Co. Wicklow. I have just graduated from UCD with a Bachelors of Electronic Engineering, and I have been accepted to INSA Lyon to continue my studies in electronic engineering.

What made you choose France for your studies? 

I have always felt an affinity to France; my mother and grandfather’s time in - and connection with - France has always been significant to them both, and its influence has spread throughout our family.

As such, France has always seemed the most familiar of the European countries to me. I had hoped to do an Erasmus exchange in France, but due to COVID (and my lack of French) this was impossible. When the time came to decide whether to remain in UCD to do a masters, or to go abroad; studying abroad seemed by far the best decision for me – and France was my immediate first choice.

Alongside the personal reasons, I had just met a group of French engineers while interning at a company in Ireland; and their description of engineering studies in France and the approach of French engineering schools to learning interested me a lot, and seemed to me an experience that would greatly add to my studies. I visited Lyon that summer and really fell in love with the city. 

As well as this I wanted to learn French.

How did you hear about the France Excellence Europa scholarship?

I first came across the France Excellence Europa scholarship through an online article about the experience of a previous year’s cohort of FEE laureates from Ireland :) This encouraged me to research the scholarship, and to apply for it once I had made the decision to pursue my studies in France. It also had an impact on my final choice of France as the place to continue my studies.

How did you prepare to apply for the scholarship?

As far as I can remember I didn’t do much to prepare - beyond writing the application letter and gathering the relevant documents. By this point I had done a lot of research into where and what I wanted to study, I had already been in communication with the university I wished to attend, and so I had practice at putting my motivations to paper. As such I had developed a strong desire and motivation go to France, and I found that when it came to expressing this in a letter of motivation, it came fairly naturally. 

What are your first impressions of France? Is it easy to settle in?

My first impressions of France have been great – despite a few last-minute changes of plans and of destinations. I am currently doing a (surprise) internship as part of the master’s course at INSA Lyon, so am in Marseille until the end of January. So far everyone – from colleagues to neighbours to shopkeepers - have been very welcoming and helpful; especially when it comes to acclimatising myself to French culture and customs, and in finding ways to explore what France has to offer. I’ve even found a very welcoming group of musicians from Marseille who meet regularly to play Irish trad music – I’ve played music from a young age and the potential lack of regular music sessions was my one worry about coming to France. That and Lyon’s distance from the sea – but as I’ve ended up in Marseille that hesitance has also been eradicated ???? It’s really cool to hear French people playing and discussing Irish music; to learn some French traditional music; and to meet French uilleann pipers!!

I found the process of obtaining accommodation in France more challenging than I expected; and have found that in general most official processes and applications in France require a lot more documents, certificates and red tape than would be required in Ireland. I have also found the switch to AZERTY keyboard to be an unforeseen obstacle. However, everything has worked out in the end - and I think that by now (a month in) I am fairly settled and able to use my free time to explore - and able to find the necessary keyboard character symbols at a more efficient pace.

What are your expectations for the upcoming year?

Much as I enjoy the experience of interning in a French company – and I am learning a lot – I am really looking forward to attending INSA Lyon; continuing my studies and discovering a new city. I am hoping to do my Projet Fin des Etudes next year in a similar area to that of my Final Year Project in UCD; my former project supervisor has put me in contact with a research group in Grenoble that are globally leading the research in that area, so I am hoping to potentially work with them – though this is far away and I may find another area to pursue in the meantime. I am hoping to join a few societies at INSA Lyon (and to find more French Trad musicians) and to continue to learn and experience as much of French culture as I can.

I am also hoping to improve my French – I’ve only been learning for a year, and as such working studying and socialising entirely through French is a bit of a step off the deep end. However, I am really enjoying what a strange experience it is and am excited and motivated to become as fluent and as comfortable in the language as possible.

 I am looking forward to getting to know the city of Marseille and the surrounding area, and also the city of Lyon. I’m hoping to use my spare time to visit as many places in France as I can and to really profit from this opportunity to spend time studying here that I am so lucky to have.