Margot - wanderer in a land she looks for ?

The interview was given by Fiona Tung to Margot Lee.

Margot, 21, Taiwanese student in Lyon, France, a former student in Wenzao majoring in French.

Q. Why do you choose France?
It’s simple because I majored in French though minored in English as well. I could have chosen England or America as my ideal place to complete my studies, but I think it would be more competitive if I studied in a European country and thus sharpen my third language.


Q. What do you expect to have from this so-called “study abroad”?
I never think of that before, for future itself is an uncertain thing, I don’t want to make any prediction and there’s old saying in Chinese “the more you wish, the more likely you would suffer from this high expectation”, so that’s why I didn’t go that far, I just wanna be myself and be like a student wherever I go.

Q. Did you prepare all these complicate documents, application forms and visa all by yourself?
Yes, indeed. The moment you decided to go abroad, it shall be the time you be responsible for all your stuff, you can’t always rely on parents. I’m 20 already, and I have to be responsible for all these, my parents give me their opinions only, the final decision is still in my hand. Speaking of the preparation, the most difficult and tiring part would be the application and visa, the process is really complicated and tiring.

Q. How did you choose your school?
First of all, I must say that I didn’t go into university directly; I attended the language session first and later I passed the exam so I could get in the college. Basically, I chose my school through the impression of the cities which means I consider the place first then the school. Like now, I’m admitted to Lyon 2, a public university in city Lyon, the second largest city in France.

Q. Did you stay at the school dormitory or you rent a room?
I applied for school dormitory of course for the financial concerns. It surely reduces my life expense. In addition, the reason why I stay in the dorm is that I could make more friends and know other international students coming from the other side of the world as well. Furthermore, to live in a dorm is the best way to assure your parents of your safety and it is better for me, especially it’s my first time leaving home to study, to live on my own.

Q. How is the expense there in Lyon? How much is the tuition fee?
The expense in Lyon is reasonable and affordable. The life expense is similar to like a student from Kaohsiung studied in Taipei. If you don’t go to restaurants very often, if you don’t take taxi to school, if you don’t buy luxury goods, then I think you can live freely in Lyon without much financial problem. The tuition fee is like 10,000 per year, and that is for public universities, it depends if it’s a private one, could vary from 300,000 up to 2,000,000 per year.

Q. So far, are you used to live in France, get yourself involved in the cultural environment?
Everything is just fine for me, I kinda love this feeling. I think I didn’t spend much time dealing with the culture problem, maybe it was because I knew the language well and I’m an open minded person. I know for most of the international students here, they have difficulties get themselves into this environment. To make it more specific, I like the food here, they don’t look oily and usually they don’t cook too much for the food, they like to eat what it was originally like and it would be fresh in this way. Besides, I walk to school everyday, I don’t have to take buses or subway to class. And I saved lots of money by walking to school, also, there’s one thing I like to mention is that it is really convenient to ride a bike in Lyon because the government has build up a bike way throughout the whole city.

Q: Every international student enjoys backpacking while studying abroad, do you? (What place, what kind of activity?)
Yes, of course, for the past whole year, I nearly have more than three months holiday; therefore, I traveled sometimes alone sometimes accompanied by friends. And you must wonder where I’ve been to. Well, Genève, Italy, Greece, Spain, England, Belgium, Austria, Czech, and so on….well more than ten I guess. As you see, they’re all closed to France and that’s the only reason why I went there. Besides, one place I want to mention is the Alps because there I experienced the first time ever skiing in snow. The mountains are just amazing and I’ve never seen that much snow in my life. You may think that having a trip in these countries will cost you a good fortune, but, in fact, it won’t cost you that much as long as you find a hotel or B&B with a good bargain, then it will do.
For the sceneries, most of them are castles, bridges, rivers, palaces and some modern reputed monuments which are highly visited by the tourists.

Q: We all know that as a Taiwanese student who studies abroad, he/she may encounter some political issues while talking to Chinese students, is that true?
Yes, it’s true. As we all know, our political stances are different and it is often confusing for foreigners to understand the difference between China and Taiwan. Thus, it is common that there’s always fight and debate between we two groups of people. I myself nearly had a huge fight with a Chinese girl once, but later I chose to leave her alone instead of being crossed at each other. Not all of Chinese students are aggressive, here; I think it may be a chance to practice your EQ, for unleashing your anger is really important or you’ll easy to be set up.

Q: Do you have any advice for students who are planning to study in France?
Or anything to tell them?
Studying abroad can never be that good as you thought or imagined beforehand. You’ll have to deal with many things that you once depend on your family or friends. You’re completely alone here and everything starts from zero. Above, that’s the difficult part of life, but we do have joyful moment here, for example, embracing the culture and their hospitality, meeting new friends from all over the world, and of course getting on the path you’ve always hoped for. Allez! (Cheer up!)