Majestic Study - Being Foreign Law Student in France

In this blog post, I'm going to show you "what's in my bag"! I'm currently studying in France at a French university. And I'm majoring in law. It's very hard to study law in a foreign country and in a foreign language but I'm thriving! (for now at least...) Here are the things I have in my bag. Enjoy! Bag My backpack from MUJI I use a backpack from MUJI. It's pretty big and it has two side pockets to put my water bottle and umbrella. The largest compartment is divided into two parts: one for putting a laptop and another for putting larger things. It has built-in laptop protection so you can put your laptop without using any other protective case.   The bigger side is large enough to put multiple books and codes (statutes books). I usually keep several textbooks, a notebook, my journals, etc. that will be shown later in this article. It also has a zipper on the side that allows you to access the laptop compartment without opening the bag from the to...

By the time the French President announced the lockdown on March 16th that the country was going under a two-week lockdown, we had actually been preparing for it for over two weeks. We started preparing ourselves for self-isolation from the beginning of the month of March. As a result, we did not have to buy a lot of food and supplies last minute, which allowed us to get everything we needed even before people started to shop massively. Here are two reasons why we were able to do so. 1. We were listening to foreign media On a daily basis, we obtain information from multiple media and worldwide. For example, we usually follow the Japanese media and the BBC. We want to be informed about what is happening in Japan because our families live there and we listen to English media in order to work on our English language competence. We heard about the panic-buying that was happening in Japan concerning masks and paper products. Also, the BBC has thoroughly reported the situa...

I could have gone home to Japan but I stayed.  Two weeks ago, the French government decided that all the universities would be closed in order to slow the propagation of the Coronavirus in the population. It was recommended by the Ministry of Education that international students go back to their countries if the trip was possible. Despite the situation, I decided to stay in France and here are 5 reasons why. 1. We didn't know how long the confinement was going to be At the beginning of the confinement, we did not know how long the confinement was going to be (and we still don't as a matter of fact). The government planned it for two weeks minimum. If I were to go back home and then confinement actually ended at the end of the two weeks, it would be too busy to do a round trip in such a short period.  Also, I was afraid that I would be subjected to confinement of two weeks in arrival to Japan. If that were the case, I would lose that time in a situation that i...

It's Day 9 of confinement in France. It was another beautiful day: sunny and not too cold. I woke up around 6:30 am as usual. Then I made my bed, ate breakfast, changed the air, and planned my day. I habitually use Google calendar and a notebook to plan what I should do.  Calendar Blocking Method I use a method called "calendar blocking" by Amy Landino introduced on her YouTube channel,  Amy Landino . It consists of blocking a block of time for doing a category of tasks, you will have your own time table of your work and your daily tasks, like when you are back in school. Whatever you do will be on your calendar: shopping, eating, exercise, work, study, cleaning, ... She recommends in her video using a digital calendar because it gives more flexibility to your day (because nothing goes according to plan, right?).  Here's an example of mine from today. You get the idea.  I reserved time for a couple of my courses today to work on the course ma...

Today was a reading day. I read an anthology of short stories written by a Japanese author Yoko Ogawa (not Yoko Ono) and half of a law-related book. The latter is not directly related to my studies but I had bought it because it seems interesting while I was back in Japan last summer. I had been too busy with my studies in French university since the beginning of this academic year that I haven't had a chunk of time dedicated to the book to get through it until now. I finally have some time to read it now due to confinement.  The book is called International Criminal Tribunal by NGOs by Professor Akira Maeda and I started reading it from the beginning because I didn't remember exactly where I was in the book. It is very interesting and I cannot wait to read the whole book. Some parts could be used as revisions of my international public law course. But what I'm doing in classes are basics and it was introduced as fundamental notions to help the author to carry...

This is Day 7 of confinement.  Today, I basically worked all day. I prepared for a class that was supposed to happen this week. The answers will be published on the university online platform and we can ask questions to the professor there so I was preparing for that. In order to do so, I read multiple textbooks, some summaries and articles of doctrine in order to understand the law cases that were assigned to study (thus, I had to read cases). I've started preparing it last week but it has been hard to concentrate because emails keep coming in to give us instructions on various courses. It's hard to keep track of what to do and by when.  However, today, I was productive. I was able to concentrate and find my own rhythm of work. I set small goals in my journal and then took them off of my to-do list as the day went. Also, I was actually motivated to start new things since my mind is calmer than last week due to the fact we know more about the situation and know mor...

It's Day 6 of the confinement.  A French newspaper, Le Monde, reported the situations of foreign students in France in the Coronavirus crisis. Foreign students were recommended to go back to their home country if possible and some went back. But some stayed due to the rise of airplane tickets resulting from multiple cancelations as well as because of the fact that they risk being put into quarantine at their arrival in their own country.  As the article reports, many of them are stuck in a small room without classes to go to, friends to talk to or jobs from which they can make money. Most of the French students have the possibility of going back to their parents' house during this lockdown, but not all foreign students can do so. This is a very hard time for us who study abroad in France. If you are interested in reading more about it (and if you can read French), here is the article. "Tout d'un coup, c'est le vide" : loin de leurs famille...

Universities have closed due to the Coronavirus and many of them are switching to online teaching to ensure the continuity of the education. My university in France is one of them. However, my university, a public university in rural France, does not have the IT infrastructure to implement this substitutional education, at least not immediately. Some professors have been sending their lecture notes via emails or trying to engage a discussion and corrections of exercises on the famous educational platform called Moodle (yes, that exists in France, too). But as I am seeing how it's being done at the moment, I have some suggestions for professors who want to continue teaching online while universities are closed. 1. All the students might not have the means to participate Again, our school is a public university. Public universities do not charge tuition for the education that they offer. Although many scholarships are put in place and it's very common these day...