Mobility specification

Country:France

Institution:University of Rennes I

City:Rennes

Program:Erasmus+ for study

Activity type:Study

Academic year:2021/2022

MU faculty/department:Faculty of Economics and Administration

Study level abroad:Master

🎓Hit the books! How do you rate the university experience?

Can you enroll in a course where you can learn the local language?yes

Does the university offer enough courses in English?neutral

Are your credits converted?no

Was there anything in the teaching methods that surprised you?It was great that the school had Bloomberg terminals and a a dedicated course focused on work with those. That's very special I think.
The level of courses depends on the teachers. For example, the one who taught Bloomberg was great, but for econometrics it was worse (although she was humanly fine).
You can choose courses from several study paths (parcours), but sometimes there can be time conflicts or you may find some courses start and end later than others (the start and end of the semester is not the same for the whole faculty).
Otherwise, surprised by the early start and end of the semester.

Does the university offer international students' programs and activities outside of lectures and seminars to help them integrate more quickly?Yes, there are all sorts of Erasmus events, it's not a problem to integrate. It's a great idea to participate in PE (sport) lessons.

In which areas does the university offer support for students with special needs and strive to be inclusive?I haven’t noticed

💸Did you have to rob the bank?

Try to take a guess at what your monthly expenditures were:27500 CZK/month

Did you stay in dorms?yes

What about unexpected expenses? Did anything surprise you?Fortunately, no.

Do you have any tips on how to save money?I didn't save much which is also visible in the amount of expenses. It's nice to get accommodation in the dorm (CROUS), I paid 244 euros for a separate room, although very small, but there was a bathroom and a shared kitchen.
There are some distributions alimentaires where you can get free food, but it was held at the Villejean campus, which was quite far from mine (Beaulieu).
In theory, it might be worth trying to check with CROUS (the organisation providing accommodation and canteens) to see if you can have lunches at a discounted price of 1euro - apparently this could be arranged for Erasmus students, but I have no practical experience.

🗺 Learn the ropes in a new city

How well did you manage to communicate in English?neutral

How does public transport work in the city?mostly fine

And what about transport outside the city?neutral

Where to find connections? How to buy a ticket?The transport is pretty good, there are two metro lines and then bus lines, so I had a good journey. It's worth getting a Korrigo which is a card that you use to buy tickets on your smartphone or a "salinkart" and then you pipate the rides. It's fine to use the shared bikes and ride around the city. Intercity travel is slightly worse than in the Czech Republic, the frequency of connections is less. But every first Saturday there is a promotion for train tickets around Brittany for 5 eur, the promotion is called Dingo samedi I think. I also used carsharing from Citiz, which allowed us in a group to go on trips for a cost of about 20-30 eur /person/trip, which I can only recommend, there is a lot to see in Brittany and without a car you can't get everywhere. The Korrigo card is then also used to open and lock the car. For students ma citiz more advantageous tariffs.

Did you deal with any health issues during your stay?no

🤠Help create the perfect bucket list

What is a must-see in the city?Saturday market (marché des lices. There is still one market open daily in Rennes but it was not very interesting), which is the second largest in Fr. Buy your oysters there (they come with a knife to open them), cheese, pastries (we had our favorite bread with candied fruit, yum), or other things to your liking, go to a place around the market, Les trois couleurs worked well for us, such a local spot, sit down, order a drink and enjoy your shopping (it's really quite cool to order a drink and eat the catch from the market). If you're at the trois couleurs on the terrace, you can watch the tall residential tower of Les Horizons, where Milan Kundera started his FR anabasis.
For me, the metro is also a must see because it's automatic, with no drivers.
Otherwise there are nice parks worth exploring or picnicking in.
I also quite liked one swimming pool where there was an outdoor swimming pool. It was quite far away though.

What are the must-visit trip destinations?Mont-Saint-Michel ofc, then Saint Malo, Cancale, any of the islands. If you have a car then Cote de Granit Rose, Quiberon (coast), Normandie, Finistère (the very end of Bretagne). We found it useful to just look on Google maps and look for places where the rating is high.

Share your best experience:I went to Erasmus because of the language, so I tried to integrate somehow. I think the best experience was when I found that Uzine was doing open stand up nights so I signed up. It was quite embarrassing because I didn't have good French or performance skills and I was forgetting lines, but I won't forget it.

💅A nugget of wisdom to make the life easier

Did you need to handle a visa?no

How did you get to the place?Plane
Train

Can you pay by card?everywhere

What not to forget when packing?Raincoat.

🥳Summary

Whew, what a ride! 😮‍💨 Thanks so much for taking the time to complete our survey and for sharing your unique experience. Just one last thing. 🙏 How would you summarize your trip in one or two sentences?Erasmus in Rennes gave me the opportunity to see (maybe) the most beautiful part of France.