Is politness and a calm attitude too much to ask for?

I visited once again the Socrates office to finish all the financial paperwork.

There has been a slight problem, as I found out yesterday that because I’m leaving for Grenoble on 8th February I cannot receive a whole month’s scolarship. Fair enough. Just that this came as a surprise, as I have been telling them for about 2 months that I’ll be leaving on that specific day, and nobody seemed to have a problem with it until now. Would it have been so hard to prevent me about this earlier?

My leaving later than I should is due to a difference in schedule between my home universiy and INP. They start the second semester while we begin the exams here. It would obviously be impossible for me to leave earlier, since I must pass all the exams before I can receive the final OK. I managed however to talk to my teachers and I’ll be able to leave a week earlier than the end of the exam session. It was all I could do, since part of my teachers will be out of the country in the beginning of the session.

In this case, where I postpone my departure for objective reasons that are completly put of my control, I was fool enough to think that the people who manage the exchange program would have this covered in some way. Instead it seems that wanting to be part of an exchange program is some sort of a crime, and you must be punished every time there is a chance :

• you must pass all the exams in half the time your colleagues are
• you should run to hundreds of offices to get signatures from persons who don’t even know why tey must sign that
• you must repeat the previous step beacuse you find out you need 2 copies of that document only after you’re done with the first one and sent it to France
• you must be know that no one will assume the role of a Guidance Counselor, even though you would really need one
• you must be prepared for surpises once you come back, since some teachers may not recognise your courses taken abroad
• you should struggle on your own to find courses that match your curriculum, and since there is little chance you’ll find all of them you must pass other exams in the autumn exam session
• beware: no one will tell you in advance if the courses you have choses will be recognised or no
• you must wait for the Socrates officer to finish talking to their friend or finish up their cigarette before they can assist you
• if you want to clarify a matter with the program coordinator, and le the officer know you must hear words like “You don’t have any logic in your head” or “She went and made a scandal about it”(I hadn’t even reached the person to which I wanted to talk)

I’m not trying to make this list too long, but these are some of the challenges on the road to an Erasmus scolarship at Universitatea “Politehnica” din Bucuresti.

I’m still trying to figure out if there is any one who would care to listen to all these problems.

Hey rup…

Mai e putin…

Dar pana acolo presimt ca o sa mai bat mult drumurile rectoratului. Se pare ca cei de la Poli au pus la punct o calatorie initiatica prin hatisurile birocratiei si cele ale biroului Socrates, ca pregatire absolut necesara pentre experienta de student Erasmus.

Poate ar fi bine ca intr-una din aceste zile sa impartasesc din experienta pe drumul spinos descris mai sus…Nu de alta dar cei care ar trebui sa cunoasca experienta anilor anteriori par sa se intalneasca in fiecare vara cu lanterna magica a Men-ilor in Black. Intrebarea :”Cum au facut cei ce au plecat anul trecut pentru al doilea semestrul ?” intalneste raspunsul SF : “Nu prea a plecat nimeni in semestrul doi …”

Chiar si asa, primavara se apropie si cu ea mica mea odisee grenobloaza capata coordonate mai clare.

Hop on!

Everything must have a begining…

De mult imi doream sa imi rostesc gandurile si acum am capatat si un motiv. Hyper-efficient communication – gata cu vremea epistolelor de la studii la Paris, a venit vremea blogurilor de la Grenoble.

Hop on and share the adventure!