I met a girl as I waited for my Political Science class in Sciences Po (a class that I would eventually not continue) and we bonded over the agonizing and inefficient ways of the university institutions here. She mentioned a term, “Justor”/”Justore” as a way to describe institutions of that sort.
So as to sum up my first month here in Lyon, I have already learned so much. Despite classes having only started two weeks ago, my experiences so far with the people around me and the community have been enriching my perspective on myself and on French culture.
First of all, the outlook on time is fairly different. For the most part, appointments or rendez-vous are taken fairly lightly. However, this is just what I have noticed in my university setting. I remember walking into my week-long intensive French course and waiting a solid half hour just to be placed in a classroom. As for my regular lectures (CMs) and discussion classes (TDs), it varies. For my first Political Science course (Politiques Comparées), the professor walked in almost twenty minutes late while I walked into a French grammar course ten minutes late and being locked out. Also, the way they organized the registration for courses is the most inefficient way possible. You could probably play a drinking game right now of taking a shot for every time I have used the word “inefficient” in this post and be done by the end of it. Anyway, simple necessities such as course lists and class locations could be disclosed online, if not at all. But no. The political science department seems to enjoy long lines of students waiting in their office, to hand out individual sheets of the same list of courses. The line could have easily been avoided and wasted way less paper if maybe they posted one sheet outside the door like other departments. Ultimately, what I have taken away from the mess that was the first two or three weeks of school is that I respect time more than I think I do. I also learned that being on time can have such a loose meaning here. Ca depend sur des profs et des departments. Trop bizarre. I tend to gamble on time here and it never works out.
^ Me gambling on time.
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