Ma vie à Valenciennes – France (Hendrik Voice Sihombing)

Ma vie à Valenciennes – France (Hendrik Voice Sihombing)

Bonjour a tous, je m’appelle Hendrik Voice Sihombing. Je suis etudient les Mecanique de l’Universite Sumatera Utara, je suis de Indonésie. And I went to French with the scholarship Erasmus+ student exchange program. I genuinely still didn’t really know how I got involved in this amazing experience. I guess it was some sort of fate, and I felt so privileged to have grabbed hold of this opportunity with both my hands.

 HENDRIK FRANCE 1A

It was only after receiving a confirmed place at Universite Polythechnique Hauts-De- France  and They send  information that I needed by email before I arrived there and then  booking my tickets to Charles de Guile France. I suddenly realized that this would be one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever had to face. After 21 hours flight, I arrived in Valenciennes, France on the 10th of September 2018. When I first arrived in valenciennes I really did not know what to expect, from the college, the way of life, etc.  I was extremely nervous and frightened but this changed very quickly. 

The next Monday, the orientation week started. All student from all over the world gathered at Maison des services l’etudiant. I felt so excited for meeting new people, the staff of International Relation Office UPHF explained us about curriculum and scholarship for this semester. The orientation program gave me the possibility to learn more about culture, the beautiful city of Valenciennes and also helped me meet and interact with people who would shortly become friends and part of my Erasmus family during this semester I was in Mecanique conception et calculs mechaniques assistes par ordinateur (IM-C2MAO) at Institut des Sciences et Techniques de Valenciennes (ISTV)-UPHF. The problem is the program taught full in French, it made me so nervous and little bit shy, especially with my low level French skill. It was really challenged me how I can communicate, make a relations with a lot of people and sharing about Indonesia.  The lecturers were well, professional and prepared all the documents for tomorrow. The teaching methods were a bit different from my home university and required a strongest theory. Also that each student have their own UPHF account so student get the access to all of the presentation slides, cases and material of each courses. Studying at Universite Polythechnique Hauts-De- France  was a completely different experience for me in comparison to the university system and teaching methods at home in Indonesia at the Universitas Sumatera Utara.

 I totally enjoy learning and living in Valenciennes, which is, in my view, very close to a perfect city for studying. The opportunities offered to students here are huge indeed. I have everything I need for being productive, enthusiastic, motivated and active learner: big library, access to a great variety of databases, stimulating environment-a lot of space for studying, including computer rooms, exciting study trips, inspiring company visits, including the language ones and much more. 

During my stay in Valenciennes, fortunately I met Indonesian  people who lives in Valenciennes. They are very kindness, and every once a week we make eating together with Indonesian people or we called it “pengajian”. So I can felt Indonesian food every week in their home.

International Relation Universite Politechnique Hanut des France frequently made some events for Erasmus students, I was joined the invitation to a cultural and sport daytrip like went to musseum, marche des noel, outbound at the park, etc 

Almost each day spent here has been filled with a great experience or new thing which I have tried and I have never been bored. To be in a group of people consisting of so many nationalities was enriching as well as challenging because we were so different, from many countries and backgrounds and we needed to find ways how to understand and tolerate each other. But our differences have very soon become a great advantage for us as we had an opportunity to got to knew different ways of life or perspectives.

I  had  some  expectations  as  to  what  I  wanted  to  get  out  of  the  Erasmus  experience.    Erasmus  for  me  was  about  having  the  opportunity  to  be  independent,  meet  people  from  other  counties  and  being  able  to  experience  a  different  culture. I wanted to become more open minded as a person and mature. This experience definitely taught me how to be more independent and gave me a taste of real student life with money constraints, parties etc. I value this opportunity to study abroad very high because it helped me in my academic studies and subsequently in my future profession as well as in my personal development and in broadening of my mind. I knew that now I was more opened to new things and people from different background. Thanks to all people from Universite Polythechnique Hauts-De- France  and international department and also to all the students, either erasmus. I would never forgot this great time and place I could live in for one semester. I really enjoyed the Erasmus experience and if I had the choice now I would go on Erasmus again. Thank you so much, Merci Beaucoup, Terima Kasih.

HENDRIK KOMPILASI