"It is indeed the worst folly to want to be wise in a mad world," said Erasmus, the Dutch traveler and humanist monk who gave his name to the famous student exchange program.
As the risk of a second wave hovered over Europe, Sébastien, Carla and Lotfi chose to take the risk of going on Erasmus in September.
Madness, some said!
Respectively in 4th year of architecture in Brussels, in Belgium, in engineering at ESME Paris and in 5th year at Polytech Lyon (Rhône), the three of them agree that they were not going to leave the pandemic of Covid-19 undermine their university courses.
Last year of study or time-consuming memory to write next year, it was this year or nothing.
Like them, 80% of students enrolled in the Erasmus + program still left for their destination according to Frédérique Vidal, the Minister of Higher Education.
Sometimes knowing from the start that they will not have access to the lecture halls.
This is the case of Sébastien who is now studying architecture in Barcelona, Spain.
“Apart from the presentation day of the university, all the courses were held by videoconference.
Carla must have gone through a fortnight when she arrived in Riga, Latvia, but with no other restrictions initially, the mask wasn't even mandatory.
"In any case, France was confined"
For Lotfi, who opted for a semester in engineering in Ostrava, Czech Republic, his start of his stay was punctuated by outings, meetings and enriching experiences of all kinds.
“I made some inquiries before leaving, I chose the Czech Republic because it was one of the least affected countries in Europe.
A month after his arrival, the Lyonnais disillusioned, the government announces a general confinement and 90% of the French of his promotion return home.
“I chose to stay because I knew that France was also confined anyway and it's less strict here.
He is installed in a student residence where the spirit of the “Spanish inn” does not weaken.
No problem to meet up with each other and chat over a drink.
In Riga, Carla also suffered the closure of bars and nightclubs in November, but most of her classes were maintained at the university with a possibility of videoconferencing.
Unlike France, "in terms of culture and discovery of the country, we are not bad, we can make visits, the museums have remained open all the time," she believes.
For Sébastien, the Barcelona “sleepover” routine is not necessarily easy to live with./DR
Sébastien, for his part, talks about a “sleep-over job” routine that is not necessarily easy to live with.
His lessons, certainly interesting, require a big investment and would therefore have left him little time for his leisure time anyway.
He regrets that the program was not adapted to the health situation when the university could have foreseen it after the setbacks in March.
He adds: “I also saw in my trip a good opportunity to practice Spanish and English through meetings, but evenings are prohibited.
The only one that took place was cut short by the Catalan police.
"
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The three students learned to adapt to government announcements from their host countries.
And as in France, the future is starting to brighten up.
Barcelona and Ostrava have reopened their bars / restaurants with the obligation to close at 8 p.m. for the second.
In Riga, the lifting of restrictions should happen within a few weeks.
"A great life experience"
For Lotfi, the month of December will be his last there.
Her semester was initially due to end in February, but without the possibility of planning for the future, her teachers preferred to advance the date of the exams.
“It was still a great life experience, I think I learned about myself and I come back without regrets,” he explains.
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Sébastien is only halfway there.
Hired for one year, he will begin his second semester with the hope that the health situation will allow him to fully live his international experience.
Carla, who will end her stay in February, is adamant: "You have to go, even with restrictions, you have to go for sure."