ROANNE : A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
(An uncensored U.K. student's view)

ROANNE : WHERE IS IT?

Roanne is in the Southeast of France in a region known as the
Rhone-Alpes; this is mainly a red wine-producing region and
the homeland of world know Charolais cattle. Roanne is Northwest
of Lyon and Northeast of St Etienne, it is not the same size as
either of these towns and it does not have their reputation or an
internationally renowned football team. What it does have is an
incredibly famous restaurant the Troisgros. For this reason the
Roannais pride themselves on their culinary expertise, so one
thing’s for sure, you aren’t likely to starve in Roanne.

Roanne is approximately 1 and half hours from Lyon by train,
this means you can pretty much get anywhere in France and
beyond with out any great problems and visa versa, providing
you go through Lyon. Roanne is 4 hours from Paris – half of this
time is taken getting to Lyon, from then on it’s the TGV or
mainline routes, so things go much quicker. There are also
several airports in the region meaning that you can pick and
choose your times and/or prices.

SO WHAT’S ROANNE GOT TO OFFER?

In the region there are many Roman and similarly ancient
archaeological sites of interest and most of the towns boast many
wonderful ancient buildings. If this is all a little sedate for you, don’t
fear Roanne isn’t stuck in the stone age! The town library for example
is a big blue example of modern architecture, the range of books
is adequate if not huge – they even offer a selection of books in
English, German and Spanish.

There are also other more sociable and hi-tech activities on offer in Roanne :

® 2 swimming pools – 1 outdoor/summer only, 1 with indoor and
outdoor facilities

® 3 cinemas – 2 showing the latest blockbusters the other being
the “art” cinema, which shows one or two foreign films
“version originale” most weeks.

® An ice-rink

® The soon to be constructed bowling alley

® Numerous bars and restaurants

® Nightclubs (though be warned many of the more popular clubs are out of town
so you will need a car or a friend with a car or you will pay a fortune in cab fares)

® An internet bar offering networked games

® Laser Quest (which has a wide range of pool and billiard tables)

® Of course there’s always the shops

THE UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE – INSTITUT UNIVERSITAIRE DE
TECHNOLOGIE (IUT)

The IUT is situated about 5 minute’s walk from the centre of town. There
exists within the IUT 4 departments :

G   TC Techniques de Commercialisation – this is the Business
and Marketing course

G   G.E.A. Gestion des Entreprises et des Administrations
 – the Management and Accountancy course.

G   G.I.M. Génie Industriel et Maintenance – this is the industrial
maintenance and mechanical engineering course.

G   O.G.P. Organisation et Génie de la Production – this is the
Production management course.

Each of these department is situated in its own building with its own
information technology facilities, staff and lecture theatres.

As foreign students are allowed to enter the second year of the DUT
courses, they have to face the possibility that some of the lessons will
be continued over from the year beforewhich make them a bit difficult
to follow at first.

There are only approximately 600 students within the IUT, these are
spread between the 4 department and the two-year groups. This leads
to reasonable seminar group sizes of about 15/20 individuals. The
lectures are composed of all that year on the course even so this is no
more than about 150/200 people so there’s plenty of room.

SO WHATS SO DIFFERENT ABOUT STUDYING IN FRANCE?

The first thing to notice is that although there’s a union of students it is not
the same as the students’ union in the UK. For a start there’s no union bar,
union shop, freshers or rag week! The union does however organise a
student soirée most months, and in the case of my arrival several in the first
month. These soirées are normally held at local bars or clubs and as many
of the clubs are situated in outlying villages, there aren’t many neighbours
to complain. This is just as well as things start much later and continue until
later in France. Most people don’t go out to the bars till ten p.m. and as the
bars don’t shut till 1.30 am the clubs or soirées don’t really get going till at
least midnight and don’t finish till 4 or 5am. The soirées tend to be good fun
and are to be recommended, though you’ll probably regret it in the morning.

The major difference about studying in France is the early starts. Most days
lessons start at 8 am! And although there’re breaks in the day – normally at
least an hour at lunch time – the day can finish as late as 6 or 7pm. Unlike
many UK universities however your attendance is expected at all your lessons
– your presence or lack of is noted and will count towards your final grade.

The lessons  (lectures and seminars alike) are principally based on dictation
– they say it, you write it, and then you learn it for your exams/assignments.
There is no reading for or around the subject expected, this having the
advantage of saving money on buying (then transporting) heavy text books.

The IUT doesn’t offer a large computing room like many British universities
as each department has its own facilities therefore computers in its own
building. The university computers has internet access and the rooms tend
to be open 8-8 and for at least some of holiday periods. And like at home
the only time access problems start to arise is right around the time
assignments are due in!

SO ANY BIG CULTURE DIFFERENCES?

There aren’t really any great differences between France and the
UK but there are little ones:

ü    Road rage – the French are incredibly impatient drivers and
don’t like people being slow – to cross the road, to notice lights have
changed etc. Another important fact is that although there may be a green
man on the pedestrian crossing it doesn’t mean all the cars will have
stopped trying to use that road! It means its safer, but not completely safe
– be warned the cars keep coming on the wrong side of the road for you!

ü    Meals- as I said before everything starts and finishes later in France
this includes meals. Most French people don’t start eating their evening
meal until at least 8pm. They also tend to eat big meals at lunchtime
– this is why almost everything (shops etc) is shut between 12 and 2.

ü    Weekends –As most French student (at it seems young people in general)
tend to stay quite close to home. EVERYONE goes home at the weekend
and for holidays. This means as a lot of people live in the near-by villages
that the residence and the town in general is relatively deserted. It should
also be noted that only bakers, greengrocers and a few butchers open on
a Sunday, but they all close at noon – leaving McDonald’s, the cinemas
and few bars open, the same applies for bank holidays and on Mondays
a lot of shops remain closed.

SO HOW DO I GET TO ROANNE?

Like I said before being so near Lyon Roanne isn’t terribly difficult to get to.
From England there are 2 main methods plane and train.

R   TRAIN – The Eurostar goes to 2 main destinations – Paris and Lille
– both of which have TGV and train links to Lyon. Although this can be
quite a long and expensive method of travel it means you are less limited
by the amount of luggage you can bring. It is also possible to buy a
“Carte 12-25” which offers people between the ages of 12 and 25 a
50% discount on their rail fare (off-peak rates) and a discount on Eurostar
ticket. This card is a good idea if you plan to travel around France.
For information on this and other card (e.g. grand voyager – if you
really plan to travel lots) as well as train times and ticket prices look
at www.voyages-sncf.com Although this isn’t the main website I’ve
found it gives more detailed information.

j  PLANE – The big airlines companies  (BA, Air France) fly to Lyon
however they are really quite expensive and unless you want to take a
chunk out your savings one of the low cost airlines is recommended.
At the moment few of the low cost airlines are flying to Lyon, namely
Easyjet for the time being) but it is a good idea to keep an eye on
their schedules as they change their destinations twice a year and
Lyon is a popular access route for skiers.  Buzz (www.buzzaway.com)
is currently flying to Grenoble airport, which has regular links to Lyon.
Getting from Lyon to Roanne is relatively easy as there is a navette bus
every 20 minutes from St Exupery airport to the train stations at Part-Dieu
and Perrache. There are trains almost every hour from either of these
stations to Roanne.

Ryanair are undoubtedly the cheapest of these airlines and they fly into
St Etienne airport. This airport is actually situated quite a way from St Etienne
and has possibly one of the smallest terminal buildings! There are several
methods for getting from St Etienne to Roanne :

·        There is a navette bus to Lyon Part-Dieu station; from there
you can catch a train to Lyon. This trip takes about an hour.

·        There is a relatively local train station at Bouthéon
– however this is a tiny station (i.e. 2 shelters and a ticket
machine and that’s it) so you should check times, as you
don’t want a long wait there! You will also need to take a taxi
to get there this will take about 5 minutes.

·        You can either take a taxi or at the bottom of the airport access
road there is a bus which runs every hour or so to and from
St Etienne. If going to St Etienne you’ll either want to go to
Chateaucreux or perhaps La Terrasse train stations.

i    It is important to note the times of the flights – due to their cheapness,
the low cost airlines often use unsociably timed flights. Night flight can
cause problems getting to and from the airport – especially St Etienne.
The last train from St Etienne is about 9pm, and about 10.30 from Lyon
however it is advised you check the train times (www.voyages-sncf.com)
when planning your journey. You may find it necessary to spend the night
near by unless you can use another means of transport (i.e. hire car).