At ease: Myriam Guichard finds her stay at in Bodø soothing. Photograph: Lise Fagerbakk
Myriam Guichard is a Vice-Rector in Innovation in Pedagogy at the University of Brest in France, as well as a teacher in English at the same university. She is also a mother of three.
How to best combine the responsibility for both work and children when you have in mind to go on av two-month long exchange to Nord University and Northern Norway? Take your children with you.
Less stress
They arrived in Bodø the 18. of September and both her teenage daughters are now enrolled in a local school. The youngest one is spending time with her grandmother.
“They all love spending time here. We have longer school days as well as working hours in France, so we all feel less stress. The pace in Norway is slower and the society seems to be better adapted with family life, she says.”
With her daughters looked after, she enjoys her new work life, with a shared office at Nord. She soon filled up her timetable after arrival.
“I chose to go on a longer stay because I want to get a feeling about how Norwegian people work, and how things work at Nord. And not just run around at pre-planned meetings, she says.”
"Interesting"
And what opportunities she has found. Meeting new people is the most valuable aspect of such an exchange.
“An opportunity came along 1.5 years ago, when a delegation from Nord University visited us in Brest. We connected and have been in contact. My contact here is Morgane Harmonie Colleau at the Faculty of Education and Art, and in the Plus team, Guichard says.”
Colleau helped her in the beginning and now she puts her own ideas into action and introduces herself to new people. Sometimes over a cup of coffee. Or more formal meetings to find new collaborations. As well as building lasting work relationships.
“The two universities are more alike than you would think, she says.”
She looks forward to her last weeks at Nord, including a visit at Campus Levanger, before returning to France, full of new ideas and projects, on 23. of November.
Just do it!
She recommends others to do something similar.
“It’s not that hard, but you need to put your mind into it and spend some time filling out forms and applications. And you need to contact someone at the university you want to visit, she says.”
If you do that, you can find yourself in an experience that you will never forget.
For more information, please visit Nord University Outgoing exchange.
If interested, you can also check out these:
Erasmus Blended Mobility and BIP
About SEA-EU
The SEA-EU alliance consists of nine universities.
Together, the alliance partners have more than 150,000 students and 18,000 employees who will benefit from the objectives that the alliance has set itself.
The alliance will strengthen research and education in coastal areas, and promote key areas of cooperation such as internationalisation, sustainability, digital transformation, openness, and democracy.
About SEA-EU
The SEA-EU alliance consists of nine universities.
Together, the alliance partners have more than 150,000 students and 18,000 employees who will benefit from the objectives that the alliance has set itself.
The alliance will strengthen research and education in coastal areas, and promote key areas of cooperation such as internationalisation, sustainability, digital transformation, openness, and democracy.
