Swimming Through Storms of Structured Spontaneity: Alexandra Arion’s Exchange Semester at Cal

Published 10/16/2024 by Praniti Gulyani

I’ve always loved elevator conversations. While for most people, elevators might be rectangular squares of awkwardness, for me, they’ve always been compartments of endless potential that led to conversation and connection. This is why I’ve recently started smiling around at the people who are with me in an elevator, irrespective of where I’m headed. It is this newfound practice that enabled me to meet Alexandra Arion, an exchange student from Sciences Po Paris, Campus de Reims. I told her about my project, and soon enough, we planned to meet at Sodoi Coffee Tasting House on Durant Avenue.

Talking about how Berkeley was not her first choice when it came to choosing her exchange college, Arion describes how life at Cal is truly, as she puts it, like the movies. “I think that the best part about Berkeley is that it is a university that is good in all departments. As an exchange student, I can take classes in any department, I could even do Mechanical Engineering if I wanted to. I really like this freedom, and I’m also amazed by how you will find a teacher that is world famous and celebrated in almost every department.”

Moving on to some of the major differences between her home university and UC Berkeley, Arion describes how the main transition can be described as one from a smaller setting to a bigger setting. “The University experience that I had so far was in a small setting. Even though 50% of the students are international, we just have 1000 students, and the French people tend to stay together as do the international students. But it’s more diverse here, and people leave their home communities a lot more. I quite like that,” she says.

However, location and community are not the only places where Arion had experienced transition.

“I was quite taken aback by the format of education here, in the USA. As compared to where I come from, I observe how students are a lot closer to their teachers and Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs). I’ve noticed how, at the end of class, students just go up to their professors to ask for career, job or even life advice, making classrooms so much more than just turning in your assignment. This inspires me so much,” she says. “However, in my home university, everything was a lot more formal. You don’t necessarily approach your professors, you know,” she adds.

Shifting the discussion to differences in coursework, Arion, with depicted surprise, describes how the coursework that she was used to was deeper and more academically rigorous. “In the USA, I’m surprised to see how personal and opinion-driven everything is,” she says.  “Over here, I find myself doing shorter papers and assignments that ask me how I feel about something or ask me to give my opinion. I like writing a lot, so writing shorter papers and coming straight to the point was quite challenging. Above everything else, I would always feel, who am I to give my opinion about something? However, being here has made me realize that I am someone and my opinion matters as well,” she adds.

In spite of her initial academic hiccups, Arion never felt as though she was alone.

“While many international students may have already talked about this, I want to re-emphasize on how readily help is available over here. There are office hours and other resources, and with all this help, I think you quickly learn how to adapt to the system. You get used to it! While the first paper that I’ve written over here might not be the greatest, considering how almost all my sentences were cut in half, I think I’m slowly learning this skill too,” she says. “I think that’s the best thing about being an exchange student. You learn some skills from your exchange university, and some skills from your home university. It’s like getting the best of both worlds,” she adds.

An Economics Major, Arion moves to talking about how she found classes at UC Berkeley that took her beyond the scope of the classroom, and helped her cope as an international student. COGSCI 115, also known as the Neuropsychology of Happiness, was one such class.

“The most interesting thing about this class is that it is completely out of my department, but I still could not help taking it because it sounded so interesting,” she says. “When you’re a student living abroad, you need to find ways to be happy, and I think this class taught me just that.” Segueing into the challenges that come with being a student abroad, Arion begins describing how different time zones lead to, what she calls as, planned spontaneity.

“The time zone difference does make you feel very lonely. You can’t call your friends and family back home in the morning because you have your own classes and schedule. When the sun sets, and it gets dark, you do tend to naturally seek comfort in the presence of people you love. That’s when you realize that you should’ve planned it earlier if you wanted to talk to them. Things are no longer as spontaneous as they used to be,” she says.