May 21, 2016, by Editor

Angers Exchange

This week’s blog has been written by Sean Quay, a 4th year undergraduate student on our MPharm programme, and it describes a visit to Angers in France.

Bonjour mes amis!

Over the last few years the School has sent and received students in an exchange program between l’Université d’Angers in an initiative to build relations and expand our understanding of the pharmacy profession outside of the UK. This year I made the trip so during the Easter holidays, 22 of us packed up our bags and headed down for a week. Located just over an hour southwest of Paris, Angers is sort of like the French version of Nottingham. It’s quaint, and it is about as far from Paris as we are from London.  It has a river, a famous castle and a tram line. (Nottingham tourism board, if I made a debacle out of describing our town, I apologise.) While the agenda for the exchange changes every visit, we were told to expect cultured fun. Well, they didn’t say those words exactly -I coined that term. The first day was off to a good start. We were greeted like this (as you can see, above) when we arrived.

Thanks to our respective exchange officers, they were able to arrange for each of us to live with a student host, making the experience that much richer. (Hortense and Matthew, if you’re reading this, you’re welcome for the shout out.) Our trip started with a meet and greet session where we met our hosts, followed by a tour of their faculty.

As the week went on, we had conferences, lectures and tours planned out but because so much happened during the trip, I’m going to highlight my favourite events with both politically correct and incorrect descriptions of what happened. Viewers are free to practice selective reading.

A  Tour of the Alliance Healthcare warehouse

We went on a tour of the Alliance Healthcare warehouse, which houses the distribution arm of our local Boots chain.
What happened: We had a chance to mingle with the staff and gain industry insights.
What really happened: Champagne was served after the tour.

Tour of Château de Villandry

We went on a tour of the Chateau de Villandry
What happened: A visit to a grand country house with breathtaking gardens.
What really happened: A visit to a grand country house with truly breathtaking gardens.

Visit to Nantes

What happened: We went for a visit visit to a lovely town an hour away from Angers.
What really happened: We went shopping.

Mars Bleu: Conference for colorectal cancer

What happened: It was colorectal cancer awareness month so we had lectures where we heard from current researchers about their work on cancer treatments.
What really happened: We learned some killer dance moves and performed in a flash mob to drive awareness for screening, in the middle of Angers city.

Tour of the Cointreau Factory

What happened: A visit to learn about the rich heritage of the drink, how it is made, and the counterculture the founders had to go through to build the brand.
What really happened: Cointreau cocktails were served after the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the week, we laughed, we cried, but most of all, we had such a ball. So brush up on your French and stay cultured because next year, it is our turn to host them for a week.

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