Back to school

26th September 2016. Back to school day at the University of Southampton. I haven’t had a single school day since the summer 2012, when I graduated from ICAM Nantes. Already four years ago! Four years of travelling, learning, discoveries… 48 months of enduring the tough but rewarding reality of the working life.

To start with it was tough to give up the theoretical, sometimes even abstract, school world, to then dive straight into the real world of production. In the real world, it is not about getting a good mark anymore, it’s more than that! It is more about reaching goals which are even often defined by ourselves. Building a boat out of jute or conceiving a production line to build a new composite structural part in Bangladesh; organise and manage on a daily basis 50 workers on the shipyard which built the largest cruiseship in the world; as many fascinating real-world challenges to help this young engineer I was to grow socially and professionally.

Real-work like is not so comfortable after all; not comfortable at all but so rewarding! Through the difficulties overcome, the responsibilities given and assumed, and many other opportunities, I built up confidence in my ability to get things done my way, wherever I am.

Four years later, here I am: back to school with one single objective in mind: to become a naval architect. I know I won’t become a true naval architect within just one year, as intense as this year may be… but I am going to learn the basic concepts, the culture of this universe and meet the legend in the field. Many opportunities to train, target what I enjoy the most in this field and nourish my intellectual curiosity. What an opportunity!

After only a few weeks, I am rather disillusioned… We have very few lectures a week… about 15 hours total… and in contrast to the French educational system, we are not taught that much (well that’s what I thought… keep reading ;)) Lecturers only have about 45 minutes per class to deliver concepts and core ideas without going into too much details. Soon after I’m given a ton of assignments for all the modules that took up all my working week, plus evenings and weekends, so much that I can’t even find the time to comprehend the lectures and build up knowledge as I would have done with the French system… Stress is building up, I’m getting more and more tired and it is becoming harder to find time and motivation to exercise, take some fresh air and clear up my mind. Fortunately, I go sailing every Sunday with a great crew (but that’s another story…), kitesurfing sessions from time to time and parties with friends.

Even holidays aren’t really holidays since we have so many assignments to be handed when we get back! So much that I can’t even fully enjoy being back in France, seeing friends and family; all of this because of this Damocles sword that hangs over me as soon as I think about being back at uni.

I’m know starting to understand the importance of the decision I took a few months back… starting studying again… Did I over-estimate myself? Was it the right choice? Doubts, stress, fear of failure… Going back to uni in January is tough. I need entire days of work and even sometimes need to pull an all-nighter to finish off my assignments. Now I need to prepare for my exams! The positive aspect is that all the work done so far allowed me to comprehend and put into practice some concepts developed through the lectures. Thus, I am still improving toward getting my degree!

Here we go, time to start studying for the exams. Luckily I will only have two exams to sit for the first semester: on one hand, “Finite Element Analysis” (a numerical method to design structures and be sure that the hull or the mast I will design one day won’t collapse after the first wave), and on the other hand “Yachts and High performance craft”, a great course which helps me to understand how to design a hull and sails, and how to improve the performance of a sailing or motor yacht.

An entire week spent in the library, reading my notes, and then doing past-exam papers over and over, killed my brain after four years without any studying. I finally have time to learn the course content which was thrown at us over the semester! From horribly stressful a priori, this week has become increasingly interesting! And it is with confidence that I tackled my first exam on Friday, the 20th of January 2017, and the second one on the 23rd. Results came out at the enf of February and I passed all the modules!

Overseeing what I went through over the past few weeks; the adrenaline rush, the stress, the numerous hours of studying, I tell myself that if I’d known what it meant to start studying again, I may have given up. Luckily I didn’t know!

After one semester spent in England and the first exams over, I now feel that I have taken up the pace for this year… it was from being a given to start with! What can’t we do to accomplish our dreams! I always think it is worth it and this way my motivation stays intact. I am now used to the British higher-educational system and I am thus ready to bash this semester 2.

The strength of this system is that it encourages the students to be actors of their own development. It is therefore up to me to distinguish the points I should be focusing on and put in place an action plan to learn those points. I have ended up understanding that classes are there to introduce us to what is meant to be known. Then, it is up to us to further research the different topics. Without any doubts, this system is quite close to the day-to-day work. On the other hand, I am forced from time to time to choose my priorities in terms of which subjects to focus on since I simply cannot get into as much depth in all subjects. That’s sometimes frustrating, but here are the limits of such a system.

I understand how much knowing why I am here and what I want to do post-graduation is a strength. Since I have a precise goal, I know which modules I want to master and I can without too much difficulty prioritise on my work and choose the options I am most interested in.

The second semester starts in a few days from now… New modules, new discoveries, exams at the end… and my thesis! As any student undertaking a Master, I will have to work on a research project. Since I was eager to establish a link between the previous year spent in the shipyard of Mer Agitée in Port-La-Forêt and my naval architecture studies, I asked Michel Desjoyeaux’s engineering consultancy, Mer Forte, if they would be interested for me to take on a research project linked to their activities. After a few disucssions with Mich’, Denis, the director of the engineering consultancy, and the naval architects, decision is made for me to work on the motions of a foiling IMOCA 60 (the incredible sailing yachts from the Vendée!), with the ultimate goal of designing structural reinforcements for the hull. And yes! A boat with foils goes fast, very fast and the waves on which it “bounces off” create a very large amount of efforts which could damage the hull structure. What a fascinating topic for the young apprentice naval architect that I am! It is practical, useful and I am going to learn a lot! I hope I will be as good as needed for this task. I’ll do my best! This second semester is looking good.

I am pleased with the choices I made and I feel good on the track I set to myself.