Bonjour à tous!
Time is already flying by. One month of the program is almost already over, and it feels like Christmas is just around the corner, which is in itself a crazy thought. I apologize in advance if this blog post turns out to be a continuation of random thoughts, but I really hope that soon enough it will have its structure back just like I hope my life will 😀
HEC is quite different than NHH. Rather than for example picking six courses out of a list of 20 to create your major, here it is mostly set for you. Over the summer we had to pick one of two tracks (one of which had courses in French which made picking quite easy for us international students). Other than that, you get a choice of two out of five electives, but then the rest is scheduled for you. This means that somehow you get to meet all 60 or so students majoring in Sustainability very early on and develop a sense of camaraderie; something I really appreciate.
Students who have no business background had an intense 3 weeks of what’s called remedial courses in September, where they get introduced to Marketing, Strategy and Accounting. For the rest of us “Advanced Business” students, the schedule looked quite different with less classes in September but more conference planning. As some of you might know, COP21, the international conference dealing with the Climate Change issue, is taking place in Paris in December this year. As a way to promote the issue and HEC, the school is organizing a pre-conference on October 1st to discuss the issue. Given that our class includes the students most interested in this subject, we are the ones who’re helping out the school with the organization and the last minute planning, which is a lot given that we’re only one week away from it now. Still, it’s pretty exciting to actually get to see these things live for the first time!!
The fun stuff though:
I’ve been living in this city for what? 4 weeks now? and I’ve already had a few visitors in town! Rachel and her now husband Joe, dropped by during their honeymoon, and I got a chance to hang out with them and show them around a little during one afternoon.
Momo, my old college roomie, was here for work, and I also got to spend a couple days with her, and three of my friends from Egypt who now live in Germany, came to visit me over a weekend.
Lastly, I also got to hang out with Sophie who I’ve studied with in Norway.
Seriously, it has been a lot of fun!
Other than that, I’ve been trying a bunch of cool coffeeshops and food places in Paris, I review them all on Yelp, but eventually I’ll start sharing them here too. This city has a few hidden gems!
And, as some of you know I have a marathon coming up, so I’ve also been trying to include some running in my life. Hasn’t been the easiest, but I make sure to get at least the long runs in. I’ve also discovered a gorgeous running route to Versailles where I could also run through some of the parks that are apparently accessible free of charge!! Awesome sauce!
I aslo managed to participate in the Paris-Versailles 10 miler last weekend where I got to run from downtown Paris starting at the Tour Eiffel and finishing at Versailles. Aside from one gigantic hill, the race was a blast and the weather perfection!
Can’t wait for what’s to come.
A bientot!
Dom.
d_globetrotterin - الرحالة 