Okay, here it goes. Hi, my name’s Astrilia (yes, like the country/continent…sort of). I’m Indonesian and i’m currently pursuing my MBA International Business degree as an international student in MSU. I was on my first semester in MSU when I was given the privilege to participate as an exchange student from Missouri State University (MSU) for a short summer course about “Responsible Management” in ESC Rennes School of Business, Rennes, France. I was interested in the subject because I think it will be (and already is in some countries) the next giant wave in the corporate world. I found out that I was admitted just about less than a month before I had to leave for Europe, so you can imagine my rush in terms of preparing all necessary documents, including visas (I emphasized on visas, because once you’re in European territory, you wouldn’t want to stay only in one country, you’d want to travel also..). If you’re thinking of going abroad as an exchange student/traveler, my advice on documents would be : do everything (including researching) as early as possible, do NOT delay. Fortunately, I had no meaningful trouble in all documents preparation.
My only trouble could probably be summed up in one word : “packing”. I usually pack pretty well, but this time I forgot that I “might” buy some things, be it souvenirs, clothes (when I was there everything was on sale !), shoes, etc. And yes, I did shop…sooo…I had a bit of a trouble distributing weight between my check in bag & my carry-on bag and making sure they weren’t overweight. Hint : the advice as old as the stars, pack as light as you can. 🙂
So the day came, I was leaving to Europe, to France. The happy images of typical French stuff was running in my head, the Eiffel tower, Arc du Triomphe, Louvre, French bread, French people speaking French…wait ! then all the happy images suddenly stopped running…’cause I remember that I don’t speak French…at all ! But I wasn’t panicking, ‘cause I know that my course will be taught in English. However, when I was there, I feel frustrated sometimes, because French people like to speak their language very very very much and not other language (well, they’re French). So I had some difficulties in communicating with local people & communities outside school. Hint : learn some decent French words & sentences like : thank you, please, pardon, hello, my name is…., how are you, how much is this ?, and some greetings. Wherever you are in the world, local people always appreciate foreigners who at least tried to speak their language and tried to blend in. It wouldn’t hurt to try…so just give it a try ! 🙂
First day at ESC Rennes, the school administrators were great and super kind, and I was immediately introduced to my new friends who are also participating in the same program for the next two weeks. The group (this is how I am going to refer my friends in Rennes summer program in this story
) was quite diverse in terms of nationalities and culture. We’re from Mexico, Brasil, Japan, Argentina, China, and USA (I was the only one from MSU, but there are five other students from Kent State University). There were seventeen of us, we started to mingle and soon became good friends.
Rennes is the third largest city in France. It is the capital city of Brittany province on the western part of France. It is a festive, artsy city, and it is also a student city. Interestingly, Rennes has a subway, but it runs on one line only, nevertheless it was an effective and efficient transportation mode there.
ESC Rennes School of Business is one of the largest and best international business school in the country.
The ESC Rennes School of Business building (as seen in the first picture in the blog) a modern building with only several floors, it’s naturally well-lit, and the first floor is always busy and crowded with students. All the student activities organizations and the common room is located on the first floor, the cafeteria is also on the first floor. ESC Rennes has a very large percentage of international students, around 30% of total students, so it’s a rather unique blend of cultures school. ESC Rennes requires its students to study abroad before graduating & also requires the students to be able to speak at least two foreign languages to prepare them to work in international environment later on. We are welcomed by the students and we can actually practice French with them, and of course sometimes they like to practice English with us too. The majority of ESC Rennes’ faculty isn’t French. The faculty consists of professors from various countries, so you can imagine that this is an institution of rich cultural diversity.
Our first week class professor was an American gentleman, Dr. Donald Minday, he taught the subject of Responsibility Management. In each week we had a six hours class lectures, case study reading each day, class discussions, company excursions, guest speaker slot, exploration of local cultures, and a group presentation on Fridays. So it was a pretty full and tight two weeks for all of us but we really did enjoy them very much, and if you keep on reading you’ll know why.. 🙂
Our first day of class, June 21 2010, was apparently “the longest day” throughout the year. In that day, the sun won’t set until it’s really late and that’s why Rennes held a music festival called “Fete de la Musique”. In that festival many musicians will perform on the streets of Rennes for the whole night, the music itself ranges from jazz, pop, techno, folk, reggae, afro-funk, rock, chanson, a cappella, salsa, hip hop, and many more. We can choose whichever and wherever we want to watch and there were also numerous street vendors selling food. We all went there that night and we had a great night ! We danced, we laughed, we ate French food, and just walked through the streets of Rennes, blending in. We had a lot of fun, and the cool part is that the sun only began to set at around 11 pm !! It was a precious cultural experience for all of us…
In week one we studied about sustainability issues in corporate world, green business, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), philanthropy, etc. It was an interesting week and we learned and shared a lot both inside and outside the class. We had a guest lecturer from Kent State University, Dr. Cathy Dubois, who spoke about the role of Human Resources Management in supporting sustainability initiatives. We visited the company Ouest France, the most circulated newspaper in France, and saw how newspapers are made and we observed the processes. It was a great experience, we even got to take home the metal plate they used to print one page of the newspaper, and they gave us the freshly printed tomorrow’s newspaper ! We got it firsthand before it’s even loaded to the trucks to be circulated…I think it was cool… 🙂
Our first week lecture was closed with group presentations on sustainability reports. On Saturday morning week one, we had the chance to see the traditional French produce market “Les Lices”. The Rennes market is the second largest produce market in France after Paris’. It was a nice and clean market, busy and crowded, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and of course we shopped too ! We can find fresh vegetables and fruit from local farmers and clearly the price was a lot cheaper than the ones in the supermarkets, so we bought what we needed for the week. We also saw fresh flowers, french huge cheese, cooked food, home-made cakes & cookies, and delicious home-made jams. What I liked in Rennes (and Paris too) was that people always bring their own grocery bags to reduce the use of plastic bags, they are really environmentally conscious. And we were happy to take part in making a difference for the environment.
On the weekend, we planned a trip to Mont St. Michel, a beautiful spot near Normandy beach which tourists often visit. We took a bus from Rennes and spent the day there roaming around the old and pretty city. The unique thing is that it is a medieval castle-like city, in the old days many people lived in this city, they had small traditional French houses. Nowadays, only a few people live here, but the city’s still alive because people opened so many small souvenirs shops, restaurants, cafes, hotels, etc. Mont St. Michel is surrounded by sea water, when it is high tide, the city will be surrounded by sea water, that’s why the city was built higher than the sea level, and if we walked inside the city walls it seems like we’re walking inside somewhat like a giant spiral.
Sunday came, and we went out of town again, this time with the group. We went to St. Malo, a small vibrant city by the English channel. Again we took the bus, and this time most of us brought swimsuits because we can actually sunbathe and swim in the sea. 🙂 We arrived there, had lunch (with French bread and some fruit of course !) while enjoying the calm and beautiful view of the beach and former fortress. We sunbathed, we ran on the beach barefooted, and some of us swam. We had a great time and we’re also glad that we’re able to see the beach in the summer ! Afterwards we roamed the city, bought a super huge and delicious ice cream, hung out together, and of course watched the football game (Germany was playing that day !).
Well, that was a summary of our first week in Rennes, France….it was a lot of fun and learning, don’t you think ? 😉
Stay tuned for my next story on the second week in Rennes, France in MSU blogaway…!
Cheerio,
Astrilia