First day at ESSEC

Yesterday I had my first day at ESSEC Business School, and I have one thing to say: WOW!
The buildings themselves might not be the most impressive, but compared to the other schools I have studied at and been to it is definitely the best! In addition to all the normal things at a campus, such as a library, a bookstore, a computer room (which btw is full of iMacs), and a cafeteria etc, they also have their own 3D-printer, a digital map of the campus to show you the fastest way to get somewhere on campus, a huge flat screen that shows all the news you need to know for school, as well as if the trains are on time or not, a nurse on campus throughout the week and a doctor one day per week. The first impression was certainly good. So now we just have to wait and see how the classes are.

Another thing that has left a good first impression is living with Simi. She has been cooking almost every day, coming up with new fantastic dishes multiple times. If you follow her on Instagram (@simotto) I am sure you have seen some of the dishes on her story.

I have also met a lot of new people this week, and one thing that I am really starting to see is the importance of networking. Not that this should come as a shock, but after having heard so much about networking it is interesting to see how much one can benefit from it. Simay has got multiple internship offers already, in large thanks to her outgoing personality, and the fact that she knows her stuff. Internships are really the way to go here in Paris, which is a huge difference from back home in Norway where internships aren’t a part of the degree, which have both its pros and cons. My biggest problem now is that my French level isn’t where it should be in order to have a full French speaking internship. But we have made great progress in just these 1 and a half weeks that we’ve been her, so I am sure it will be on the level required sooner rather than later.