Although I am not interning abroad, I do have the unique opportunity to take my core business classes among French business students. I am currently taking strategic management, entrepreneurship, data analysis, luxury marketing, and marketing management which is fully in French, and I am the only international student! My other classes have a good mix of French students and international students, and I am challenging myself by taking a class in French, but I wanted to push myself and have the opportunity to learn business French since I am not taking a French language class while I’m here. The marketing management class was very intimidating the first week and I had to stay super focused the entire class to keep up. However, after my third week in the class I can confidently say that my comprehension has improved, and I know understand about 85% of the class rather than 50% which is a win in my book!
One similarity between business classes in France and in the US is that they almost always include a group project component that lasts for the entire semester. Between my group projects in all my classes, I have been able to get to know and work with students from France, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Peru, Morocco, Nigeria, and Sweden. I am truly in a global environment every day when I come to class, and it makes me even more excited to be studying here. To succeed in an environment where you don’t know anyone, it is important to be open and welcoming because anyone you meet could be a potential friend. It’s helpful to approach people and conversations with curiosity and learn more about students from other countries and cultural backgrounds. Put yourself out there, attend school events, and don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation with someone. Study abroad is not the time to be shy.
Finally, the academic culture for business schools in France is very relaxed compared to the US. I find that there are less assignments in my classes and they are structured more towards active discussions and group projects so the work is more collaborative. My school has also integrated asynchronous and online classes into the semester to allow us to learn and explore concepts on our own time. And although my classes are 3 hours long we do get a 20 minute break where most French students have a smoke break and I get to grab my third cup of espresso of the day! Studying in France has definitely been a change of pace for me – I am used to being busy with assignments and occupying my time in the library between studying and doing homework. Overall I am extremely grateful for the work life balance that I have which allows me to hang out with friends and travel around on the weekends.