Vacation is OVER! - Monday

What a horrible way to start the day. Waking up in this beautiful city of Paris and realizing that I am going to spend the majority of my day sitting in a classroom. We were really unsure what to expect of the class, the professor, our classmates, and the University. The logistics for our trip were constantly shifting and these numerous changes left us a little unsure about what to expect. Classroom times and locations had moved once or twice. Our hotel was booked due to its proximity to the original classroom but we found out last week that our classroom was being moved 30 minutes away - yikes! A 2 block walk is now a 2 train commute. Apparently the government overtook the old ENPC building and the original replacement classroom wasn't large enough to accomodate the class size. Our class is now meeting at the Cite Universitaire in a large multi-purpose room. Not the best setup for 50 students, but we'll be able to manage. And yes, that was 50 students... Our original expectation was that the class consisted of the 18 students making the trip from Philly. Again, we found out on Friday that the class consisted of the folks traveling from Philly, Temple International MBA students currently studying in Paris, and students from ENPC.

Now a quick explanation: The folks who traveled from Philly are predominantly Part-Time MBA students, plus one Full-Time MBA student and one MS Finance student (I think?). All of our classes are located in Center City Philly or Fort Washington. Temple IMBA students spend a few months studying in Paris or India, then a few months in Philly, then a few months in Tokyo. They complete their degree in about one year's time compared to the 3+ years for most of the PMBA students. While in Paris, the IMBA students study under the ENPC's International MBA program. They attend the ENPC classes with the ENPC students and have the credits transfer back to Temple. So all told, our class has 18 students from Philly, 12 Temple IMBA students, and about 18 ENPC students. All ENPC courses follow the same schedule we have for this course - 3 credits in 1 week.

Despite the logistical issues, and the fact that we're wasting a perfectly good opportunity to enjoy Paris, the day went pretty well. Sitting in class for 8 hours can be pretty rough, but the professor did a good job of engaging the class. The professor is French-Australian and speaks with an Australian accent. Quite interesting to hear for the first time. Most of my apprehension about the class was put to rest after the first day. The class will involve a lot of work: a lot of readings and case studies to prepare for class, a pretty significant group presentation that must be completed in about 2 days, and a 3 hour final. A good amount of work but something I can find a way to manage. After class finished for the day, Temple/ENPC hosted a happy hour reception. This gave us an opportunity to meet and network with our fellow classmates from Paris.

Now onto another logistical issue - we don't have internet access at the hotel, and access at Cite U has been hit or miss. The hotel has internet, but 24 hours of access costs about the equivalent of one month back home. During the reception, a few students recommended that we try to gain access to the ENPC building that was close to our hotel. A very nice student gave us a map and the internet passwords, even scribbled down a French phrase that says "We're stupid foreigners let us in" or something to that affect. Once we got back to the hotel a few of us wandered over to the ENPC and found a very dark building. Ringing the doorbell eventually summoned a security guard who spoke zero English. Thankfully we had the "stupid foreigners" phrase scribbled on this sheet of paper. He was very nice and accommodating though we clearly could not understand each other. He pointed us towards the back and let us know that the building closed at 23:00. After wandering the building and getting lost in a maze of stair cases, he once again returned to help us find the computer lab located in the back of the building. Upstairs, round the corner, downstairs, hang a left, back up stairs... I can't make this up. The nice security guard even offered us coffee. Who says the French are rude?


Fun Paris fact for Monday - Paris is surrounded by a highway called Boulevard Périphérique. The total population within the city = 2 million. Including the surrounding suburbs population = 11 million.

Fun Paris fact for Sunday - Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (districts) numbered from 1 to 20 starting at the Louvre and expanding outward. The last 2 digits of an address's zip code indicate what district it's in.