Student Exchange to Rennes School of Business, France
Ever since I was young, I have always dreamed of going to Europe. To visit the astonishing Trevi fountain in Italy, the tallest mountain in Europe Mount Titlis in Switzerland, and the beautiful canals and windmills in the Netherlands. However, it was always a far dream as I was very occupied with my studies. It was during the third year of my bachelor’s studies when I heard about the MCU exchange program from a friend. I figured that this exchange program would be a great opportunity for me to get valuable experience and get out of my comfort zone so without hesitation I went to the IEE(International Education and Exchange) office to look for information regarding the exchange program. There I received all of the information regarding the exchange program such as the process, the requirements, and the documents needed for the exchange program, and I was given a small booklet listing all of the universities available. After doing some research, and considering and completing all of the exchange requirements, I finally decided to go to the Rennes School of Business located in France.
France was my second time studying abroad away from my home country. I arrived in Paris, France just after New Year and the weather there was relatively colder for me because I came from the tropical country of Indonesia where the weather is constantly between 26C-31C. Coming from Asia everything about France is just different from the building architecture, the streets, and the blue sky was just fascinating to look at. It was around late afternoon that I finally arrived in Rennes because I had to take a 3 hours train from Paris. Quite interesting enough, It was also the day that I realized that in France almost every store, supermarket, and restaurant is closed on a Sunday. Later on, I learned in my French culture class that France made Sunday a mandatory holiday and this was very new to me because In Taiwan or Indonesia almost every store, supermarkets, and restaurants are open on Sundays since weekends are the only time of the week when we get to go out hang out with friends, to shop, or have a weekend lunch or dinner. So because of this every Saturday in Rennes I always go out to buy groceries for the next day. Although it was a slight inconvenience, I still consider this as a good experience because ever since I got there I can get creative and start cooking again.
On the third day after I settled in Rennes, I went to the university as it was orientation day. I find orientation day to be a very fun experience because there I met new people from different countries, made friends, and played a game where we get to explore Rennes as a part of it. After we finished the orientation, we were given a tour around the school and we got to see all of the different facilities that the university offered such as the clubs, the common area, the library, the different class buildings, the gym, etc. after quite some time studying in RSB and talking to locals, I found the French language to be particularly interesting to hear and because of that, I became interested in learning French so I decided to take the French language course that RSB(Rennes School of Business) offered. After a few weeks of learning French, it turns out that learning French was a bit more complicated than I expected as each noun has their genders and grammar was very much different from any language that I have learned before but I haven’t given up and am still very eager to master the language.
When I studied there, I realized that the way the professors teach the students and assess the grades are quite different from the ones that I experienced before. There, the Professor does not calculate attendance as part of the grades so it was 30% assignments and 70% final exams. On the final exams, every professor gave us essay questions, and I like the method of assessment as it displays whether the students fully understood the topic that was taught and learn how to write and be concise with their work while also giving the students freedom to write with no limitations.
While I was at Rennes School of Business University, I often found a few days off on the learning schedule. And the perks of studying in Europe are that I get to travel to different European countries without spending a lot of money since the mode of transport is relatively cheap. So because of this, during the holidays I and my exchange friends usually travel to different countries even if it was a 2 days holiday with weekends. All in all, I truly value this experience and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to study in France where I get to make new friends that came from different parts of the world, learn a new language, and explore new places. Overall I enjoyed my time studying there.