Student Exchange to EM Strasbourg Business School, University of Strasbourg, France
I will start by saying doing this exchange to Strasbourg was the best choice I have made during my whole study in Ming Chuan. Yes it was a lot of work and yes it took a lot of time before even setting my foot in the city. And yes, it was all worth it.
I have wanted to do exchange since my freshman year in Ming Chuan, however, I was still a bit scared and probably too lazy to actually apply for it until my junior year. It does take a lot of efforts and time to go through all of the process and it does take a ton of patients. Luckily, I had two of my friends from my class also applying for exchange so it wasn’t such a lonely process. And the three of us all went out in the end. Also I had a lot of support from my family, since my mother was a professor, she encouraged me to go from the start and that was one of the push I needed to really set my mind in doing this exchange. Although one of the most important things was to convince myself that I was ready to go to another country where they don’t speak any of the language I know and to stay there for a semester or two. Since Strasbourg only had one position to go, I knew I was on my own and for the first time in my life, I had no one else but myself to depend on.
At first when I arrived I was scared because I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know the city and I stayed in my dorm for the first few days. Then I started to join many events to meet new people who were also on change student from other country and pretty soon, before I knew it, I had a pack of cool friends from all over the world! Although not everyone was in my classes, we always tried to find time to do some traveling and exploring together. Let’s just say, students that do exchange are always very special in some ways. One thing for sure was that everyone here was elite. I was constantly inspired by all my friends who were all very hard working students from their country. I learned so much from them all the time, from their culture to their perspectives to their knowledge. There was not a day went by without learning new things. I am always impressed by all the news things my friends can bring me! I was also very lucky to have met one of my great friends here when I was still in Taiwan through International Office, he was a student from EM Strasbourg and he was the most helpful person who helped me in so many ways even before I came. I think one of the most precious things I have gain from this exchange is the all the friendship I made with so many extraordinary people.
As for the courses, they were a bit difficult but you feel very rewarding after you have finished them. I took many courses that Ming Chuan didn’t have and the truth is, not many schools in the world had them. For example, wine courses, Strasbourg is located in one of the greatest wine region of France which is Alsace. That’s why EM Strasbourg offered many different wine courses for all the exchange students to take! I myself have been interested in wine since I had an internship at a winery, finally had a chance to learn more about not only wine tasting but also what wine business is all about! One of the professors from the course was actually a wine maker and his family owns a winery for almost 100 years and at the end of the course, we had a field trip to the winery and vineyard and we tasted 12 different wines!
The city of Strasbourg is magnificent! There’s a very famous cathedral that is 1001 years old this year! The city is not so big which is very cozy and it has a very nice student town vibe. Strasbourg is also a tourist destination so there are many tourists on the weekends! The most famous thing from Strasbourg is the Christmas market! They call themselves as the Capital of Christmas! During that time, you can really feel the atmosphere all around the town! What makes Strasbourg very special is that it is located in the center of Europe, which means it is close to many other cities and country! Traveling is very convenient here also! You can take the tram to just about anywhere in the city and if you like cycling, you can rent a bike since many people here ride their bikes, and there are even bicycle roads throughout the entire city! And also, many people don’t know that there’s the European parliament here and every few weeks, many important people from the EU would come and have conferences here!
Over all, I am very glad I chose to come out and do my exchange here in Strasbourg. I think we are very lucky to be in a university that has many exchange schools all over the world to choose from. I have grown so much during my exchange here. This is definitely the highlight of my whole years in university and I will never forget it! Best decision ever made!