May 2015

I had the wonderful opportunity to do a study abroad with Georgia State University. I’ll tell you a little bit about the professional experience. But you can also just look at the pretty, pretty pictures. You don’t need words to see how amazing this trip was.

Our professional, school related visits ranged from lectures at the top graduate management school in France to interviews with captains of industry with international, multi-billion dollar companies.  The experience has been the most rewarding professionally and academically during my MBA pursuit.

In Belgium, we attended meetings at the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. We had the opportunity to sit in the same chairs as heads of state when they debate international policy. I sat in the Latvian chair, who happens to be the current sitting President of the Council. At these visits, Director level staff made presentations on the role and function of the European Commission.

A couple friends and I did a day trip to Bruges via the high-speed train. There are buses that can take you from the train depot to the center of town, but frankly, I enjoyed the walk. We puttered around town all day taking in the sites.

Bruges Windmills

Bruges, Belgium

My MBA class attended a presentation on “crisis as a mean of deepening the European Integration process”. Personally, I found the presentation title perplexing and contradictory to common sense, but the presenter swayed me to his perspective. Those of you who read this in the future have the benefit of hindsight; but currently, it’s May of 2015, and we are watching major changes in the EU: the UK is threatening to leave after their recent PM election, Greece is defaulting on HUGE loans, and Turkey along with other countries are being withheld from joining the EU. So this presentation topic was very relevant and drove the point home that, one way or the other, change is coming.

Ok getting back to the pretty pictures. Belgium is perhaps best known for its chocolate. My favorite part of Belgium was to explore these tiny shops where they made the truffles by hand. Its like exploring Willa Wonka’s factory, minus the unruly, spoiled children.

Dumon Chocolatier

Our group moved to Paris to do a deep dive on how the EU impacts real businesses. I was most wowed by our visit to AXA where we met with the Global Head of Client Services. He brought impressive economic strategists that gave a mind-blowing assessment of global markets. These economists bill at €20K/hour! Here’s their tip: invest in Côte d’Ivoire because of their growing middle class and long term needs for infrastructure. Again this advice is circa May 2015.

Hôtel de Ville, Paris

A last school-driven experience I want to call out is the high caliber of academics that gave our lectures. I expected a boring, ho-hum lecture and expected actually to struggle meeting our French instructor’s expectations. French academics host class in a very different way from American professors: more respectful and formal. Additionally, we were “warned” that once a professor began down a line of questioning, they would not drop it until they got the class to the answer they wanted. American professors will typically give in and throw the class a bone, coddling their students. French academics will continue to question and prod and drive the class until finally someone arrives at the correct answer. Sort of a militaristic Socratic approach.  My initial thought was that it seemed bullying to go after a student who was clearly fumbling for the correct answer. BUT when that student was me, I really had to rack the depths of my brain to drudge up what I had considered long-lost facts. Whattya know!? Never again will I forget how to apply the principles of price elasticity.

It wasn’t all work though. Oh no… we played. Below you see a day trip to Reims. Look up how to pronounce that in French. I guarantee you’ll feel awkward saying that. Anyway, we spent the day on an open-air bus taking in the sites and frolicking through the vineyards.

We rented a car on a day trip to the Loire Valley, which made for an easy way to zip around the region. We were able to hit 4 chateaus in one day. This includes strolling the gardens and exploring these beautiful castles.

Loire Valley

Nighty, night, from Paris.

Paris, France