Exchange Report EDHEC Business School (Lille Campus), Spring 2018

Wong, Yue Ka BBA(Information Systems & Operations Management) Year 3

Part 1: Monthly Activity Log January: I arrived at France CDG airport on 1st January 2018 in the afternoon, me and my other exchange mate, Louie, planned to travel Paris for three days before departing to our final destination, Lille. As my friend was studying at Paris in the Fall semester, he acted as a tourist guide to show us the beauty of Pairs. We went to some famous tourist sports like Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, etc. After the little travelling at Paris, we departed to Lille by taking the TGV train at Gare de Bercy. It costed us around 20 euros and the travelling time was around one to two hours. However, I would suggest to take the bus to Lille instead of train as it is much cheaper (5-10 euros) and the travelling time is only one hour more than taking the train. Going to the residence was in a complete chaos, we registered the pick-up service provided by the school and it was free. However, the taxi driver was late for one hour and we did not have his number to contact him. It was so cold at that time and we have lots of luggage. After we arrived at the campus, the check in was so smooth that I could immediately get my room as I arrived there. I rented a Kot inside of a private studio, the only difference is that for a Kot you would be sharing a kitchen with other 6 Kotmates, while for private studio, you can own a private kitchen. Usually, there would be a welcome pack for students, however, for my term, they did not provide this service. They only provide a blanket to me and I needed to buy a pillow, bed sheet by my own. There was a welcoming session for international students and exchange students on 3rd of January, which was two days before the school started. One of my Kotmate, Gozde, was also an exchange student from Turkey, we decided to go to the welcoming session together. The welcoming session was like a place to let you to know other exchange friends, which would be quite useful if you wanted to get into the exchange social circle, as most people had their own friends after the welcoming session. After school started, they invited a bank “BNP Paribas” to come to the campus for us to registered for a bank account. The bank account also had a debit function, which would be quite handy when going on a travel or buying things in Europe. It took some time to receive the card, so you will better bring your Hong Kong credit card or enough cash to France in case of any incident. I went to Brussels, Belgium with another two of my friends. It only took an hour to reach Belgium.

Photos taken around the campus February: We went to Netherland on 1st, we took the bus to there and it was a five-hour journey. We travelled for a few days and visited the red light district. The strongest impression for Netherland? Aww, the smell! The middle of February was spent in the gym and playing badminton. Then I went to Northern Europe with my friend staying in Sweden. We went to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the finally stop was the United Kingdom. Honestly, the capitals of Norway and Sweden were really dull, especially when you went there in winter. It was freezing cold, around negative 20 degrees at that time. A friendly warning, their train station and bus stop close at night, so if you plan to take a train or bus in early morning, get a hostel. As we accidentally missed a train, the next ride was on the other day, we could not book a hostel or hotel. We initially planned to stay at their train station for the night but we were kicked out by the staff. We were out on the street with an insanely big snow and cold weather. Luckily, at last we found a bar to stay, it was really a nightmare and memorably experience.

Photos taken in Oslo and Denmark March: We arrived at out final stop, London, on 1st March. I would say I love London the most throughout the whole exchange journey. It really feels like Hong Kong, with the Metro and the China Town there. Most of the shop owners were Hong Kong people and the Cantonese made me feel like I was home. They even have Karaoke with really up-to-date Cantonese pop songs. We went to the Harry Potter studio tour, it costs us 50-60 euros. The price for the studio varies with your buying time. It needs to be booked in advance (1-2 months), otherwise the ticket would be sold out. As I am a loyal Harry Potter fan, I felt really amazing throughout the tour. The setting was so magnificent and real. I love the Diagonal Alley setting and the Hogwarts model. We left London, and back to Lille on 4th. The courses did not have a heavy workload, and it was quite easy to pass. The only thing you need to make sure is that you did not miss the attendance as the attendance had a rather heavy weighting in calculating the final grade. At the end of March, I went to Spain with my friends, there was 7 of us in total. We went to Barcelona, Madrid and some little old cities in Spain. The Spain Paella was so delicious, it was present in our every meal.

Photos taken in Spain

April I went back to Lille to have a few rest before the next trip, Iceland. The days went past by going to gym and the lessons. I and my exchange friend decided to go to Iceland and made London as an interchange station as it would be a lot cheaper. The bus ticket from Lille to London was 10 euros and the plane ticket from London to Reykjavik only costed around 30-40 euros. So in total it took around 50 euros to go to Iceland from France. Iceland was really beautiful in a weird sense. I felt like the whole Iceland was in grey color and the trees were in strange position and shape. Many attractions needed to be reached by booking their tourist bus, which was quite costly. The Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon and the Black Sand Beach were recommended. We also joined a free tour provided by a local. She showed us around Reykjavik and told us about the culture and history. She also recommended us to go to the hot bath, which she said was cheap and very comfy. Finally, we left Iceland through London and back Lille.

The unbelievable Iceland Tour

May: Most of the exams started in early May, therefore I needed to prepare for my exams after I came back from Iceland. The exams were not easy but they were easy to pass, just make sure you remember the contents of the readings would be enough. Most of the exams were in essay form, you needed to answer questions in paragraph, and they also had some lab test, I had a course which needed to test my Excel skills, it was quite hard honestly. After the exams, I went to Switzerland with my friend. It was really a nice tourist country, the only drawback was so expensive to stay there. In Switzerland, a normal meal would cost you 20-25 euros, no wonder it is the world’s most expensive city. The activities there were what I enjoyed the most. We joined the paragliding and the mountain bike in Grindelwald and Interlaken. They were so amazing and the mountain bike was really thrilling. However, it was actually quite dangerous to ride the mountain bike, so you will have to drive it with extra care.

Paragliding and the beautiful Switzerland June: It was the last month that I would be staying in Europe. The Eastern Europe trip marked the last journey of my Exchange life. I went to Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary with my other two friends. Czech had really good food with a cheap price, Hallstatt in Austria had very nice views, it was such a quiet and beautiful town. While for Hungary, I did not have a very good impression for this country. The people there were not so friendly and the food was amazingly salty. My friend even said that she lost weight because of this! After the Eastern Europe trip, I went back to Lille and started my packing. It was really a nightmare to pack so many things into two luggage. I left many unused necessities like toilet paper, seasoning, rice cooker and fried pan for the next tenant. The last meal in Lille was a steak house at the Euralille shopping mall. It was quite delicious and this marked the last activity I had in Lille.

Then I left Lille to Paris CDG airport by taking the bus, it was so annoying to take all these luggage (two suitcases, two big bags) alone to the airport. Luckily, I returned home without losing anything. Part 2: General Exchange Information

1.   Visa Procedure Applying for the French visa would take you some time, please make sure you applied it as soon as possible. To apply for a visa, you have to make an appointment with Campus France, to arrange for an academic interview, which they will ask you some routine questions and you need to make sure you have the proof of your exchange, i.e. the acceptance letter from EDHEC, the confirmation letter from UST, in original copy, they do not accept e-copy or copy print out directly from the emails. After completion of the interview, you can then arrange an appointment with the French consulate through their website. Provide all the documents required and it will take about two weeks to one month to process.

2.   Orientation Activities EDHEC provided a welcoming session for exchange students before the start of the school. It is an opportunity for exchange students to meet each other and build up your exchange social circle if you want to meet friends from other countries. They have a city tour, which they will bring you to a restaurant located at Lille.

3.   International Services & Activities Open Up is a student association which provides activities or international students from time to time. Parties and trips will be organized for you to meet new friends.

4.   Accommodation

EDHEC provides three ways of accommodation for exchange students to choose from: 1. On campus residence (recommended) 2. EGIDE residence (which located a street away from the campus) 3. Renting in other places (Lille/ Wasquehal/ Roubaix). I would suggest to choose on campus residence, since it is quite new, comfy and convenient. You can have access to the sport facilities and campus whenever you want, which is much more convenient than picking the other two options. The residence even provides pick up service, breakfast and cleaning service. All these are included in your rent.

5.   Course Registration The course is finalized before your departure to France in December. You do not have any add drop period after your departure. EDHEC will send you a course registration form which you need to fill in with the courses you want to register and the signature from a faculty staff at UST. If you wish to travel a lot, do not register too many courses as the attendance policy is quite strict and score will be deducted directly from final grades if you miss the attendance.

6.   Teaching & Assessment Methods Lectures, tutorials and online classes are the most normal ways of teaching. You need to attend lectures and tutorial to make sure your attendance scores are not deducted. For the online classes, you will need to go through every page and finish the exam or test at the end of the pages.

7.   Sports & Recreational Activities

There is a sport centre in EDHEC but you need to register through Aurion, which is a page like MyUst, before you can get access to it. It takes a few days to process until you can finally use your student card to get into it. There is a gymnasium, cardio workout facilities, a swimming pool, a martial art room and a dancing room. There are lots of classes you can join, like Yoga, mixed martial art, dancing, etc. You can also rent the things you need, for example, the rackets, the balls at the campus reception.

8.   Cost and expense

France is quite expensive to live in, and Lille is not much cheaper when comparing with Paris. A dine out will cost you around 17 euros, so most of the time you will need to cook yourself. There are supermarkets near the campus, ALDI is the cheapest one, however it has less selection of products. Casino is the most expensive one, so it would be better only go there if you want to buy little things. The most expensive part would be the travelling cost. To save it, you can plan trips earlier, tickets would be much cheaper if you buy them in advance. You may also purchase a youth discount card (Carte Jeune) for SNCF, which costs 50 euros a year and it guarantees 30% off for all train tickets. However, I recommend to take bus instead of train, as it would be a lot cheaper. For purchasing tickets, you can go to: www.goeuro.com, which would compare all the bus, plane and train tickets for you. For the metro there, it costs you 1.6 euros for a single trip, regardless of the length of the journey, so buying 10 single way tickets a time for 14

euros is recommended if you live in the campus. If you live in Lille or you need to take the metro very often, you may apply for a passpass card which is same as an Octopus card in Hong Kong.

9.   Health and Safety Before your departure, you will need to purchase a social security which costs around 100 euros. You can enjoy part of the benefits as a French citizen, including seeing the doctor. If you are sick, you can go to a pharmacy or a local clinic, and remember to bring along the insurance reimbursement form and the security proof so you can claim the money back. The campus is located in between Croix and Roubaix. Croix is known to have a safe neighbourhood, however, Roubaix is the poorest region of France, so make sure you do not go to Roubaix alone at night. Nevertheless, Lille’s safety is so much better when comparing with Paris.

10.   Food There is a restaurant called Canard Street, which the price is quite reasonable for you to eat a duck, and there are many restaurants in Lille. However, there is not much choices around the campus, except the school canteen, which costs 5.6 euros for a half buffet. For supermarket, as mentioned above, ALDI would be the cheapest choice. Carrefour has a reasonable price with a wide range of selection. Casino is the most expensive one. If you want to buy some Asian food, you can go to Paris Store at Roubaix, which have many Asian food like instant noodles, curry, Asian vegetables and Japanese ingredients. If you love French desert, Meert could be a good choice.

11.   Transportation To go back and forth between Lille and Croix, you have three choices: metro, tram and Uber. The nearest station with the campus is a tram station called Parc Barbieux and there is a metro station slight further, called Mairie de Croix. These two transportation costs you the same and they use the same ticket. I would recommend to take the metro as it is a slight faster. For taking the Uber, it will cost you around 20 euros.

12.  Climate The weather is quite good in spring semester, except it is quite cold and cloudy at the beginning. It will snow in Lille in January and February and the temperature can fall below zero. It gets warmer starting from late March.

13.  Communication

For the telecommunications, you can use a top-up sim bought from Hong Kong, it costs around 200 HKD per month, or you can also apply for a local plans provided by companies such as Orange, Free and SFR. Orange has the fastest speed while Free is the cheapest one. For Free, they have a plan of 19.99 euros per month for 100 GB 4GB in France and 25 GB 3GB in Europe. You need to terminate the contract by mailing a letter to the company located at Paris. The shop will provide you the template of the letter. For daily communication, French people do not fancy to speak English, so you would better take a French language course at UST before your departure or at least learn a few words like Bonjour, Merci, otherwise sometimes French people will hold a negative attitude towards you.

14.  Banking and Finance EDHEC will invite banks to come to the campus for international students to open a local account. It acts as a saving account with credit card function. You can use this card to shop online or buy tickets. It is same as a credit card except that you need to deposit money into it. There are some banks such as, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Banque de France, I would suggest Societe Generale and would not recommend BNP Paribas as the customer service of BNP Paribas is quite poor and their processing time is quite long.

Part 3: items to bring

-   Passport with visa -   Hong Kong Identity Card -   Copies of passport and HKID -   Personal photos -   Cash -   Credit card -   Laptop -   Adaptors -   Neck pillow -   Warm clothing -   Bed sheet -   Camera -   Medicines -   Stationery -   Phones (Spare one as needed) -   Sportswear (Swim suits)

Part 4: Useful website -   http://aurion.edhec.edu (same as my.ust.com) -   http://netedhec.com (same as Canvas) -   http://resa.edhec.deciplus.pro (Registering sports facilities) -   http://goeuro.com (for ticket purchasing)