Le Blog Is Back!

Ohmigosh! I can't believe I arrived in France on May 15, and I've been so horrendously bad about updating my blog! :-( I have had only limited internet access here and there, but I hope to be much more on top of it going forward. Anyways, here's a quick recap...

After I arrived mid-May, I spent a few days in and around Paris. This is a photo of my room at the Centre International de Sejour de Paris. I'm still not clear on what this residence facility is; it's rather inexpensive and seems aimed at large conventions and groups of students or athletic teams. While I was there, there was a 9-day Esperanto convention going on, if you can believe that. (I thought that language movement died out about 20 years ago...) This is also the same residence where I will be staying for most of August when I return to Paris for the 3-week langugage course organized by HEC.

Anywhoosie, I didn't spend much time in my room. I was much too excited to finally see the HEC campus, where I'll be spending an awful lot of time in the upcoming months. I left my dorm at CISP to take public transportation the 15 miles or so to HEC, and about 2 hours and 45 minutes later, I finally arrived. (How happy am I that I will have a car when I arrive on campus this fall???)

Stepping off the train at the station in Jouy-en-Josas. Jouy-en-Josas is a small town of about 8,000 just a few miles south of Paris. It's also home to HEC. After I got off the train, I wandered a bit through the town. Then it started to pour. Then I began the 2-mile walk to the HEC campus. Carrying all my stuff. In the mud. In dress shoes. Uphill. Good times!

Here are a few snapshots of Jouy-en-Josas:

Jouy-en-Josas Train Station

Church of St-Martin

Typical street in the village of Jouy-en-Josas

Somebody's house in Jouy-en-Josas

Finally, I arrive at the HEC Campus

The HEC MBA Building. This is where it all goes down (and where I will be spending all my time). All the administrative offices and classrooms for the MBA program are located here.

A slice of the HEC campus. Perhaps they'll let me use this building as my dorm?

Actually, this is the MBA dorm. Expansiel. It's quite a bit nicer than I expected, but I still got a little twinge of nostalgia for my cute little Manhattan apartment with the Central Park view in a full service doorman building. I guess home is where you hang your hat, right? :-)

The first day I visited the HEC campus was actually the opening night of the MBA Tournament, which brings together participants from most of the top-ranked MBA programs in Europe (plus NYU-Stern!) for three days of competitive sports, networking and drinking. This annual event is a really big deal and everyone at HEC works hard all year preparing for it. Fortunately for me, HEC had already assigned me a "buddy," Vincent, who happened to be the chief cameraperson for the MBAT, and who let me tag along as he dashed from event to event capturing all the excitement on film. Somehow, I made it through 19 years of schooling without attending more than 2 or 3 sporting events total (except, of course, for all those horse shows I actually competed in back in college), so this was very new for me. I stayed at HEC for a couple of days, and happily spectated at volleyball games, soccer matches, a particularly vicious badminton contest, and hours worth of pétanque -- simply riveting!

The pétanque field on campus.

Finally, it was time to return to Paris. Here is a shot of Les Halles at sunset. While in Paris, I took a little time to check out some neighborhoods I had never visited before, register for my Augutst language course which will take place in the Marais, meet up with another future HEC MBA participant who's currently working in Paris, and generally experience the city through the lens of someone who's going to be spending a lot of time there. All in all, it was a very reaffirming visit and I'm actually really looking forward to the MBA program this fall.

Next up, we head south!