a hiccup

I realize that my study abroad blog has turned into a vacation abroad blog (I am in fact traveling to seven countries in just 38 days) … but for the record, I actually do have class this week. Not just one, but three!  Even though my course load might seem amusing, I am still learning a lot, just not in the conventional way.  In fact, I would venture to say that I am learning more here than I do attending class everyday back home; and I am not just talking life lessons (although I’m certainly learning a lot of those).

I’ve been learning far more towards my degree in international business than I ever could sitting in class back at OSU, listening to a professor who has never worked/lived outside of the US, in a classroom full native English speaking students born and raised in Oklahoma or Texas.  In each one of my classes at ESC Dijon, I get the opportunity to learn from not only a truly international professor (speaking >3 languages and having lived in >3 countries), but a truly international class.  Most of my classes consist of only one or two students from each country per class, so as you can imagine, there is a different nationality sitting to my left and my right in every class.  Just listening to my classmates’ stories and opinions about these business subjects is definitely a lesson in itself.  I am so fascinated by it all and still find it weird to be asked questions about the US from my professors and classmates, like I feel unqualified to represent and speak for all of America.

Outside of the classroom is where I am gaining the most irreplaceable knowledge towards my degree.  Just living and traveling abroad, I am able to experience most of what I will read in my textbooks for international business classes.  I am exposed to marketing and advertising firsthand as a consumer here in Europe.  I have definitely noticed how companies change their marketing strategies based on local tastes.  For example, the orange flavored Fanta in the US caters to sugary fake orange soda lovers, while in France it caters to natural and pulpy Orangina lovers.  Little things like that will make a permanent impression on me and cause me to never forget these marketing concepts and strategies.  I’m learning about international economics, accounting, and finance through experience as well.  In these four months, I will have used four different currencies to buy products.  I also opened up a French bank account (very different from my bank back home) and have to pay my rent and the gas, electricity, and water bills using this account, which is pretty complicated.  It’ll be interesting coming back for my senior year of business classes at OSU, having already experienced what I am about to be lectured over.  Still, its a huge world out there and I know I have a lot left to learn.

Hope you found these ramblings a pleasant interruption, or “hiccup” if you will, to my weekend travel logs and I hope it wasn’t too painful to read all this without pictures ;).

❤ Kate