bmalik – Global & Experiential Education

LTSA ESSEC: So much to do, So little time

bmalikJanuary 22, 2018March 4, 2020

The only thing that kept me going all Fall semester was knowing at the end of it all, I will be sitting outside of a swanky Parisian cafe with the Eiffel tower in the distance while sipping on an espresso channeling my inner Audrey Hepburn.

But before I could put on my barrette, I had a lot of work to do. Finals, moving out from DC, spending the holidays at home, figuring out where to live in Paris, picking classes, finding time learn French, and the worst task of them all... PACK my entire life into one suitcase for three months! If you know me, I have a LOT of clothes/boots/accessories, so this one suitcase life was not something I could do. Being a Florida girl, I am not used to the cold (anything under 70 degrees is freezing by Florida standards), therefore, I have no idea how to dress for temperatures in the 30-50s. I knew I was going to be walking around a lot, so I needed to layer up to stay warm. Naturally I left packing to the last minute and ended up with two FULL suitcases- NBD (No Big Deal).

Throughout the Fall, I tried to learn French via Duolingo (amazing app to learn new languages) The premise of the app is to teach a new language by introducing basic concepts which are reinforced by having to read, speak, and write the correct answer. Only one or two lessons per day are given lasting about 10 minutes each, but you are allowed to do refreshers on older lessons. The cute pictures and phrases are entertaining, I highly recommend for anyone trying to learn a new language. While taking 21 credits last semester, learning French was not high on my priority list but the quick lessons taught me the basics. I know the difference between boy/girl, man/woman, and the most important phrase- "je veux manger" (I want to eat)!

As if packing and learning French wasn't hard enough, I had to pick out what classes I wanted to take at ESSEC - because this obviously isn't a 3-month long vacay :/ My main reason to attend ESSEC was their Luxury Brand Management program as these classes are not offered at GW or at many schools in the US, and what better place to learn about Luxury than in one of the most luxurious cities of them all- PARIS! When I opened the course catalogue it was filled with the most amazing course titles such as Global Strategy and the Luxury Business. I finally settled on 3 courses that I felt would get the most out of- Anthropology of Luxury Brands, International Luxury Distribution, and Luxury Retail Management (Side note- I have to take two online classes to finish out my MSPM degree or else I would’ve taken more classes).

One of my favorite and time-consuming parts of this was trying to find a place to live. ESSEC is in Cergy, which is about an hour outside of central Paris. Because I want to take advantage of my Study Abroad, I decided to live in Paris. As with all major cities, Paris is extremely expensive to live in. I was fortunate to find a roommate off the ESSEC Facebook page that was looking for the same living arrangement as me. We hit it off and were on the hunt for Airbnb. After countless days of figuring out what arrondissement (district/area) we wanted to be in, we found a lovely 2-bedroom apartment in the 18^th arrondissement. One thing to note about Paris (and probably Europe), the two-bedroom option on Airbnb means actual rooms- not bedrooms. This means there is 1 true bedroom and there is a couch in the living room that converts into a bed- not ideal if you are spending 3 months.

It is now hours before my flight to Paris and I cannot control my excitement! I hope I can sleep on the plane to avoid being jet lagged when I land. I cannot wait to meet my roommate. ?

LTSA ESSEC: Settling in isn’t as Easy as it Seems

bmalikJanuary 22, 2018March 4, 2020

After the long flight, I was finally in PARIS! I decided to wait for my roommate whose flight was coming a few hours later instead of going straight to the Airbnb. Her flight ended up being delayed and I had to wait at the airport longer than expected. I was starving and the only place to eat in the airport was McDonalds:: barf:: I go up to the kiosk thing to order my heart attack and there are a ton of options for different kinds of burgers – things we don’t get in the good ole US of A. Being basic (and safe) I order the ushe- Chicken nuggets, fries, BBQ sauce, and a water. Super excited for my meal I go to slide in my card and it gets REJECTED! No worries, I have a couple other cards- REJECTED-REJECTED! Oh, great this is a sign that I shouldn’t eat Micky D’s, but I am hungry! Come to find out, I was so busy trying to make sure I packed my two suitcases to capacity, instead of notifying my credit card companies that I will be travelling. Thanks for lookin out Chase!

Hours later my roomie arrives and we Uber it to the Airbnb. Along the drive I see there are a bunch of kebab shops that serve late night food (YAAAASSSSS). The building looked cute from the outside with fake iron balconies. We walk through the big door and there is a spiral staircase and our Airbnb is on the 3^rdfloor- we drag our bags up the stairs (talk about a work out). The place is cute with hints of a safari theme. We settle in and run downstairs to grab some doner kebabs. These guys don’t do your traditional sauces like tzatziki or garlic sauce, they have interesting sauces such as Samurai (super spicy and obviously my fav), Andalusia (tangy and spicy), and a different approach to ranch and BBQ. The food was delish- or I was super hungry- either way these places are open late and drop fries in the fryer when ordered.

The next day I unpacked my two suitcases realizing I probably don’t need all the clothes I packed :/ Later I ventured out to the grocery store with my handy dandy Google Translate app. I bought the essentials- bread, butter, eggs, milk, pasta, and Prince cookies (if you haven’t had them before- YOU NEED TO). I kept walking around the store trying to look for chicken, beef, or salmon – but NOTHING. Come to find out the French don’t eat a lot of meat on the reg… so their grocery stores aren’t stacked with protein but have a lot of carbs (baguettes, croissants, and other carb and sugar filled treats that are mos def NOT part of my New Year’s Resolution. American grocery store. Looks like I am going to learn how to be a vegetarian in Paris.

Friday was orientation, according to Google Maps the journey is 1 hour and 11 minutes and we have to switch trains at a major station to take the commuter rail into Cergy. My roomie and I have navigated the NYC and DC train system, so we felt like this should be a piece of cake, we added in an extra hour buffer to ensure if we got lost we wouldn’t’ be late. The Metro is right in front of the Airbnb, we bought a book of 10 tickets each and hopped on our first train- super easy. We get to Gare Saint-Lazare where we need to get on the commuter line and are completely lost. Think getting off the train at Union Station, seeing a bunch of stores but no signs for your train in sight... oh and you don’t understand the language. This was basically us trying to ask security guards directions by showing them Google Maps and hand gestures. We finally found a train that would take us to ESSEC, but it kept getting delayed, we ended up waiting 45 minutes for the train to arrive. Finally, 2 and a half hours later we arrived at Orientation. The coordinator was almost done with her presentation when we walked in. I know what you’re thinking- these girls didn’t make it in time for chocolate croissants and coffee, but never fear this is France - there are always croissants and coffee. Sipping on our Frenchie essentials we took a tour of the campus and were told this is the end of Orientation. We spent 2.5hrs getting to ESSEC but spent less than an hour at the school. On the journey home, we figured our way around the station- turns out it’s a HUGE station connected to other stations. A ten-minute walk that is now ingrained into our memory through various corridors to get to our station.

After our crazy commute we realized it was Friday night, so you know what that means- a yummy dinner and bar hopping: D We ate an amazing dinner consisting of escargot, salmon tartare, ravioli, the best steak EVER, and a trio of desserts at La Marina! Post dinner we ventured to this speakeasy through the freezer door of a taco joint (yes you read correctly, a TACO JOINT!) Sadly, we were too full from dinner to indulge in tacos, but the music behind the freezer door made me fall in love with the spot- old school Hip Hop and R&B <3 <3 <3 We kept saying we will leave after the song was over but loved every track playing and ended up making friends with a couple French ladies who gave us suggestions on what bars are good in the area, one in particular- Little Red Door. We left the taco place without tacos (still too full) and headed on over to Little Red Door. There was a little wait, but so worth it. We were seated in the loft with a nice view of the quirky Parisian bar. The bartenders come up to the table to take your order and make great suggestions- this is a must see if you’re ever in Paris.

The journey getting here was a struggle, but once my credit card started working and I met my roomie, I knew this is going to be an amazing life changing experience.

Last week was the first week of classes. My roommate and I were able to navigate our way through and got to school 45 minutes before class started (talk about overachievers ?). The classes I am taking are all luxury classes so I was extremely excited because these types of courses are not offered at GW.

My first class was Luxury Retail Management in which we learn about how companies communicate their brand and strategies retail strategies to build the brand. There is a required group and individual project due at the end of the course. The group project consists of acting as a secret buyer at one of eight luxury brands who have a large presence in Paris, I picked Chanel (obviously). The individual project is a paper on how major brands are developing omni channel (bridging online and offline customer interactions), my company is Christian Louboutin (long heels red bottoms, long heels red bottoms).

The next class was International Luxury Distribution in which we learn about distribution strategies and business models of successful brands. This class also has a required group and individual project. The group project is to present the dynamics of multi brand distribution for multi-brand concept stores in EMEA. The individual paper is to analyze brand collaborations in a particular sector, my paper will be on Boucheron‘s jewelry collaborations.

Both courses are taught by Denis Morisett who was the former COO of Ralph Lauren Europe, CEO of Pierre Balmain, and Managing Director France of Armani, Director of Luxury Executive Programs, and has been teaching at ESSEC for over 20 years. Needless to say, this man has been around and knows what he is talking about. The courses complement each other in terms of content, in Management you learn how to brand is making its name online and offline and in Distribution you learn how the brand is getting its name across internationally.

The other class I am taking is Anthropology of Luxury Brands in which we learn about the evolution of human’s wants as it relates to luxury. I have never taken an anthropology class before, so I am excited to learn about what actually makes us want to want these crazy outrageously priced items and how have brands utilized these wants to create an empire for themselves. The professor is Simon Nyeck who has a great deal of knowledge in marketing, he received his PhD in Marketing from ESSEC, a Doctoral degree from Paris Dauphine University, GloColl Fellow on Participant-Centered Learning from Harvard Business School, and the list goes on.

The first day of class was so stimulating, I was learning about how all of the big names actually became big names. Hopefully one day I can be one of them :D