NEOMA BUSINESS SCHOOL

EXCHANGE REPORT

FALL 2016

POON SZE WING, JOYCE

YEAR 4 (MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT)

PART I – MONTHLY ACTIVITY LOG

September 2016 After landing at Paris CDG Airport on 1st September, I took Flixbus with my friend from terminal 3 to Rouen city centre. Since the check in counter was closed, we had to stay in a hotel for our first night. On the other day, we took bus 8 to NEOMA housing office for check in. I was settled in PLEAIDE- Single occupancy. On the same day, we attended an orientation day (with introduction talk, welcome party and administrative procedures). Afterwards, I went to Carrefour (the big supermarket near school) to buy some basic food, kitchen utensils and bed linen. Various activities will be organized by Culture Connection (one of NEOMA’s student society) for you to meet other friends. School began on the second week. After school, I would do cooking with my friends. The exchange students in NEOMA are all very friendly. Sometimes, we would have a walk in Rouen city centre. Rouen is a small and safe city. At the end of the month, we went to Paris for a 3-day travel.

October 2016 On the first week, I went to Amsterdam and Rotterdam with my exchange buddies. You can simply commute from Paris city centre to Amsterdam by Flixbus (7 hours in total). Netherlands is a such a free and relaxing city. We were astonished by the variety of museums and Red Light District there. On the second week, I went to Spain and appreciated the amazing Gaudi-designed museums and churches. All the fruits in Spain (sold in its food market) were very sweet. At the end of the month, I went to Switzerland and conquered the Swiss alps. The views on Jungfrau (Top of Europe) was super great. Everything is expensive in Switzerland. However, it is definitely worth for a visit.

November 2016 There were no midterm exams for all courses except French course. I went to Iceland to enjoy the mid-term break (starting from the end of Oct to beginning of Nov). We were moved by its natural landscapes and the incredible Northern Lights. Afterwards, I went to London to find my friends. There are lots of wonderful shopping venues in London. In addition, China Town is a perfect place for students to reduce homesickness abroad. We also spent 1 day to visit Brighton. The seafood there was really great. At the end of the month, I went to Finland- Santa Claus village. It was extremely cold under -9 degree. Meeting Santa Claus in person melted my heart as it fulfilled one of my most important childhood wishes. Don’t forget to play with the husky and have a reindeer ride there!

December 2016 Time passed in a blink and the final exams were finally approaching. We spent around 1week to study for the exams. No worries, the exams were all easy and you would get a pass if you have read lecture slides at least once before exams. After exam, I cancelled my bank account, completed the check-out procedure, said good bye to my friends and left Rouen. After that, I went to Berlin and Belgium. The Christmas market in Berlin was wonderful. It was very convenient to go to Belgium (just a 4-hour Flixbus journey from Paris to Belgium city centre). After travel, I returned to Hong Kong safe and sound.

PART II – GENERAL EXCHANGE INFORMATION

1. Visa ProceduresA student visa is required as we stay in France more than 3 months. To apply a student visa, you have to: (1) Book the academic interview at the Campus France office by contacting study@consulfancehongkong.org You cannot change the date and time of interview.

(2) Visa Application submission at the Visa section You could do both things at the same date after the academic interview. For the document required, please see the following link: http://www.consulfrance-hongkong.org/Visa-Application

2. Orientation Activities

Feel free to join all the exchange gathering activities organized by Culture Connection. It will be a good chance for you to meet different local and exchange friends there.

3. Accommodation

Some of us lived in Pleiade- Single occupancy (20 square meters) whereas some stayed in Ango residence (9 square meters). Both are within 10-min walking distance to school. In Pleiade, you can have your own kitchen and toilet. Generally, more exchange students choose to live in Ango as it is much cheaper than Pleiade. However, Pleiade will be a better choice for students who want to live in a comfortable and spacious room. Some students put Pleaide double occupancy as their first priority but failed as the seats were limited. So choose your housing choice asap.

ß Pleaide

4. TransportationFrom Paris CDG Airport to Rouen city centre: You can take Flixbus in Paris CDG (Terminal 3). It is a direct journey that takes 2 hours and 40 minutes. Average price per ride is 11 euros. You will need to purchase the e-ticket on its website, print it out or save it on the Flixbus app. When you get on the bus, you will have to show it to the bus driver. Flixbus provide comfortable and safe coach services.

From Rouen City centre to Mont Saint Aignan: You can take bus F1, F2 or bus 8 from Rouen city centre to campus. After dropping off at flixbus station, walk straight for 5 minutes and take bus no8 from Pont Corneille bus station to La Varenne (Ango residence) or La Pleiade/ Du Bellay (Pleiade residence). All the bus tickets can be purchased from the driver instantly.

You can download an app named ‘Astuce’ to check the bus arrival time. Beware the last bus of bus 8 comes at 8:15pm and it operates very unfrequently on Sundays. You will need to take bus F1 or F2 after 8pm.

Bus station name for Ango residence: La Varenne (Bus 8, F2) Bus station name for Pleaide residence: La Pléiade/ Du Bellay (Bus 8) Bus staion name for NEOMA Business School: Business school (Bus 8, F2) Bus staion name for Carrefour: La Vatine - Centre Commercial (Bus F2) Bus station name for Super-U: Les Coquets (Bus 8, F2) Bus station name for free-mobile shop: Théâtre des Arts (Bus 8) Bus station name for Rouen train station: Gare-Rue Verte (Bus F2, 8)

- For Ango residence, you will take F1 and F2 most of the time - For Pleaide residence, you will take bus 8 most of the time (bear in mind that you can only take F2

to Carrefour- from La Varenne stop to La Vatine - Centre Commercial).

When you go to other countries for travel, you can choose to take coaches, train and airplane. For flights, I usually take EasyJet and Ryan air as they provide quality service. Beware that budget airline only allows you to take a small luggage (check the regulation of the luggage size indicated on their website). Don’t forget to print out the bus and air tickets for verification beforehand. You can go to Paris by coaches operated by Flixbus and Ouibus. It is only a 2-hour bus journey from Rouen to Paris (cost 5 euros only). If you want a budget travel, you can also consider taking coaches like flixbus and megabus to countries like Amsterdam, Belgium and the U.K.

We purchased a student pass (cost 50 euros) for the train from Rouen to Paris, and vice versa. You can use this pass to purchase discounted train ticket. However, the discounted train ticket is still way more expensive than that of Flixbus. So, it is not recommended to buy this ticket.

5. FOOD

Most of the time, me and the other exchange students would gather and cook together. This could save you lots of money for travel J There are 2 supermarkets in Mont Saint Aignan, you can take F2 from La Varenne station to Carrefour (La Vatine - Centre Commercial) ; or take bus F2/8 to Super-U (Les Coquets station). Generally, Carrefour sells more food but you will need to spend more time to shop in this huge supermarket. Super-U will save students time when they just want to buy some basic food and necessities.

6. TEACHING and ASSESSMENT

EN42010E-3-RN International Entrepreneurship Project JJJJJ

This is a very flexible course as you just have to attend the course once a month (with no attendance required). In this course, you will have to act as an entrepreneur and form a business with your groupmate. You can choose to operate any business in any places. At the end of the course, you will have to submit your business plan and give a 30-minute presentation. In addition, this course has no individual assignment or exam.

LV3X126F-5-RN FL - French for Communication A1-1 JJJJ

This course teaches students fundamental knowledge of French. After this course, you will learn some basic vocabulary and conversations in French. There will be a mid-term, final exam and a presentation. In the presentation, you will have to present a travel itinerary (in French) with your groupmates in 20 minutes. The mid-term exam is held at the end of October (25/10 for 2016 fall semester) whereas the final exam is held at the very beginning of December. (2/12 for 2016 fall semester). Attendance is required in the course.

MK42056E-4-RN Brand Management JJJJ

This course teaches students the knowledge of promoting the brand. In this course, you will have to work on a term paper, 2 projects and one final examination. In the term paper, you will have to summarize the research paper assigned by the professor and discuss your views regarding the research paper. For the 2 projects, you will have to act as a brand manager for the company and prepare a PowerPoint slide on promoting the brand. The final examination (only MC questions) is easy. Attendance is required in the course.

MK42061E-3-RN Global Marketing JJJJJ

I highly recommend this course as it is useful and easy. In this course, you will need to form your group and do 2 in-class case activity and 1 presentation. For the in-class case activity, you will need to read the case before class, answer all the case questions and submit the answer in PowerPoint slides. Sometimes, professor will randomly assign groups to present their answers next class. For the group presentation, you will have to choose a company and analyse its marketing strategies. The final exam (only MC questions) is very easy. Attendance is required in the course.

MK42063E-2-RN Services Marketing J

I do not recommend students to take this course as the workload is very huge. You will have to complete an assignment every week, submit a several thousand-word service encounter paper and attend a final examination. No attendance is required in the course but the professor will ask you to evaluate your own class participation (with scores and justification) at the end of the course.

ML42018E-3-RN People Management - Team Building and Leadership JJJJJ

This course is similar to the MGMT1110 course at HKUST. The professor is very helpful and nice. Every class, students can form in groups and play different games by applying the skills that they learn in the class. In this course, there will be a group project and a final examination (short questions +MC questions). They are all very easy. Overall, the course is very easy and interesting. Attendance is required in the course.

6. Communication

Students normally use Free Mobile as their mobile network service provider. For Free Mobile, they offer a 19.99 euro package for 50GB of mobile data with 3GB of data roaming quota in major countries (including the UK, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Netherlands). However, Switzerland is not yet included in the ‘free’ countries for data usage. Remember to check the updated country list before travelling. We did not use the free sim card provided by NEOMA.

7. Climate

The climate is quite windy during September-October. In November, it starts to be very chilly. Students are recommended to bring both light and down jackets to Rouen. During winter, it could rain quite a lot.

8. Expenses

Items Expenses (in HKD)

Accommodation 16000

Air ticket (from HK to Paris CDG) 6500 (student fare provided by CX)

Visa 440

Daily expenses 20000

Travel expenses 40000

Total 82940

PART III – ITEMS TO BRING

Checklist

Don’t forget to bring

- Laptop - Passport + ID (original + copies) - Copies of housing information, insurance, birth certificate - Sweaters and Jackets - Blankets, Bed Sheets, Pillows (Optional, you can buy in Carrefour) - Notebook –USB –Camera - Charger - Power bank - Hand Cream - Clothes for Winter - Boots (if you plan to travel in Northern Europe in winter) - Medicine - Stationary (optional, you can buy in Carrefour) - Rice cooker (though every kitchen appliance can be bought in Carrefour) - Adapter - Umbrella - Cash (in hkd, euros, pounds, Swiss franc etc) *bring some coins

PART IV – Useful Links

1. Astuce App (application that allows you to check the bus arrival time)

Bus schedule for bus F2: https://reseau-astuce.fr/fr/horaires-de-ligne/6/LineTimeTable/tamarelle-la-vatine-parc-de-la-vatine/91/tamarelle-bihorel/1

Bus schedule for bus 8: https://reseau-astuce.fr/fr/horaires-de-ligne/6/LineTimeTable/ile-lacroix-longs-vallons-ecole-moulin/95/ile-lacroix-rouen/1

2. Flixbushttps://shop.flixbus.com/search?adults=1&children=0&bikes=0&departureStation=&arrivalStation=&departureCity=2015&arrivalCity=4738&rideDate=21.02.2017&backRide=&backRideDate=22.02.2017&adults=&children=&bikes=&_locale=en&form_build_id=form-TZsMThGScsFQLmbT4VOl8CnoznPYMj5XLrZj1QLfAr4&form_id=fb_search_form_main&_ga=1.177159461.1030178755.1487473342

You can also download the flixbus app and show your e-ticket to the bus driver.

3. Housing accommodations in NEOMA (some information are not updated)http://www.neoma-bs.fr/docs/international/HousingBooklet-RouenCampus2013-2014.pdf

Are you ready to explore the world? Good luck! J