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ESCP Europe Paris, FranceExchange report – Spring 2016Again, with no exam, grading was solely based on class participation and a short group case work,which was presented during the last week of lecture.Real Estate, BE88-A7, 2.5 ECTS, GLectured by Professor Arnaud Romanet-PerrouxThe Real Estate course focused on giving a good overview of the different types of real estateassets, the different ways to invest in them and how real estate assets are valued by the market. Theprofessor was very knowledgeable in the subject as he had previously worked in the industry forseveral banks and was now setting up his own platform for real estate investments. The courseserved its purpose quite well and the only grading method was a short one-hour exam during thelast session.Marketing of Innovations, MA05-A7, 5 ECTS, GLectured by Professor Boris DurisinAs a finance major, the Marketing of Innovations course truly featured new content from early onand was definitely one of the most informative classes I took at ESCP. The professor himself isreally into the topic and is able to tie the concepts covered in class to various different stories ofhow formerly failing companies started innovating in a completely different way and were onlythen able to succeed (e.g. Starbucks, Ryanair). Basically, the course covers the topic of whycompanies need to innovate, discusses the difference between offering and market innovation andpresents the tools and methods managers need to apply in the different stages of innovation. Theworkload consisted of three smaller cases during the semester along with a larger case presentedduring the last session. Additionally, the class featured a final exam accounting for some 50% of theoverall grade.Negotiation Bootcamp, OA01-A8, 5 ECTS, GLectured by Professor Mel FearonThe Negotiation Bootcamp class was hugely popular among exchange students and although it waslacking a theoretical approach, it was still a fairly informational one. The class was separated in halfand each team was given separate case briefs. Class time was then spent in the teams discussing thecase from that particular team’s point of view and preparing for the negotiation against the otherhalf of the class. The two teams would have very different views on the situation and wanted to getdifferent outcomes out of the negotiation, which really taught you to account for people’s differingviewpoints. There were a total of three negotiations during the semester and half of the grading was6

ESCP Europe Paris, FranceExchange report – Spring 2016based on class activity and the other half was based on a personal action plan presented in the lastweek of lecture where every student outlined what they learned during the class and what skills theystill want to develop in the future.French, LE10-A11A, 2.5 ECTS, GLectured by Professor Fabienne FavarelESCP offers a possibility to take French in various levels and there is a placement test during theorientation week which determines the group you are placed into. As for me, with no priorexperience in the language, I simply wrote my name down on the test sheet and was guaranteed aspot in the A1-level French group. In my opinion the teaching was very good and during thesemester I was able to learn basic skills in the language that allowed me to handle daily situations inParis. You could also take the French class just for fun, but if you are taking it for credits, you couldonly miss two classes and had to take a mid-term and a final exam.European Integration & Management, LS01-01, 2.5 ECTS, GSeminar with multiple lecturersThe European Integration & Management seminar was a part of the orientation week at ESCP andawarded everyone who sat the three-day seminar and passed the exam on the seminar topics with2.5 ECTS. The seminar gave a solid introduction in the history of Paris and France and discussedthe French language, culture and education system and finally concluded on current political topicsand the position of France within the European Union. Having only had a limited interest in Francebefore arrival, I found the seminar especially useful as it provided a good overview of what hashappened and what is happening in the country.Free time and other informationAt ESCP, you can have up to three 3-hour lectures a day, meaning that you will be able to squeezeyour 25 ECTS just into two days of lecture a week, if you are not too picky on the classesthemselves. I ended up having school three days a week, which still allowed for a reasonableamount of free time to be allocated for exploring the city and more. This section summarizes myimpression of the everyday life in Paris.7

ESCP Europe Paris, FranceExchange report – Spring 2016Getting to know other studentsWhen talking about other students at ESCP, it is important to first distinguish the different peopleyou might meet at the university. First, you will have a lot of regular French students and foreignnationals doing their full degree at ESCP Paris. Second, you will have many dual-degree studentsfrom universities all over the world, who are completing their second degree at ESCP. Third, youwill meet a lot of students from other ESCP Campuses (as mentioned above), who are completing apart of their studies in Paris and finally you will have your ‘real’ exchange students (to which youwill belong to) that come from ESCP’s partner universities for only one semester. All in all, theimplication is that there is a huge number of people coming from all over the world to study at theESCP Paris campus for only a limited amount of time. To me this appeared as a very active studentlife and an international community, as people were eager to get to know new people and more orless two-thirds of the students in English-speaking classes were ‘on exchange’ in some sense. Thusyou would get to know most of the ‘real’ exchange students during the orientation week and beintroduced to the rest through your classes or your evenings spent at the school bar Quatter.There is a student organization, Shuffle, catering for the ‘real’ exchange students, but at least duringspring 2016, they did not organize much during the first half of the semester and, aside from a fewtrips in March, not significantly more during the second half either. However, just by activeinvolvement, you will have a very good experience and get to meet all the same people, eventhough the exchange student organization is what it is.Traveling in France and abroadAs you are staying in one of Europe’s largest cities, you could spend your entire free time in Parisitself, but it is also advisable to get to know the France outside of the city limits, as well as to makeuse of the great geographic location of the city by exploring the rest of Europe. Especially theNorth- and South American exchangers were eager to travel abroad every weekend, whereas manyof the Europeans had already been to places and chose to see more of Paris and France instead. Thelow cost airlines (e.g. Ryanair, EasyJet) will have good fares for you to far-away destinations,whereas train tickets can get especially cheap for travels within France (e.g. Lyon, Bordeaux) or thenearby foreign cities (e.g. London, Brussels, Amsterdam). Renting a car is also very advisable,should you wish to travel in your own pace and from Paris you can rent a car for even as low as 20 per day. Just be aware that the large highways usually charge a fairly hefty toll, whereas the localroads are free and often give you a fairly nice overview of the French countryside. Driving in Parisitself is not as difficult as you might think and gas is slightly cheaper than in Finland. Personally, I8

ESCP Europe Paris, FranceExchange report – Spring 2016chose to explore Paris as much as I could, but I also visited Prague, Luxembourg, London, Frenchspeaking Switzerland, Normandy and the wine regions of Alsace and Champagne.AccommodationAs ESCP has an urban campus in Paris, there is no on-campus housing available. However, there isa student dorm available for ESCP students in the 12th Arrondissement, but due to its poor conditionand far-away location, many people staying there ended up moving during the semester and, on ageneral note, many students chose to live in private apartments around the more central areas ofParis. Personally, I did the same thing and chose to search for a studio apartment. For me, the twomost useful websites for searching furnished short-term apartments in Paris were Lodgis1 and ParisAttitude2 and ended up opting for a 20 square meter studio just off Louvre in the 1st Arrondissementthrough Lodgis. When adding all the costs of the apartment and spreading those over the 3.5 monthsI stayed there, I probably ended up paying some 1,100 per month for the apartment, which to meseemed fairly reasonable as some students were paying nearly the same amount for a room in ashared flat in a less prestigious area. The rent itself was 930 /month but additional charges camefrom a one-off agency fee, the electricity charges, a cleaning fee of common areas and a Frenchhome insurance, for which I got a fairly good deal with Allianz as a referral from Lodgis. Majorityof the students either lived in the nearby arrondissements around ESCP, e.g. 9th, 10th, 11th and 20thor in the central arrondissements of 1st through 4th.CostsIn many ways living in Paris costs you about thesame as in Helsinki, with some expenses beingcheaper and some on the other hand moreexpensive. As discussed above, you will generallypay more on accommodation than in Finland.Further, before being introduced to the Lidl inParis, I felt that groceries were also more expensivein Paris than in Helsinki. Transportation is fairlycheap, with a single metro ticket costing 1.41 andSteak tartare at La Robe de la Girafe in Bastillea monthly pass some 70 . The monthly pass comes in especially handy should you travel to theoutskirts of the city (read airports) often. Eating out is cheaper than in Helsinki and with the app La12www.lodgis.comwww.parisattitude.com9

ESCP Europe Paris, FranceExchange report – Spring 2016Fourchette (the Fork) you can get discounts of up to 50% from the menu prices. Wine is of coursecheaper both in the store and in a restaurant and a pinte of beer will cost you about the same as backhome. Uber and Taxis are also reasonably priced and both are widely available at all times with acommon 5km trip costing no more than 10 in the night.Living in ParisParis is a huge metropolitan citywith over 10 million people livingin the urban area of the city.Thereby, you will always haveevents going on and thingshappening around you fromconcerts, festivals and footballgames to museums, parks andother sights. However, regardlessof the size of the city, it is veryconvenient and walkable withmany neighborhood restaurants,Rue des Abbesses in Montmartre at duskcafes and other services. Further, the city, including the metro, is extremely safe for the most partand you would rarely expect to end up in threatening situations as there usually are a lot of otherpeople around you at all times. Parisians tend to eat and go out fairly late, as the most commondinner time would be something between 20 and 21 and many of the restaurants only open after 19.When it comes to the climate in Paris, I found the time between January and March to be similar ofthe April in Helsinki, with a lot of rain and temperatures between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius.Gradually moving from March to April, you would have your typical sunny 20 degrees Celsiusdays with fairly cold and windy evenings. The sights and attractions in Paris are self-explanatory oreasily searched through TripAdvisor, but for good dinners, bars and more I would recommend theareas of Le Marais, Châtelet, Montmartre and Saint Germain des Près along with the streets of RueOberkampf, Rue de Lappe and Place de la Contrescarpe as well as the area around the GrandsBoulevards metro station.10

ESCP Europe Paris, FranceExchange report – Spring 2016Final commentsI would definitely recommend ESCP Europe and Paris to everyone wishing to live in one of thegreatest European cities and study at a fairly reputable school. The culture is easy to adapt to, youwill meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world at ESCP and the foods and drinks inParis are yet to be matched. Paris offer endless opportunities for spending you free time and ESCPhas a wide selection of classes offered in English. I would go again on an exchange there andprobably would not do anything differently if had I the opportunity, aside from perhaps moving intoa building with an elevator.When looking back at my semester in Paris, I learned many things that I find crucial for my futurework life. First of all, working in multicultural teams of 4-6 different nationalities forces you tolearn more about their backgrounds and individual strengths and weaknesses to make the most outof the project and end up with the best possible outcome. Further, going to France with non-existentFrench skills, I was able to learn the most important bits of the language during the short semesterto not only say my full address in French to the Uber driver, but also explaining my background andactually basic conversations with the non-English-speaking French. This truly surprised me, as myinitial expectations on my ability to learn the language were not that high. Finally, being on anexchange for the third time in my life, I once again had to adapt to a whole new city, new peopleand a fairly different culture, which always teaches you a lot about yourself, your own culture andhow you cope in new situations and makes you contrast the good, and the bad, in both your homecountry as well as your host country.11

The AIB course truly leverages the alumni network of ESCP Europe as each lecture of the class was taught by former ESCP students who are now working in the fields of banking or private equity. Each week was dedicated to going over a specific model used in the industry from the valuation models to an operating model, a merger model and an LBO model.