Integration Week

Last weekend was soo much fun! =) So Integration Week is something that the "second year" students (they call them January Intakes) organize for the new incoming class (the September Intakes). At least I think that's how it works. I'm in neither of the intakes since I'm an exchange student but I got to tag along and meet everyone from the new intake anyway! I told them that I was their designated Fun Friend. Fun Friend = someone you never have to compete with in any classes (the September Intakes are taking their core classes while I'll be taking electives in the Personalized Phase with the second years), so we'll never get in to any arguments over projects or homework. I'm just there to party with them and hang out during breaks!

The Integration week started EARLY Saturday morning. I had to wake up at 5 am to make sure I got all the trains right to get to HEC. I could have slept in another half an hr or so but I'm still not used to Goliath yet so I wanted to get there early. After breakfast and being in the car for forever, we had lunch (chicken with a mushroom sauce) and then went to this Tree Climbing thing in Caen (apparently it's pronounced the same as Cannes so for the first few hours, I was thoroughly confused on where the heck we were going), which is in Normandy. I think it was supposed to be a team building event and it was so much fun! Basically, we were a bunch of monkeys playing in trees with ropes and nets and random little log things to stand on. There was this one Tarzan part where we had to swing from a tree to another tree (sort of...you basically hit the net that's along the side of the second tree) but it was a huge tree and a huge jump. It freaked me out and I had to stand there for a few minutes before I finally had the guts to jump off the edge of the tree. Then we had dinner (chicken with a mushroom sauce) and got cleaned up and ready for clubbing. It was a weird club...it was in the middle of nowhere and you could smell cow dung. Then, as soon as you walk in, there's all these 12-14 year old kids doing the Moonwalk....and only the Moonwalk. Needless to say, with that going on, it took us a while before we got into "party mode". I got back to the ghetto hotel at 3 but many people didn't leave til 4 or so. Oh that's another story...so there were so many of us that we got divided into three hotels: Great, Good and Sh*&. I stayed at Sh*&. =) It was okay though since we were only there to sleep for a few hours and then left. Plus, although I call it that, it really wasn't bad at all. It just was by comparison to the other hotels. And they redeemed themselves when we had breakfast. I had one of the most amazing croissants I have ever tasted in my life. Apparently that area is known for their biscuits, pastries, etc.

Sunday was rough. We had to be in the bus by 8 am so that we could go to Ste Malo. It's this one fort/city thing by the ocean. Really pretty and we were really lucky to be able to see it on a sunny day. Apparently, those are few and far between in Brittany. We only had about an hour in that city and had to jump back in the bus to head over to Mont Ste Michel. It was sooo beautiful! I had to post pictures tomorrow =) The place is literally something you'd see in a fairytale book. It's built on a rock in the middle of this sandy patch that gets surrounded by water when the tide goes up. We had a private tour of it, including the Abbey. I think that was definitely the highlight of the entire trip. I can't wait to post pictures up for you guys!

Sooo people! That's pretty much the most important part of the trip! We got a great chance to meet people in the program and it was so wonderful! We think California is diverse but that's nothing compared to HEC, where the 70% of the students are international. They came from all over the world: India, Bulgaria, France, US, UK, Sudan, Russia, Taiwan,China, Japan, Etc. I was explaining to some friends already that I haven't really had smalltalk with people here. I talked with a French guy for an hour about cheese on Saturday night and I was so engrossed in the conversation, it was as if no one else was in the room (by the way, now I know the correct way to eat it!) and I think it's because of our diverse backgrounds that everything they say is really interesting and brand spanking new to me. This is compared to meeting someone that has the same background as you where everything they, you've already experienced. I don't know =) Regardless, I have a feeling it will be a fun semester =)