It's not all croissants, flowers, and wine

To be honest, my schoolwork here doesn’t keep me very busy. Nothing like IU where I’m typically juggling approx 20 credit hours, heavy extracurricular involvement, and overall just enjoying all that comes with being an IU student. Sure, some aspects of my courses at the Rouen Business School (formerly Ecole Superiore de Commerce a Rouen) are difficult. Working on team projects with very diverse international team members, who all have different work ethics, schedules, and personalities, is one of them. I never thought I’d write a 7+ page paper in French about the effect on France’s religious scene by the changing values of generations either.



However, I still find myself very busy! Of course, travel – and the energy/time put into planning it – has been a burden I am lucky to carry. Yet even more so than RBS homework or travel, I have found myself very busy with stateside-work. So to give you a true picture of my experience here, here’s a rundown of the less glamorous, less French things I’ve been keeping busy with:

1)The consulting workshop class. As a member of Kelley’s Consulting Workshop class, my first two weeks here were spent finishing a 13 page paper about the 9 consulting firms we visited at the beginning of January. Not necessarily difficult, but it was also not something I wanted to be working on in Rouen either!



2)The internship search. As much as I would like to set up fort at a vineyard in the Loire as an “intern” for the summer, that’s not quite realistic. Since January, I’ve spent more hours working on applications, participating in phone inter views, filling out paperwork, and responding to e-mails than I’d like to admit. Now that it’s almost done, I’m happy to announce I’ve accepted an internship with the nonprofit firm Teach For America in Mississippi this summer. However, I still am waiting to hear back from TFA about continuing my work with them in the fall. After an application and two 1+ hour phone interviews for that internship, I should be hearing from them within a week or two.

3)Skyping. Luckily, I’ve been able to use my Skype account to make phone calls and participate in interviews and webinars. I don’t know what I’d do without it! Of course, the sometimes-faulty connection causes some communication problems: During one role play in an interview with TFA I thought my interviewer mentioned a coffee machine instead of a copy machine. That was interesting. And interviewing for a spot on a student board at IU became frustrating when I could barely hear 50% of the interviewer’s questions. But it’s a nice – and relatively cheap - way to get in touch with everyone back home! And when I return to the states, Skype will continue to serve as a means of communication.



4)Completing bureaucratic work. I wish I could say I take a 2-hour-long stroll around French gardens every day, but that’s simply not the case. Paperwork, e-mailing, phone conferences etc account for a good part of my time (and usually in the 8pm -2 am block, because that is the US’s afternoon/evening). On that note, one of my biggest fears is having to complete anything that would involve a scanner. I simply cannot access one easily. Last week, I had to print, fill out, and scan 10 forms for TFA. After a couple of stressful days and frantic searches, I finally asked an administrator at RBS and she let me use her personal one.

5)Staying in touch with IU. I’m trying to stay involved in things going on at IU, especially those activities I’m passionate about. I’m excited to announce that I will be participating in the 2 Dollar Challenge, an event put on by the Trockman Microfinance Initiative (more to come on that later) next week. And happily, my involvement with IUSA Funding Board will most likely continue as I – baring any problems – will mostly likely serve as Director next year.

And while things have quieted down in just the past week for the first time this semester (my courses were cut down from 5 to 2!), now I’m beginning to realize all the things I haven’t done yet, and still hope to do!



But the advice I’m trying to give myself is to relax and enjoy ma vie francaise. So far, that’s going well. Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Rouen so I walked to the Seine and back, stopping on the banks to listen to a friend jam with a couple of Frenchman on the banjo and West African drums.



My "non-work" day continued by baking chocolate chip cookies for my family and friends here. Good thing I had all evening: Cycling through the small pie tin-sized trays that my host family has took me over an hour to get one batch of cookies baked in the oven!