Rouen Business School (RBS)

As part of our MBA curriculum, a one week trip to Rouen Business School in France was organized by our university. Being the first trip outside the country and that too with all our class mates, we were very excited. And for me, this will be the first time to France and I have heard a lot about the romantic country and so it added to the thrill. Some of my friends started shopping a week in advance planning and anticipating the events. These planning and discussing was more titillating than the actual trip. After all the ballyhoo, the day for our journey came and with a one and half hour journey through Air France we stepped into the city of love – Paris.

Too hungry - made my plate clean(After a delicious meal)

From the airport, we went to Rouen which is a two hours’ drive through road. Everything is arranged so well that we felt the RBS was like our second home. Individual rooms in university accommodation were allotted to us and even utensils were provided which will be sufficient to cook whatever we want. We even shopped and had a traditional Indian meal (including chicken gravy) together with our friends.

French people were so much fascinated to their culture and they were more than proud to follow all their tradition. Therefore, the only language spoken in France was French and we were made to use the universal sign language for communications. But our sign language was not too successful. For instance, in a restaurant when my friend ordered desert (ice cream with chocolate) they served him with another meal and we all had a good laugh. But it also helped me to learn some words in French like Bonjour and merci which we used in our every conversation.

Too delicious - Red Wine

We had various interesting sessions in RBS and my personal favourite was a mini session on wine tasting (where various wine was served and we were taught to find a suitable wine as per our preference). Also the trip to Port Le Harve where 60% of all French export and imports are carried out was too informative. Other session include culture and international finance. One obvious difference between the usual class and the session we had was that it was attended by our MBA Director and Professor where they participated actively as a student, listening and asking queries as one among us. We met the MBA students of Rouen and had an outing with them too. We had booze, dance, party and every other possible thing to enjoy. It’s true that the time will become golden when friends hang around together.       

     

Hours went like minutes and days became too short. One week in Rouen Business School was one of the best times of our university life. Our exploration of France didn’t stop in Rouen; we travelled then to Paris. Do wait for my next blog to know my wonderful experience on the World Wonder – Eiffel Tower.