Week 2 update

So since my week 1 update I have done a few posts about some things that I have done (Eiffel Tower, various bars, ranting, etc.) but I said that I would do a post on my other classes which I hadn't yet had this time last week.

Startups et Management de l'Innovation Numérique

This module is all about digital innovation, looking at how huge tech startups and apps have become so popular and indispensible as part of modern daily life (for the young anyway). It seems like its going to be a really interesting module and just like in my 'management d'entreprise' we have to come up with a business in small groups of 3 (which is apparently the best number for starting a business). We also have to do an individual exposé, a 10 minute presentation, and my topic is all about Design Thinking. I did a module at Warwick last year on design thinking and its the best essay I have ever written (still not sure how I got 81%) so hopefully the background knowledge will help with this. It was meant to be the week 1 topic but a nice guy agreed to swap with me because I said I was nervous about going first, having never done an exposé. So yeah, this module looks good. It's late though: 7.15 - 9.15pm!

Initiation à l'Entrepreneuriat

This module is very similar to the one above, but with less of a focus on digital and just a focus on start ups in general. It was a really big class size for an elective, about 100 students I would say, and most of them masters students so 4th/5th year students. The lecturer was really engaging, and he started his career at Disney, before going on to create his own business which is cool. This module is graded on a range of things from individual to group work and class participation. I'm worried how i'm going to get a good grade for participation (40% of my mark) in such a large class with only a 2 hour lecture each week, especially given i'm not the most confident with my french yet but we'll see.

Last week, we were put into groups of 8 and given 10€ and literally told to return to the lecture next week with more money (!) My group decided on massages, I never really thought it was going to be the greatest idea, because I personally wouldn't want a massage off a random student in the courtyard of uni, but I don't really have the french vocab to disagree and I was happy to make a poster for the event and go with the flow. (See poster below)

So Monday and Tuesday we were giving massages in the garden and it was kind of awkward and we only made 25€ by massaging friends that we had persuaded to come (none of my friends came). We will see how successful that was VS others in the lesson tomorrow! As a "learning" exercise though I guess it was interesting because we can easily address where we went wrong (no one wants massages!!!). I needed my dream-team from the Warwick apprentice with me, we would have smashed it.

So that's the rest of my courses. Already straight in on the workload, presentations coming up, articles to read that never get marked (see previous blog post), group projects to work on etc. Tomorrow night is the big night out planned by the BDE (bureau des élèves, a.k.a the Students Union), at the third biggest club in Paris called Zig Zag just off the Champs Élysées so that's pretty exciting, and then cheer tryouts on Friday afternoon (although after tomorrow night i'm not sure how good I will be feeling!).