Week 1 update

So I have now officially started term and I wanted to up date you a little on how things have been so far and what my first thoughts on some of my modules, societies and uni in general.

Management de l'entreprise:

On Monday I had my first lesson at 8am, which for me seemed stupidly early but is something I will have to get used to. This was one of my elective modules and is a class of about 20 students, I would say maybe 60% exchange students, some studying at Sciences Po full time but originally from other places and a few actual french students. The two professors that run this module seemed great, both of them work (always have and still do) in consulting, one for Capgemini and the other now owns his own company, so it's pretty cool that they run this module alongside their jobs.

One of the main aspects of the module is creating our own business in small groups, similar to a module I did in first year of uni so I think that will be really interesting and its also a great way to get to know other people. Another big aspects of the module is discussion and class participation so I think that will be really good for my french too and it will force me to speak in class in order to get a good grade.

Overall this module is looking like its going to be interesting, it's just a bit early for a Monday morning!

Espace Mondiale: 

This is my big lecture course, under the heading of international relations and takes place in the big "Emille Boutemy" lecture hall. I had this on Monday and I'm not going to lie I sat in the huge hall filled with hundreds of students feeling completely lost. The professor was very french (see right) and he spoke very quickly about all these different theories that I struggled to keep up. Before I had finished typing the first part of a sentance I had forgotten the rest of it and he had moved on to something new. It's much harder than I realised to type things in french at high speed as I don't seem to remember them as easily as I do in English when trying to type and listen at the same time. I hope that I will get better at this over the next few weeks!


I also have for this a 'conférence' which is in smaller groups of around 20. In my class there are only 3 exchange students for this (including me) and the rest are 2nd year Sciences Po students, so this is going to be really good for my french. We have to do a 15 minute individual exposé and my topic for this is "qu'est-ce que c'est la gouvernance mondiale?"(what is global governance?). The thought of having to stand in front of the group and discuss this on my own for 15 minutes is pretty scary but mine is at the end of term so hopefully by then I will be improved and a lot more confident!

As well as this there is presentations of the readings each week, done in pairs. Mine is in a couple of weeks with two other french guys and luckily the text to present is in english so that will ease my in a bit as scholarly articles scare me in english let alone french! The worst part though is probably the 4 and a half hour exam at the end of the term. There is no way I can write for that long, my hand would fall off!!

There is also a big emphasis on maps and cartography in this module which to be honest I don't really understand the relevance but we shall see. So hugely mixed feelings and not real excitement about this module but hopefully it will get better.

Societies:

I have found that there is a "pom" society at Sciences Po. My excitement went through the roof! I didn't think there were any sports I could be even remotely ok about and I really wanted to do a sport to meet people but then I found cheer! I have tryouts next friday and fingers crossed if i'm not too awful then soon I'll be a part of the cheer soc! Woo hoo!

I have also discovered, just today, that there is a fashion society too! Hoping I will have a chance to use my video editing "skills" and maybe do some graphic design work for them, and the girl I spoke to said they have a lot of contacts who I can talk to about an internship too so that could also be pretty useful.

Sciences Po VS Warwick: 

So now that I have done a few days of lessons I have noticed some more differences/similarities between Sciences Po and Warwick.

As a fairly small collection of buildings right in the middle of the city Sciences Po does not have that much space to chill out. The library is not that huge and the main hall area/courtyard of the main building are always packed. For anyone at Warwick who knows what it's like trying to leave Ramphal building at the end of a lecture with all the internationals kissing and greeting each other in the doorway then imagine that on a much larger scale and you have an idea of what it's like here.

Also, whilst at Warwick we may have an abundance of (sometimes racist) geese and ducks, at Sciences Po there is a cat, Marcel. He lives in the 13 rue de l'université building and he just casually strolled past me whilst I am writing this. He even has his own facebook page and can be seen often chilling in classes on desks (see above). I suppose famous animals is a similarity between unis?

In other news, I still have no wifi at my apartment so yesterday I tried a cool internet café in Le Maris where you pay 4 euros an hour for unlimited coffee and snacks, called l'Anticafé. A really cool and original concept and a great quiet space to catch up on work or emails or just browse the web. See photos below:

   

I will update you on the other modules at the end of the week so stay tuned. 

Sisters in Nice

Spent the afternoon in Nice, one of my favourite places on the Cote d'Azur. It has so much charm from it's luxury fashion boutiques to the old town antiques market and shopping lanes. I'm going to stay there for a few days with my friends post-party so will be able to do some exploring of Nice's nightlife and what there is to discover on more of a student's budget. 

Here is today's ootd featuring my sister (right) who is shockingly 4 years younger than me but taller, chilling in the cooling mists of Nice's Place Massena... 

I am wearing...

Top - Topshop

Shorts - H&M 

Sandals - Zara 

Bag - & Other Stories 

Sunglasses - Stella McCartney

My sister is wearing... 

Top - Urban Outfitters

Skirt - Hollister

Sandals - Missguided

Sunglasses - Vintage (found in Brighton, UK) 

A day in Italy

So we went to San Remo for the day because Italy is absolutely beautiful and because we wanted to buy a whole parma ham and prosecco for out upcoming party/festival.

Here was my outfit of the day: I had planned to wear a bright blue skirt but then my sister was wearing a blue skirt so I changed et voila...

 

Top -  New Look 

Shorts - Topshop

Sandals - Zara (kids - love having size 5 feet!) 

Bag- & other stories 

Bracelets - various, inc. my Glastonbury wristband (woop!) 

Sunglasses- Stella McCartney, from Century 21 in NYC

Post with pictures of the food market and gorgeous San Remo to follow. 

Beautiful Birmingham

At the weekend I visited Birmingham, less than half an hour by train from Coventry and less than £3 return ticket. Birmingham is the second biggest city in the UK and whilst this wasn't the first time I had been, the last time was for the National Student Apprentice and I didn't have that much time to explore. 

The city, on a sunny blue sky day, is actually quite beautiful (even if the locals of Birmingham are not so beautiful). 

Here are the gorgeous regal buildings that I was in for the Apprentice Challenge, they look even better with the blue sky back drop: 

I believe they are the Town hall (first photo) and the Council House (second photo). When we were looking up things we could do in Birmingham one of the options google found us was a 'Council House Tour'. I was confused as to why anyone would want a tour of council housing, but now I realise it meant this beautiful building and it makes a lot more sense! 

Contrast these old buildings with those more new and architecturally interesting like this one below and Birmingham makes for a visually really exciting city. 

Here's my OOTD for this hot and sunny day, something of a rarity here in England, as you can tell by my lack of tan...

Top: Hollister 

Shorts: Forever 21

Shoes: Converse

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Sunglasses: Stella McCartney 

Healthy breakfast, healthy mind

Last night I had toast for dinner because I didn't have any other food. It was wholemeal bread, and whilst I enjoy the healthiness of wholemeal bread it is not the most enjoyable as toast. So last night at about 11pm, with the prospect of having that same bland wholemeal toast for breakfast weighing on my shoulders, I decided to walk to Tesco and buy myself a healthy, tasty breakfast. 

It's amazing how peaceful the world is at that time. I saw a few sleeping ducks, a wide awake fox, a couple of munching bunnies. Warwick is so wonderfully in the middle of nowhere and although it's often very boring I also often feel a lot like Snow White surrounded by all my animal friends. 

Campus actually looks pretty cool at night, lights in the darkness, all the studious people studying away in the library until the early hours. Quite surreal almost, the calmness of the dark, the distant lights... 

Tesco, might I add, is even more surreal at 11pm. My local superstore is open 24 hours and as it approaches midnight they turn up the radio over the store speakers and it kind of turns into a party. Except that the shoppers, of which there are few, are half asleep, and the workers wide awake. There is food everywhere too, boxes stacked in the asiles ready to be unpacked. I was kind of amazed that all this happens every night whilst i'm fast asleep- madness. 

Anyway so I went to Tesco and below you can see the fruits of my labour (literally) that I enjoyed for breakfast this morning. Berries and pancakes and maple syrup and more berries in a smoothie.

Berries make such great pictures for instagraming but my flatmate (who has the skinniest hands for a guy) was determined to ruin my photo but as it is my most liked recent photo on instagram I think I win.

What can I say, my breakfast brings all the boys to the yard.

New style of revision

Decided to try out a new 'style' of revision and note making before my exam today (see below). 

I thought by combining my notes with some little sketches it might help me remember things. Not really sure if that was the best idea I've ever had or really more a new form of procrastination. 

However my exam this afternoon for my management, organisation and society module wasn't too bad and i'm pretty confident (hopefully) that this won't be a retake. 

Thank you fashion. 

If anyone would like further information on either ethics or power in a business context, theories and case studies relating to these I am at your service. 

BA's have talent

So I was browsing through the images from the latest Central Saint Martins BA degree show and when I came across these creations my heart began to melt.

I decided, as I do with all creations that I lust after, to spend my time creating an illustration of the design since I will never be able to own and wear the clothes. This is how all my illustrations begin, as a simple line drawing, pencil on paper:

I have been desperately trying to add colour to this digitally but it's failing and I have decided that the beauty of this creation cannot be captured in a way that does it justice.

So instead I have decided to include a photograph below (source: vogue.co.uk)








The collection is by Richard Quinn, and is stunningly floral and feminine and the detail is so exquisite. It reminded me instantly of the glamour, elegance and artistry of Dior.

I actually did some research (thanks Google) on Mr Quinn, and was not shocked to find that he was selected to spend his summer in Paris working for Dior. 

Richard Quinn said "I think my time at Dior was the most influential in terms of my creative approach. My team leader always pushed my ideas to develop them further – even when you usually think you have exhausted every avenue, he showed you how to go that extra mile and make it relevant to the brand" 

I am by no means Carine Roitfeld but if I was Raf Simons I would employ this guy as my right hand man at Dior asap. 

Design talent like Quinn's makes me realise that business is the right degree for me; I couldn't compete with him. I wouldn't want to. But I would be happy to sort out his business strategy. 

For more info on Richard Quinn: http://www.wearefur.com/our-trade/fur-futures/blog/richard-quinn-%E2%80%93-central-saint-martins-dior

His full graduate collection and the rest of the CSM BA show: http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/spring-summer-2015/ready-to-wear/central-saint-martins-ba/full-length-photos/gallery/1176750

Crushing on florals

I LOVE  these floral pastel sunglasses. I am in love with them...

...and as much as they look like they are from the same Jonathon Saunders collection as the jacket in my last blog post there is one thing I love about them even more than the glasses themselves. They're only £18! 

Thank you Topshop for providing those of us on a budget with high fashion summer goodness. 

http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/bags-accessories-1702216/sunglasses-468/flower-detail-cateye-sunglasses-2990631?bi=1&ps=20

Chill time

So I had an exam today and it went surprisingly OK. I won't have got 100% but I am pretty confident that I won't have to retake it either (phew!).
As a reward to myself and a way to chill out post-exam I have taken to net-a-porter and dreamed up a gorgeous floral-y, pastel-y summer outfit to lust after.

This Jonathon Saunders emroidered satin bomber jacket is literally the bomb and is so great it's sold out online.

I had an english teacher at school called Mrs Saunders, I wonder if she was related to Jonathon... maybe she can get me a discount?

Oh to be rich enough to shop on Net-a-porter *sighs*
























http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/399166/See_by_Chloe/tiered-cotton-faille-mini-skirt

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/432552/Jonathan_Saunders/cecily-embroidered-satin-bomber-jacket

Vionnet bank holiday

Earlier, whilst taking a break from the joys of spending my bank holiday revising and browsing the Daily mail celeb gossip section (tragic, I know) I came across an interesting article about Goga Ashkenazi, owner and head of the iconic french label Vionnet.

Goga is a socialite and Oxford-graduate and whilst she may be married to a multi-billionaire oil tycoon and have 15 staff, she spent her first years working in finance at companies such as Merrill Lynch before turning her hand to fashion and purchasing a majority stake in Vionnet in 2012.

One women proving that business and fashion do mix and that intelligence and creativity are a recipe for success.

Woo hoo!

Here's one of Vionnet's latest creations, I believe designed by Goga herself. It's absolutely luscious and summery and if had a ball to go to I think this would be my robe du jour.

<-- Similar here http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/432932/Vionnet/cutout-plisse-crepe-gown

Beating boredom

I'm currently in the midst of my horrific first year summer exams and my days are consumed by revision and lonliness.

While i'm aware it's been ridiculously ages since I blogged on here I have decided to take to it again so as to relax my mind from the stresses of finance, statistics and all thing business (and often boredom).

I have recently got myself a position as deputy head of marketing for Warwick Line fashion society, which is pretty cool, and although I haven't had to do anything much for them yet because of everyone's exams, I have of course been keeping my mind (when it has a spare moment) on fashion.

I am constantly filling up imaginary baskets on Net a Porter and then remembering that I am a student, and therefore don't have £3,000 to spend on a coat. I thought it would be more productive to put this lust for items down on paper so that you can also share in their beauty and joy.

Et voilà!

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/431259/Fendi/organza-coat 

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/442811/Alice_and_Olivia/printed-stretch-cotton-midi-skirthttp://www.net-a-porter.com/product/430083/Jil_Sander/mirrored-leather-toteThis skirt reminds me of my art days at school and while I think full skirts are so chic they make me look even more like a dwarf. However for only £405 I could probably afford some Louboutins to boost my height about 5 inches. 
If anyone is interested I sketched these on paper, photographed them and then added in the colour using Sketchbook express on my Macbook. Cool, huh? 

I want to own this beautifully bright orange organza Fendi coat. Would anyone like to lend me £2,870?