Travel Report Aalto University, School of Business Student number: 248189 Exchange University: EMLYON , , France Spring 2017

1. Preparing for the exchange

Before departure

EMLYON is a a Grande école and one of the leading business schools in France. It’s generally ranked 4th best in the country, just after the business schools in . Founded in 1872, it holds ​ , and has five campuses; Lyon, Saint-Étienne, , , and Paris campus and the Shanghai campus co-established by emlyon and ECNU - Asia-Europe Business School (AEBS).

An exchange in European Union countries is significantly more care-free due to free movement of people. No special travel documents to France are needed, just make sure you have a passport or an ID (always useful), and the European Health Insurance card. However please note that you might wanna get a proper travel insurance, I got one and for me Turva was the cheapest.

Preparing for exchange has a lot of formalities, but mainly for the universities and the EU. Your home university will give clear instructions as to what you need to prepare, so just follow those ​ ​ instructions. Fill the Erasmus papers, and send them on time. Your host university will also tell you what to do and when, so mark those dates and do the things, fill the papers and send them. As my host university was EMLYON in France, I made sure to be formal and polite in all of my email exchanges with the school.

Registering to school

There is a mandatory registration done online, before arriving to the school. That registration grants you student status at the school, so do it properly. There are different sections that you need to fill out, and you must get a medical certificate for the school and sports (optional for sports). Go to the doctor in YTHS in Finland, so you won't have to do it in France and pay 23 euro for it, like I did.

Getting to Lyon and to EMLYON

There are direct flights to Lyon from Helsinki, but I flew Helsinki-Paris, and took a train to Lyon. I did my exchange in the spring semester which meant that I flew during Christmas/New Year’s = expensive flight and train prices no matter where and how you search for them (I bought it 2-3 weeks before departure). Make sure to book early!! Because I didn't. You’ll save money. I had to take a train from Paris because of my big luggage, but I was also checking BlaBla Car, but many can't take big luggage to their cars. Also if you are taking the train from Paris, check train prices because they are very expensive just after New Year’s but get better for example the 3rd of January.

EMLYON is situated in Ecully, which is about 30-45 minutes by bus from the city center. Public transportation in Lyon works well, and costs about 25€ a month for students. Going to school for me meant walking or taking the tram to the bus station and taking a direct bus from there. Other options were metro + bus. I arrived first to orientation day the 3rd of January, and everything was well organized and good reception, helpful staff.

The most important preparation for the exchange is the mental one, and being curious and interested in the local culture, city, and country you are going to. I also researched EMLYON a lot, so I knew what kind of reputation the school had, what it means to get in, and studying there.

2. Exchange studies

Semester

EMLYON has three semesters, Fall, Spring, and a third “summer” semester with intensive one week courses. The Spring semester 2017 in EMLYON was from the 2nd of January to the 15th of May. Orientation day was supposed to be the 2nd, but got rescheduled to the 3rd of January. All of the courses would take place during 2.1.-15.4., but note that the dates when you have school totally depends on your course choices. My first lecture was on the 2nd of January, and last lecture and or exam, the 30th of March, with a lot of free time in the beginning of January.

Choosing courses

Everything related to studies in EMLYON happens in their online portal called Brightspace. From there you’ll find your schedule, email, choosing courses, grades, instructions and homework for courses, and for example classrooms for the lectures, and much more. The school sends you your logins, so make sure they work.

EMLYON offers courses both in French and English. The widest and most interesting selection is of course in French, but there are a sufficient amount of English courses offered as well. You’ll totally find worth of 25 credits from those. Exchange students can choose from a specific list of courses, and prior to selecting them officially, the school sent exchange students a detailed list of those courses, with information about them. It’s a good idea to read it, and familiarize yourself with what you want to take and what’s your goal with them.

As a rough general comparison to Aalto School of Business, I feel that EMLYON offers a lot more of practical courses, and the course content and everything is much more vocational. In my experience it’s a thing with French business schools, not just EM.

The courses I took

All exchange students were in the Msc in Management (Grande Ecole program) as an international “auditeur”. The courses I took, with a short description and their usefulness:

EC116A - Deciding - Richard RUBLE - 5 ECTS

Deciding course sounds very interesting, but in the lectures it was not so interesting. This was mostly due to the professor, who did not have such a dynamic way of teaching or expressing himself. The course was a mix of behaviour economics and psychology, which are both very interesting as fields of study. It was heavily based on the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and also some other well known books related to the topic. I learned useful information both for life and work, but the lectures were very very boring. You can power thru tho! I did.

Work needed for the course/evaluation: attending lectures, presentation of book chapters, and a final exam with short essay answers.

MK68 - International negotiation - Philippe HARI, Hans SCHLIERER - 5 ECTS

Very useful and interesting course, definitely worth taking! This was taught mostly by Philippe Hari who has many years of experience in the field, knowledgeable guy. Rewarding course seriously. The course was divided into two parts; lectures and negotiation simulation. Group work involved for the second part! Also very fun course, where you get to hang out with your group mates doing something useful.

Work needed for the course/evaluation: multiple choice exam, performance in negotiation simulations, material produced during negotiation simulations.

HUMA11 - Power and politics - Ignasi MARTI-LANUZA - 5 ECTS

This course was from the humanistic course choices, so it was more than business oriented. Every lecture had a different topic, and this course had one of the most interesting lectures I took in EM. There were two main professors for the course, plus guest lecturers. This will expose you to a variety of topics about life, world, history, corporate life, but I found it didn’t go deep enough. That’s probably because this is a humanistic oriented course, in a business ​ school. For real depth, one would probably have to take this in a university. But if you have not ​ at all taken courses outside hardcore business, then most definitely I recommend taking this, just to expand your worldview.

Work needed for the course/evaluation: group work, essay exam.

HUMA12 - Rethinking Marketing: Contemporary Issues and Critical Perspectives - Handan VICDAN - 5 ECTS

A marketing course that takes a “critical” viewpoint to modern marketing. Mostly examining current trends in marketing, and a little bit also about sustainability issues. If you are familiar with marketing stuff or social media, or anything that has been going on in the past years in terms of, for example Uber or AirBnB, or you know what is Couchsurfing, then this course will not offer much new insightful and exciting times. Did not offer much depth or anything really different, surprising or questioning, and due to that I found this a little bit boring and non-stimulating. Group work involved, so you will get to know a little bit your group mates. I recommend taking this if you do not mix with marketing stuff at all in your work or studies.

Work needed for the course/evaluation: lecture participation, group work, presentations, multiple choice exam (closed book).

MK101 - Route to market, ECR and Category management - Monica GROSSO - 5 ECTS

An amazing course, and an amazingly knowledgeable professor, best I’ve ever had in my university studies anywhere. Very tough and sharp in what she does, really knew what she was talking about. Enjoyable, truly interesting lectures that were engaging. This course is about retail, and more specifically clothing and food, mostly in the Italian market (due to professor’s work and academic experience), and intended to introduce and familiarize yourself with retail category management, and the work itself like for a category manager or upper management in clothing or food. In Finland those may not sound so important, but in the European context if you look at France with a grocery store giant like Carrefour example, and Italy with its fashion production, then you will get a better idea of the importance. I work in retail, and deal with category management, so I found this course extremely interesting. Learned a lot about that specific topic of the course, as well as the working life in general.

Work needed for the course/evaluation: 2 bigger case studies as group work, short essay answer exam.

CLFA24, French A2 - Intermediary

French course offered by the school. You choose your own level, and it’s five times during the semester. Very cool if you want to learn French, but not enough on its own. Also this was something nice to do with the other exchange students, so you will see your friends in class. Final exam, but no credits, so you don’t have to worry about passing etc. Stress free!

BSFITN_02 - Fitness/cardio

You can choose one sports course offered by the school. There’s a wide variety of which to choose from, for example salsa, savate, or competitive or relaxed football, basketball, etc. I chose fitness like a lot of my exchange buddies. Fitness once a week, for about 1,5 hours, all in French. Super! Plus nice routine.

Issues related to courses and how to deal with them

Everything regarding courses happens in Brightspace (the school’s portal) so make sure your logins work, and check all the emails the school sends. Also when you’re there, check your school email (you’ll get your own emlyon email address), because all communication there. Make sure you are in the group email list so you get all the emails meant for exchange students! I and other students weren’t at first, and I figured it out by talking with other exchange students. So talk and ask questions!

There were some problems and questions with Brightspace and choosing the courses, but we always talked a lot with another Finn who was going to EM, so we helped each other to know possible problems and how to solve them, and what we needed to do next. Also emailing with school helped, they were very helpful there. Just make sure you are doing everything you are supposed to.

3. Free time and other information

Accommodation

You have two choices where to live and how to get an apartment in Lyon; find your own or either take a room from the school’s campus housing. The rooms are about 12 square meters and cost around 500 euros, with shared kitchen. It’s an ok choice, I had exchange buddies living there. But it’s expensive and far away from the city. I knew I wanted to learn French and actually be able to speak it, and I knew I wanted to live with a roommate/roommates. So I searched for an apartment on my own. I found my apartment through Roomlala, a website where you can search for accommodation with roommates. I also searched from appartager.fr, a popular website for colocation.

Homelife: Roommate’s cat with local groceries & studying French at home.

I lived in Perrache, Presqu'île, Lyon 2e arrondissement with my landlady/roommate who was a local. The apartment was super nice, and I had the room upstairs. I payed 340 euros a month, which was, in comparison to other exchange students’ apartments, cheap. Presqu'île is a beautiful area to live in, showing some of the best things in Lyon. It’s situated between the two rivers la Saône et le Rhône, and with excellent location you’ll be able to move around the city with ease.

View from my apartment in Lyon 2e, overlooking le Rhône.

Cost of living

The school is free, and there are no books or any other stuff that you have to pay for. Student priced meals are offered in the engineering school very close (less than 10 min walk) of EM, and a meal costs around 3 euros. Public transportation card was about 25 euros for students, plus a 5 euro fee for the card itself. At EMLYON there are burgers, pizzas, and pasta offered at 4 euros a meal, as well as other kinds of hot meals for about the same price. Quality is not so good, but it’s sufficient for the days you’re at school and not feeling like walking to the engineering school for a proper meal. Register at izly.fr and download the app to pay at the campus resto, they don’t accept cash. Get a student priced transportation card at TCL Sytral office, for example there’s one at Bellecour.

Food in France is around the same price as in Finland, but the difference I found is that some items are much more cheaper, and some a little bit more expensive. For example cheese and wine is seriously a lot cheaper, so I recommend eating cheese and drinking wine a lot, because there it’s normal life, in Finland it’s really expensive. A bottle of good red wine costs about 3 euros. Drinks in bars are not cheaper (around 6-7 euros for whiskey) but wine is, like 2,50 or 3 euros for a glass of red wine. Eating out is something I recommend very much. Lyon has a lot of traditional bouchons that serve typical Lyonnaise food. You can get a three course meal with 17 euros, plus wine and you will have a great dinner for around 20 euros. You can find cheaper as well. There are also many international restaurants.

Bouchon in Vieux Lyon.

In summary, life is a bit cheaper in Lyon, and you will get more for your money there. Worth noticing is that France is culturally very different from Finland, and the flight tickets don’t cost that much to go there. So you won’t spend all of your study grant on plane tickets or housing!

Student life

The school has an association dedicated for organizing events for international students. There are many during the semester, so I recommend going there as it’s a good mix of locals and exchange students. In the school there is a rich business school associations culture, but it’s not really for exchange students. You’ll get to enjoy quand meme! There is a bar in school, with regular happy hours at least once a week. I enjoyed the school’s bar a lot, and it’s also where you meet French students. Cheap beers at 2 and 3 euros, and sometimes wine.

From school at a time when the associations were choosing new members.

We had a good group of exchange students, and we did a lot of stuff together. Basically that will form to be your group, because you are all in a somewhat similar situation there. We went out a lot, mostly to cheap bars, dinners, and did some traveling around France.

Lyon and traveling in France

Lyon has an excellent location in France, situated quite in the middle, it’s close to everything with great transportation connections to other French cities and bus connections to for example Italy and Switzerland. As a city it’s not too big, and not too small. It has a lot of students and variety, so it’s a lively and sympa city. The weather in January is a lot like in Finland, and it’s starts to get warmer in March. In April the temperature reached like 26 degrees with sunshine. If you are going in Spring semester, I recommend taking your winter clothing, it’s not warm just because it’s France. Lyon is an amazing and beautiful city, and has two rivers floating two it. Drinking and hanging out by the river banks is popular, especially when it gets warmer.

There are many cultural differences between France and Finland, probably most visible in everyday life is the culture of politeness, and how you greet people. If you are only hanging out with exchange students, then maybe you won’t be exposed to this that much. Always greet people and be polite, France is a place where you say bonjour in the elevator, and au revoir when you leave the elevator.

Lyon is a great choice if you want to travel in France and Europe. If you like skiing, it’s really close to the mountains.I travelled in France and visited Annecy, Orange, Montpellier, and Avignon, so mostly in the South of France area. Also went to Geneva, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy, where I flew to Romania. In general there are great bus connections and it’s cheaper than train. From Milan there are a lot of cheap flights to all over Europe, so it’s a good idea to check bus connection to Milan and flights from there. Also for day trips and visiting nearby cities and places, I recommend BlaBla Car for cheap rides. I used it to go to Annecy and Avignon.

View of Lyon from Fourvière.

Good to know

For getting around in Lyon, the city bikes are awesome. I recommend paying for the whole season, it’s cheaper and more carefree. If you live in the city, the distances are not long, but for walking a little slow, but for the bikes just perfect.

The French government grants CAF, which is a subsidy for housing. You need a French bank account for it. Check if you are eligible for it, and if you want to go through the trouble of applying. It’s still free money though.

Monoprix is more expensive than Carrefour. Busses are cheaper than train, even if you have the SNCF 12-27 discount card.

Lyon is great with a lot of things to do, see or visit. Vieux Lyon is cool, and the city has a lot of places to discover, with a lot of history.

4. Final Comments

EMLYON is a good school with a good reputation, so school wise it’s a solid choice. Especially if you want something that’s actually quite tough, since it’s the best one after the schools in Paris. The courses there are nothing too difficult if you do the work, so I’m sure you’ll have no trouble passing (with good grades). Paris is quite big and expensive, so I wanted to choose a good school but didn’t want to go to Paris. Also, I had heard a lot of people telling me Lyon is amazing.

Learning and speaking French

Previously I have done an exchange in Toulouse, France, so I knew a lot of what I wanted to do differently this time. It was also important for me to learn to speak French, and I had started to study it again long before departure in January. If you wanna learn it and speak it, I recommend putting in the time and doing the work with it, it’s like putting money in the bank. Once you hit France, you can get straight to practising talking. I was fortunate enough to get some local friends with whom I spoke French with. Please notice that takes a lot of effort because your French needs to be at a level that you are not completely useless for conversation or hanging out, and you need to have the willingness and readiness to speak. Absolutely doesn’t have to be perfect, but speak!!! Get words out. It’s fun! And the local friends helped a lot with it, they teach you new words, translate what you don’t understand, introduce you to more local people, and help and correct you with pronunciation. It was also very good and very cool to have a French roommate whom to live with. She helped me a lot with places and we hung out and talked a lot, and it was having someone in the city who would always help you with anything.

Exchange itself

I really really wanted to go on exchange, and specially to France. I also absolutely fell in love with Lyon! In general, I think it’s good if you have some idea what you want to do in exchange, or like the reason you are going. It gives some structure, and guides that time there. It also probably makes you feel more satisfied with the whole experience, if you manage to reach those objectives. I didn't want exchange to be a time in your life where you go crazy and disconnect from your normal life, but I wanted normal life there. I have my own company in Finland, so I did work stuff there and went to school. I had more free time there, and used it for hanging out with friends and learning French, and travelling.

It’s a special time because it’s so finite, comes a day when you have to go back to where you came from (for most people), so everything there, just take it in with open arms. Absolutely one of the richest aspects of exchange is the people you meet there, and the time you spend with them. One of the best things there was hanging out, talking to people, asking questions and listening. They will open new worlds, teach you new things, and introduce you to stuff that you weren’t that familiar with, and change your perceptions on things. If I learned anything, it is to go and do and see places, meet as many new people you can, say hey more, go more, do more. It’s all part of the full life experience.