Hello! My name is Jasmine and I am now in my final year of my degree in Business Management & French at Surrey.
I have just returned from my year abroad, during which I spent one semester studying at ESSEC business school in France, one of the most popular and prestigious business schools in the country, and in Europe! I was fortunate enough to receive the Santander study abroad grant, which helped me settle into a city as expensive as Paris with fewer financial concerns. Being on the outskirts of Paris was an unforgettable experience that gave me the opportunity to challenge myself and learn more about myself, French culture, and France as a whole. Especially as a French student, being able to spend time completely immersed in the culture and language helped me deeply in improving my French understanding and communication.
Surprisingly, French university culture is totally different to British university culture, which is something that took getting used to, but I have no regrets and enjoyed every moment spent at ESSEC. There were some events that took place that were insane and I could not imagine taking place in the UK. The assessments were mostly presentations (there were no written assignments), and classes were three hours long! Despite this, ESSEC offers a huge range of different modules, many of which were topics I had never heard of before. Thanks to this, I was able to take some classes that I would never have had the chance to take at Surrey, such as sustainable development, and I honestly feel that studying new topics like this has broadened my understanding of the world. Additionally, since it was a business school and I was required to take some modules that were only taught in French, I was able to create more links between the Business side and the French side of my degree, taught by teaching staff who had real-life experience at the tops of their fields.
As mentioned before, ESSEC business school is based just outside of Paris, which is also where I lived. Transport in my area was quite good, so I was only a 10-minute metro ride from university, and a 40-minute metro ride to central Paris. In my free time, I was able to explore the city. Being so close to the capital, I benefitted greatly from its transport links with other cities and countries and was lucky enough to go on some fun trips during my mid-term holiday. By the end of the semester, I had visited Nice, Marseille, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Annecy (where I spent my second semester), Lyon, as well as Amsterdam! It was so exciting to explore each city and learn more about their rich cultures (especially the food) and history, with friends that I would now call friends for life
Having done it myself, studying abroad is an opportunity like no other, that I think everyone should consider during their time at Surrey. Moving abroad alone allowed me to blossom not only personally, but professionally as well. It is a way to meet new people from all over the world, learn about new cultures, new places and create friendships for life. I even got to reconnect with my French penpal from year 9! It may sound like a challenge at first, but it is important to remind yourself that all exchange students begin in the same boat and just want to enjoy their experience too.
