Today was our first full day of classes. I have been so spoiled to have the last week free of structure & commitments! I am glad I had the time in Paris before these classes started as jumping right into them while dealing with jet lag would have been difficult. While here, we'll take 4 classes - EU HR Practices, Cultural Differences b/w the US & France/EU, European Strategy, and European Marketing. The Cultural Differences class is taught by a professor from Carlson. We had our first class today and she is AWESOME. She is from the former Yugoslavia, but has taught in the US for prob about 20 years, so has a great perspective of both cultures. I think I am going to really enjoy that class.
The HR class is very much a lecture style, so gets a little long; all of my undergrad classes were mostly lecture style, but MBA classes are always collaborative, so I am not used to a class with no interaction between the student and teachers. I think that is the European way, though? Not sure. We had the HR class today as well, and it sure is interesting. We did a lot of head shaking throughout the class when learning about the French approach to HR. For instance - companies basically never fire employees. Even if they are underperforming, they'll keep them on, or if they are really bad, they will continue to pay them & tell them to just stay at home. I guess it is a very long process to fire someone & is expensive so that is why it never happens. Many of the jobs, like our professors, are guaranteed for life; you move up the ranks based on Seniority. They are working on reforming this as the labor market is just too rigid but the professor said it's tough because the French are extremely resistant to change. We looked at a chart that ranked the countries by the ease of hiring/firing, and France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal were all towards the bottom of the list. And also have the highest unemployment. So they know that something needs to change... what & how, they aren't 100% sure about.
I had my first 'moment of frustration' today. Long story short, I had alot of difficulty in the computer lab. Was trying to print some articles that Carlson neglected to give to us... the whole thing was unsuccessful & let me just say how thankful I am that I brought my beloved laptop! I will be avoiding that lab at all costs... Never did figure out how to print. I need to make friends with the French guy in our class and see if he'll show me the ropes! We have lots of papers to write, so I am going to need to learn how to print eventually!
After the frustrating experience in the lab, and the long day in class, I am feeling the need to have a quiet night at home. I actually haven't really 'stayed in' for an evening since I arrived a week ago. So I am going to make some comfort food (pasta!), start some reading, and hang out with Pete. I think with a quiet evening & a good nights rest, I'll feel alot better tomorrow. My snafu in the lab this afternoon was such a small little thing, but it's interesting to see how having trouble w/ the smallest things can lead to such a high level of frustration. Kind of makes you realize how much we take for granted the simplicity of life back home where virtually nothing is really that confusing/challenging!
Tomorrow night we have dinner with a local French family; I am really excited about this! Should be fun to have a traditional, multi-course meal! Will definitely come back from this with pictures & a story or 2 to tell most likely!
Bonsoir everyone!!
No comments:
Post a Comment