With the support of my school, I washonored to experience abroad semester at EDHEC in France. Now that I havefinished my courses, it is time to share my feelings on different life andstudies abroad.

The very first thing that impressed memost was the high spirits and great expertise of EDHEC professors, many ofwhich did not live in Nice, but delivered attractive, professional andwell-prepared teachings every time.

From the four courses I selected,participation and interaction during class was far more important than at CUFE.All professors used their ways to remember students’ names and asked questionsevery now and then, and except FRENCH, during which everyone was likely to beasked to talk three times a class, each one had a formal presentation andseveral class discussions, for BRAND ANAGEMENT especially, over half of thetotal 30 hours were made up of presentations, after each there would be anothergroup’s assessment, asking feedback from every member. Students failed to getothers involved in the presentation had rather low points.

On the other way, although allprofessors failed to cover all points in their PowerPoint because of time limitations,they were all extremely patient towards questions from students. In two of my financialcourses, several students had same problem on one thing, when I was losingpatience as they as they seemed not to comprehend to the explanation; professortook a whole hour to explain in detail. When we met similar points, thosestudents were picked up precisely to strengthen their understandings. Thisreally surprised me as from my experience no teacher ever takes more than fiveminutes for to address individual problems. However they were willing to talkto them after class. I think this might be the reason why to Chinese studentshave low in-class participation rates as we usually wait to have our questionsanswered after class. And foreign professors are less likely to stand at higherplaces to say “I am sure it is right way” or “That is it”, which often happensduring an in-class discussion in China.

Another thing needs to be highlightedis the LANGUAGE LAB for international students, providing help for fivelanguages. The teachers were really nice to help us in different ways andsuggested we match up together with English speakers interested in studyingChinese in order to give us the opportunity to talk as much as possible. Thiscan also be an idea for our language corner.

Foreign students were friendly to usall the time even though most of the exchange students from China (7 out of 9)never started a conversation with them. So it is really the thing to keep your confidencewhen you first get into a foreign culture. In my opinion the main reason forthe communication barrier is because of lack of confidence on our part and notbecause of insufficiencies in our language skills. This end up being one of mybiggest regrets during my exchange experience.

Last come some small ideas:

1. International Student Office ofEDHEC have been so helpful to provide great and direct help for incomingstudents, including notifications, pick-up service, feedbacks, information oflocal events, domestic suggestions, etc. And we asked them for help the staffgave us an immediate response. Many of remarked how efficient they were.

2. Because of refugeeimmigration issues, law and order is strictly enforced in France. However whengoing outside it is still best to keep a mindful eye on one’s personalbelongings and where one goes.

3. On the aspect ofpersonal etiquette, there are some stark differences between Europeans andChinese. For example the people in Europe often say “Hello” and “Thanks”duringbrief interactions and usually are polite and courteous to others. Maybesomeday these manners will become popular in China. Who knows?

4. Feedback is importantfor EDHEC, no matter whether during a spring hike, a mid-term event, or at thecompletion of a course... all of us will be asked to give our assessment. Afeedback session was held at the end of the semester to pick up studentopinions on every course, meanwhile the host carefully wrote down all thestudent comments in his notebook. I believe it is useful way to improveteaching quality. In order to get a more diverse range of opinions I believe itshould be done here at CUFE in a face-to-face manner.

5. Most foreignstudents don’t take grades as serious as we do. Therefore it is wise to have aPlan B for emergencies and to be mentally prepared to take on the bulk of thework. I believe after the assignments we gained more experiences and acquiredmore knowledge than the local students.

In summary, I have learned a lot aboutforeign culture, life and studies on my own, which, in my opinion, was morethan valuable and completely different from what I have gained from books Ihave read or the stories I have listened. In the end this experience has helpedcontribute to my sense of independence and broaden my world view. For most ofthe exchange students it is always harder to communicate than to study, butafter this precious experience I am sure I will do better should I encounterthis situation again.