SBM EXCHANGE REPORT
ESSEC Business School – Paris, France
Steven Yu – SPRING 2015 Exchange
PART I – Monthly Activity Log
Galleries
This log serves to let you have a glimpse of how life would be as an exchange student in
ESSEC and in France. It would summarize what I have been through in my 4 months of
exchange. It is quite an impossible task to describe the “once in a life time” journey with
limited pages. Believe me you would experience much more than this.
 FEBRUARY
I did not have the chance traveling around Europe before the semester began due to
my winter internship. The semester in ESSEC started relatively late compare to its
counterparts in France. By the time when I arrived in Paris it was already late February.
Things I have done:
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Checked in the student residence, get yourself familiar with the environment
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Attended a compulsory orientation session for international students
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Attended activities organized by the Student Association in ESSEC (boat tour and
city hunt in Paris, meeting my buddies in the school etc.)
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Enrolled into a 3 days course before the semester started in March (You would be
free for a week for traveling if you have not enrolled into these courses)
 MARCH
Student residence – Les
Hauts de Cergy.
Travelling to different parts
of Europe
March is the prime time when you could spend time travelling around Europe as
courses have just started and the content would be easy to handle. ESSEC have reserved
Friday for make-up lessons, which means practically you would have lessons four days
per week only, it might be even less depending on your schedule. Therefore you would
be able to plan for trips even during the semester.
Things I have done:
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Travelled, travelled and travelled! In addition to city Paris, I had been to Belgium,
Netherlands, Spain and Portugal making good use of the weekends.
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Of course I attended to lessons and worked on assignments in between the trips.
Travelling with your best
friends
 APRIL
I travelled less frequently in April as workload is getting heavy. This would be the time
for you to plan for short trips to explore Paris.
Things I have done:
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Travelled to Germany, Austria and Greece. Explored city Paris during weekends.
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Prepared for the mid-term examination and projects for some of my courses
 MAY
Magnificent teammates and
professors
May would be the peak season of studying. I stayed in France for almost the whole
month preparing for final examinations, projects and presentations. Though there were
a lot to work on, you would still be able to gather with your friends in school for some
activities.
Things I have done:
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Studied! Studied! Studied! Exams were coming!
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Attended an exchange fair in ESSEC as a representative of HKUST. (Which was fun!)
ESSEC Exchange Fair
 June
Final examinations began in early June. After the exams and presentations I stayed for
two extra weeks in Paris and in the UK before coming back to Hong Kong. This marked
the end of the journey.
PART II - General Exchange Information
I hope you enjoy reading the report so far. The second part would be relatively less
interesting yet much more important to you if you are planning to study in ESSEC. This might
be the first time you learn to plan for a long journey all on your own. Here are a few (actually
quite a few) tips for you to be better prepared for your exchange.
 Visa Application
There are quite a number of things to do before you can actually go for the exchange.
The first thing would be to apply for a visa. I am holding a HKSAR passport, therefore I
was required to apply for a French visa (long stay – more than 90 days). You can refer
to the application procedures of the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and
Macau. Web address as below:
http://www.consulfrance-hongkong.org/Study-long-stay-more-than-90-days
The application procedures consist of 1) a brief academic interview and 2) a session for
submitting a number of documents (e.g. visa application form, copies of passport, ID
card, etc.). You have to book the two sessions individually. The processing time would
be around two weeks. It would therefore be better to start earlier. Remember to fill in
the OFII form when submitting the documents if you would like to apply for APL, which
is a subsidy for your accommodation if you are living in student residence. (Would be
cover in the next section)
 Accommodations
There are in total 4 student residences in different locations managed by ALEGESSEC,
namely: Les Hauts-de Cergy, Le Port, Les Linandes and Le Parc (which is reserved for
year 1 students). You would receive an academic and housing package from the school
a few months before the semester began. The school would ask you to fill in and return
the application form through email.
Les Hauts de Cergy: is the residence where I stayed during my exchange. It is very close
to the train (RER) station and is two stations (~10 min travel time on RER) away from
the campus. The rent of the residence would be cheaper compare to Le Port. (For your
information, the price of a one way ticket from the residence to the campus is around
1.15 EUR) There are two supermarkets, a small Chinese market and a cinema nearby,
which I consider quite convenient.
Studio - Les Hauts de Cergy
Le Port: Close to the campus (walking distance), yet the price is substantially higher
(~200 EUR per month). However the residence is relatively new.
Les Linandes: Quite far away from the campus (~20 minutes walking distance).
Personally I think it is a little dangerous walking back to Les Linandes alone at night, as
the area nearby is relatively suburb.
For the APL as mentioned, you would need to possess residence permit in France in
order to be eligible for the subsidy. You would need to fill in the OFII form when applying
for the visa, or else they would issue a visa which exempts you from holding a residence
permit. The OFII form would be returned to you together with your passport by the
French Consulate. Further procedures would be introduced by ESSEC upon your arrival.
(You would need to have your birth certificate translated into French by a certified
translator one month before going to France in order to have your application
processed.)
Les Hauts de Cergy
 Course Registration
After settling the issue of accommodation, the next step would be to enroll into classes.
Together with the housing package you would receive an academic package listing
courses that would be offered in your exchange semester. You can refer to the website
of ARRO to check for the courses that are equivalent/ transferable to HKUST. ESSEC is
famous for its management and entrepreneur courses, which you might be interested.
There are also intensive courses held before the semester starts and in between long
holidays which you can make good use to learn the most out of the exchange
experiences.
MyESSEC
For your information, I have taken:
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3 Finance courses,
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International Negotiation,
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French Civilization, and
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Beginner French
The course registration process is very simple, all you need is to do is to note down the
course code of the courses you would like to take, log into the following website:
www.myessec.fr
French Civilization –
Cheese tasting
follow the instructions sent to you from the school, input the course code and submit.
The number of courses in ESSEC are comparatively less than that in HKUST, hence the
process is much shorter.
 Transportation
The train and metro system in France is much more complicated than that in Hong Kong,
hence it would take you some time to get used to it. I would suggest you to download
an app “RATP”, which is created by the official public transport operator RATP in France.
The app would show you the map of the whole transportation system, the schedule of
each train and announcements in case services have been disrupted by strikes/ delay.
International Negotiation Class
Depending on which student residence you have chosen, the need of transportation
varies. For me, I would need to travel back and forth on RER between campus and the
residence on a daily basis. If you are a frequent traveler, you might consider purchasing
the Navigo, which is similar to the Octopus card in Hong Kong. They are different in that
the Navigo is a monthly/ weekly pass.
The campus (zone 5) is quite far from the city center (zone 1-3), hence the tickets from
student residence/ campus to city Paris is relatively expensive (~8 EUR one way). You
might consider going to the city on weekend, in which you can buy the Ticket Jeunes (~
11 EURO for zone 1-5 with unlimited use for the day).
For transportation from Paris to other parts of Europe, there are a range of choices:
flights, buses and trains, which you can consider when planning for your trips. Bear in
mind that cheap tickets usually have poor timing (i.e. overnight), you have to plan
carefully for each trip to make sure you would not miss any of your flights/ buses.
 Language
Great thanks to my buddy from HKUST who is also going to ESSEC for the exchange. He
speaks fluent French so we have saved up much troubles during our stay in France.
However I would say French people are generally very nice and helpful. They know you
RATP – A useful app
cannot speak French well and are willing to speak in English. All you need to learn is a
few phrases and sentences in French, like greetings and asking questions.
One problem would be, which is also mentioned by previous students who have been
to France, a lot of the documents and materials are only available in French, for instance,
bank statements. You may need to seek help from your friends or the school if needed.
 Safety
It depends on how cautious you are. I would not say Paris or any other parts of Europe
are safe but over the 4 months of studying and traveling I had not lost anything. As long
as you take good care of your belongings you would be fine. After all there are only
pickpockets in Europe, rarely would they rob you on the street.
You are however not advised to stay on the street late at night as that could be
dangerous. Make sure your friends would be with you if you are going back to the
student residence late.
 Telecommunication
Believe it or not - I have not purchased any phone and data plan. The plan usually
provide services in France and would not cover regions outside. As I am mostly not in
France during weekends and there is WiFi in campus, I chose to save up the money.
Important: Some of the student residences would not have WiFi coverage, remember
to bring a broadband for the internet connection of your computer. You might choose
to bring a router as well/ or alternatively use your computer as a router.
 Financials
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French Bank Account
It would be much more convenient to set up a French bank account for the
following reasons:
1. It is much more secured to keep a bank card than cash
2. You can pay through your bank card when making purchases in shops or
supermarkets
3. You can make online payments with the French bank account
4. In case you are lacking money, extra money can be transferred from your Hong
Kong bank account to France.
ESSEC is cooperating with Société Générale (a French Banking Company) to give
some benefits to their students for setting up bank accounts. I set up my bank
account in the company and I was satisfied with the services. The remaining balance
of my bank account is transferred back to Hong Kong on time as planned.
-
For your references, the breakdown of expenses for the 4 months (might vary
depending on different person, you should set your budget greater than this):
Cost and Expenses (HKD)
Total Cost and Expenses
o/w ESSEC Exchange Expenses
66,800
49,882
(Accommodation, transportation, food, admin. Exp.)
o/w Traveling Expenses
(France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Germany,
Austria, Greece)
16,918
PART III - Items to Bring and Contacts
Documents:
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HKID, passport with copies
Birth certificate copies (Original and Translated) if you have applied for the APL
Passport photos
Clothing (SPING semester):
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Thick jackets (waterproof)
Backpack for traveling
A bag for school
1 to 2 pairs of shoes (depend on your needs)
Scarf/ gloves
Others
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Laptop
Broadband cable
Phone and portable charger (very important)
Medicine
Stationeries
Snacks
I hope you would enjoy you stay in ESSEC and in France. Good Luck!