Happy Monday! Today was our first day to visit Emlyon, one of the most prestigious business schools in France. The school is only composed of 3 buildings, but every year, they receive thousands of applications of which they can only accept 400 lucky individuals. We are very lucky to be able to attend a couple lectures given by this university's renowned staff. Today, we attended a lecture on international negotiations with Professor Hans.
This lecture was particularly interesting to me because I took a negotiations class this past spring semester with Professor Ziegler. There were several similar topics covered, such as a BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) that seems to be common across cultures. However, I learned that the French frown upon bartering and haggling, which is surprising because just yesterday at the farmer's market, people all around me were bartering with the vendors to get a good deal. Perhaps Hans was referring more to established shops and restaurants where a price is already posted on every item. Too bad I can't go into Louis Vuitton and haggle down a price for a handbag (although he did say we could try)! That's ok, I think I'll just appreciate the "detax" (tax free/duty free) that I will get on my purchase.
I chose to attend the visit to Smart Electric where we learned about various alternative energy resources (wind, water, solar, etc). As a bit of an environmentalist, this visit meant a lot more to me than Renault Trucks would. My favorite part about this trip was the simulation available where you could choose what sources of energy are used to power a residence in a specific season of the year (see picture below). Solar energy produces almost no power in the fall due to rain and overcast skies! I think this is an excellent tool that hopefully the company will continue to develop for all regions of the world.
Lisa Loung and I checked out the mall at the end of the day. Of course, many of the stores are different from those of the US, but we noticed that the layout and shopping behaviors are nearly the same. It felt like we were in an American mall, except French was spoken all around us instead of English. We bought matching scarves and decided to head back to the hotel to have dinner with the rest of our friends.
Needless to say, today was certainly an educational day. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings... I am so excited to go to the wine country!
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire