Have you ever thought about having an independent life and living all alone in one of your favorite cities? If you asked me this question, I have done it twice. Coming from Islamabad, Pakistan to Vancouver for university was my first time living alone. I was really excited to live alone and now I can proudly say that I wouldn’t have been the same person I am today if I hadn’t moved to Canada. The second time is now when I moved to Paris for a study abroad term at ESCP Europe in Paris.
Visiting Europe was a dream come true. I had planned a year in advance for my trip to Paris and to study at ESCP Europe through the SFU exchange program. Paris is a beautiful city. The culture and the architecture here is extraordinary. It isn’t so easy to get approved to go on exchange to this prestigious school but trust me, your hard work does pay off when you actually come and study with the cream of the crop of French students. France has a really different way of educating than Canada. Students here work really hard to get into one of the Grandes écoles, but once they are in, their career gets a head start. ESCP Europe is ranked number 3 in the list of these Grandes écoles, but it is the only one located inside Paris, which is why it is so special.
Some of the clichés about Paris and Parisians are true, such as that Parisians are not too friendly. I think it would be true for any city that has a lot of tourists. They take their time to become friends, but once you are in their trust circle their attitude changes drastically. Regardless, you will be amazed and overwhelmed with the amount of international students you will meet at ESCP Europe. Students from around the world with different nationalities will join you and be open to becoming friends with you. In addition, learning each of their respective cultures and sharing stories would consume all of your time. It’s the best thing ever! Moreover, Paris is a great destination to set up your base camp if you are planning to travel around Europe during your exchange. Most of the countries are accessible through trains and planes from Paris. The cost of travelling is significantly lower from Paris compared to other cities in Europe.
ESCP Europe is a great school. You get to choose courses and make your own schedule, just like at SFU. You may find education a bit easier here compared to SFU, but it still requires a lot of work. Maybe it’s because you are only focusing on school with no volunteer work or student clubs. Furthermore, there are courses in English and French available, and the professors are really good too. The best things about it is that the campus is right in the heart of Paris and there are tons of restaurants and bars around the area for you and your friends to hangout. Like any other business school, group work is essential for all classes so my advice would be to select different people from each class. This is the only way you will be able to learn from other students and make new friends.
Paris is an expensive city and finding an apartment can be a tedious process. I would recommend being patient and looking in all available places before finalizing your accommodation. I was lucky to find a decent sized apartment through air b&b. I rented a room with a Parisian family, which made my trip even more fun and exciting. They are really nice and I get to eat a lot of French cuisine. They tell me about different events happening in the city, which sometimes are hard to find through Internet or Facebook.
I am so happy that I got a chance to visit Paris because of the SFU Beedie exchange program. I would recommend all Beedie students to apply to ESCP Europe and visit Paris. If you ever plan to work or move to Europe, ESCP Europe on your transcript would give you a huge advantage over other candidates.
Baqar Hassan is in his 4th year student studying Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Marketing and Management Information System at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University. Baqar is currently studying abroad on exchange at ESCP, Paris.