Dauphine is located in what was the NATO building. Which, as you can see from the picture below, is basically four connected(ish) buildings that form a square around a courtyard. I say "connected-ish" because whomever designed this thing, must have wanted you to have top secret clearance to be able to get from point A to point B. Some stars lead to some of the first floor rooms, while you have to take "special stairs" to get to the rest of that floor, and some rooms are accessible from inside, while others can only be entered from the courtyard. So needless to say, you have to plan a few extra minutes (more like 15) to make sure you can find your class. I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it, but we'll see.
On our first day, Dauphine organized an orientation for all of the exchange students. It was a nice way to get to meet everyone else, and we even got a free t-shirt and breakfast, so always a plus! The next day we had to take a French language placement exam in order to enroll in classes, which was a little nerve wracking, but I ended up exactly where I wanted to be, so I was thankful for that.
Then, day 1 of real classes….. First of all, classes here are one day a week for 3 hours. Three HOURS. But, lucky me, my finance class is actually 5 HOURS. Now, if you're a huge fan of numbers, and stocks, and bonds, and value, etc. then five hours might not be so bad, but personally, all of those things make me want to rip my eyeballs out, so this is going to be a real discipline test. Also, not only is it finance, the rise half of the class is dedicated to French accounting, which let me tell you, is in no way related to how we do things in the US. Fortunately, my roommate is also in this class so we can suffer through together.
Now for the part about missing ozone. At OU we have this handy little thing called "ozone" which allows you to view a class, see what time it's at, who the professor is, and enroll in it. Amazing, I know. That little piece of modern technology, has apparently, not quite made it over here. They do have an online system, but it only allows you to see the course description. That's it. So you enroll in a bunch of classes, you don't know when they are or if they're full, you just know the name of the course. So, amazingly these classes sometimes occur at the same time. You find out a few weeks before whether or not your schedule will work, and then you find out on the first day of class if there is enough space for you. Almost every class (except for the lovely finance) was overenrolled. So what do you do when your class is over enrolled by say 40 students? Make them give a presentation about why they should be allowed to take that class of course! Fortunately, I was able to get into all of the classes I needed to take, and I think after the stress of this first week it should be much easier.
Okay, so enough of my whining about the organization (or lack thereof) of classes. After that first week, I really have enjoyed them. I'm getting to learn about the development and mechanics of the EU, the economics of trade, the history of art and architecture in Paris, and cross-cultural consumer behaviors. These are all classes (except finance) which I actually really enjoy going to, and they're courses that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to take at OU. And as a plus to having to spend 7-8 hours a day in class, I only have school Tuesday-Thursday, so I can go enjoy Paris- I mean do homework, the rest of the week.
And at the end of the day, I can take a walk by the Seine, and remember how lucky I am to get to live in such a beautiful city, school systems and all.
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