Thursday 17th january was a sunny but very cold day. Anyway, we thought, it was a perfect day to admire the magnificient city of Montréal. Then, what could be more adapt for this than the Belvédère Kondiaronk that offers an amazing point of view on the Montréal skyline.

After a 2 hours-walk in the Canadian Winter, we finally reached it. I wasn't disappointed, guidebooks were right: the landscape is awesome. If you come to Montréal, it's a major activity, you have to go to the Belvédère Kondiaronk!

07/01/2013

Here's the day where for the first time we are going to discover the university, its classes, teachers, students... 

Concordia University is a Canadian public university founded in 1974 by the merger of Loyola College and Sir Georges William Campus. Thirty years later, the university is divided into 2 campuses: Loyola Campus (Montréal Ouest) and Sir Georges Loyola Campus (Downtown) where is located John Molson School of business. 

The university is ranked among the best universities in the world. When you see it, there's no doubt...

First good news is the fact that the metro entrance is on the University itself, what permits us to avoid the big cold! Amazing!

Second good news, the University is so huge and modern, it's very impressive for us, European guys! Moreover, when you walk into, you can hear so many differents languages, that's awesome. You can see students from the whole world, so let's practise English!

Last but not least, the classes, altought they are in English and kind of hard, are all interesting. The teachers are educationals and make their classes interactive and exciting for students. Not forgeting, they come from everywhere. For example, I have my HumanRessources teacher is from Taiwan. It will be a great international experience!

I have 4 different courses:

Introduction to the environment of international business (IBUS 462):

I find this course pretty interesting, because it provides you basis for understanding and developing international strategies. It covers all aspects of doing business internationaly: culture, politic, economics, social... Moreover, in this course, we have a team work, in which we have to determine the best country to entry for aforeign company among Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan and then chosing the entry mode.

Entrepreneurship (COMM 320): 

In this course, we learn how to set up his own venture by taking into consideration the financing, the legal environment, the entrepreneur's mind, etc. It's not my favorite course due to to its relative difficulty to follow it in english. However, it could be useful later, because we did  our first business plan.

Human Resources (MANA 362):

One of my favorite course due to its huge interactivity. It is very pedagogical with several role games at each class. Nonetheless, thanks to the course of HR I had with Mr Pretet at ESDES, it was pretty easy to follow.

Sustainable Management (Mana 299)

It was the only online course, I was not aware of that point when I arrived, so I was a bit disapointed. Fortunately, the course is pedagogical with online quiz, self-test questions, short videos and supplemental readings. It deals with doing business while considering ethics and using sustainable practices. It recalled me the French course I used to follow in my first year at ESDES: RSE (Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises).

03/01/2013 Arrival in Montréal

My first impression about Montréal is the unbelievable cold: -17C. 

Anyway, we had to defy it in order to find an apartment. Fortunately, it wasn't so long, Indeed, after our first appointment, we felt in love with a lovely apartment located between metro Place d'Armes and Place des Arts, in the downtown. I can say that's a pleasure to fall asleep with the building lights...

During the rest of our first week, we did all the adminstrative procedures required to live in Canada, it wasn't exciting, but we got relieved when all was done.

Now, we are looking forward to discovering our new University: CONCORDIA!

December 7th 2012,

I'm leaving for Montréal on 3rd 2013, right after the New Year's Eve. I can't wait to discover the city under the snow. It will be my first time on the American Continent. I'm leaving with a friend, but we're facing difficulties for finding a flat. Fortunately, we have a friend who could help us because she currently lives overthere.

We begin the classes at Concordia university on 7th january 2013, I'm looking forward to attending the classes of this prestigious school.

See you soon Montréal!