Aww ! Prof Gaziot says goodbye to us !

I received an email from my Project Management professor !
It's funny, I thought that he didn't really like the class since he told us how terrible our work was every time and there was constant chatter during his lectures. He was indeed one of my better professors here at RBS. He manages a company that sells airplanes, I believe, and managed to take time to teach us every week. Yay for Prof Gaziot !

a picture of him I found on his linkedin page

Dearest Students,

Next monday will be our last and final session together, and it will be a very busy one because of the study case recommandations which will have to be presented by you.

Just before it, let me tell you, how it has been a pleasure for me to work with you, during those last months, especially in this fantastic "international dynamic" made of all various, different and very interesting cultures...

Really, it has been a piece of luck for all of us!!!

So, even if every monday was not an easy day to start the week (-), (this is very true for some specific people...but no names in that mail...), I really hope and trust, it has been also an interesting time for you too...

However, I would like to take this opportunity, to wish you all the best for your future life (professional and personnal as well).

I must emphasize that I am very confident about your success and I will be happy to get some news about it and of course about you, by mail.

At least and to be honest, I will be also very proud to have, as well, a bit participated to this wonderfull project which is: YOUR SUCCESS!!!

Also to complete this mail, I want to wish a very good trip back to any International Student, I am sure you will have a lot of things to tell your respective families after this stay at Rouen Business School and about some real "funny Frenchies behaviors"...!!!

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

Warm regards and
Very sincerly yours
PHILIPPE

Big Bang Project

To wrap up our Project Management class, Prof Gaziot assigned group presentations (6 people/group). Our case study (handed out as a packet) consisted of restructuring a company on its way downhill...fast. Each group selected a project manager (me !) who divided up the work. We had one week to finish the powerpoint, the Gantt, WBS's for everything, and the 10-pg. min business plan.

***
We met right away and quickly organized the work into 5 sections:
Management restructuring
Administration re-organization/internal communications
New marketing tactics/new company image
Financial department organization
Customer service department/client communication
***
There was some disagreement within my group on what the business plan should include, so I emailed the professor asking for clarification. He said...If you have listen my course, you must find everything...I took that to mean that the business plan should include everything noted here! As it turned out, I was right.
***
My group worked well together, and the Chinese students Aaron and Loïc made great Gantt charts for the project timelines and milestones, and also a new website homepage ! Sadly, though, the Indian girl seemed to have copied and pasted most of her financial part from wikipedia, but at least that was just for the powerpoint and not the written part, and since class was ending she skipped most of it during the presentation.
***


Here is our big Gantt chart for the entire project. Click on it to enlarge.

Information Technology: 4 week class

Information Technology
My "advanced" information technology course just started last week. It's 3 hours long every Tuesday (8:30 am) and Wednesday (4pm).
The class isn't normally available to exchange students since there's not enough room in the computer labs, so French students have priority. But, somehow, they managed to save one small spot for me in class ! Yay !
***
Class #1 got off to a rough start because there were 35+ students in the class and only 18 computers, but the prof had half of the students go to the computer lab next door after he lectured for an hour. We're currently working on Microsoft Access. Thankfully I'd already been introduced to this program in my AU IT class with Prof. Melander :) Class #2 was the same, the poor professor flip flopped between the two rooms lecturing and answering questions, but all in all, we covered the entire lecture and I successfully printed out an Access chart for a bouquet shop.
***
Tomorrow we have a test over what we learned...

Versailles: shown to me by a true Parisian

This weekend I went to Grandchamp - where my fabulous French friend Julie lives !
She met me at a train station near Paris, and together we ventured over to the Palace of Versailles.
The entry was free for students under 26, and since my RBS student card doesn't have my d.o.b. on it, the woman asked me what year I was born. Then of course since I had to think about the numbers in French in my head, the woman suspected I was calculating...

Danone, World Domination

This Tuesday marked the second group presentation I had to give at RBS.
Katie G and I teamed up in our français des affaires course to work on the Stratégie marketing of Dannon (in French, Danone).
Indeed, we learned a lot. Danone has its origins in Spain, where in 1919 Issac Carasso started bringing yogurt samples from the Institut Pasteur in Paris. He found out that this yogurt substance helped fight intestinal infections in children due to heat and lack of hygiene.

Miofino!

Delightfully placed in the lobby of buildings G and B are the fabulous Miofino coffee machines! For just 50 cents you can purchase an entire cup of coffee, hot chocolate, latte, café au lait, café aux noisettes, café au caramel, soup, mint tea, and so much more!

This is definitely something AU should invest in. The lines for Miofino coffee machines at RBS are always long, but the wait is always short; it only takes a total of 12 seconds to get your coffee as soon as you step up to the machine (including payment). Great maintenance means there's never a shortage of coffee!
What's great about Miofino's coffee is that it doesn't taste cheap (in my opinion!). It has the same taste (if not better!) than the coffee or caramel latte I buy in Pura Vida or Starbucks.
Another fantastic perk is that some machines in public places take credit cards - perfect for students who don't have cash handy. Does this mean that there could be the possibility of sticking an EagleBuck swiper on a Miofino machine?! According to the website, "Consumers can also use their mobile phone to pay in trains stations in Switzerland and Austria."
How cool is that?
Moreover, AU students might also like this company because of their dedication to the environment. Here are some clips from the Selecta website:

Goal
To reduce the 50 million miles per annum travelled by our merchandisers across the Group, by at least 10% over the next two years, therefore leading to a reduction in our carbon footprint.

To reduce the carbon emissions and waste we produce by developing minimum environmental standards across different areas of our business including recycling and waste, transport and machine development.

All new models must have, as a minimum, a 20% reduction in energy consumption versus the previous model. In addition, new machines must have a minimum of 10% recycled materials. We also aim to purchase over 90% of our machines from production companies with ISO14001 accreditation.

Activity
We have invested over 1.5m euros in developing an automated route planning system which creates more efficient routes for our merchandisers to follow. This will lead to a reduction in the total miles travelled between sites whilst optimising machine visits, leading to greater consumer satisfaction.

We will also be running a field test with our Public Vending machines, using LED lights which should reduce energy usage by 15% versus the current models already in the field.Please bring Miofino to AU campus!

Icappuccino

aux noisettes

The Essentials of Project Management

The Essentials of Project Management is
always a class I look forward to.
***
It is held Monday mornings from 9-noon and is taught entirely in English by a French CEO (I have to double check his position, but he works for an airplane company). His English is pretty good (he has a huge vocabulary). He also expresses his disapproval of our in-class activity presentations with colorful English and French! Our activity groups have to present what we each worked on. We all usually do not meet his standards of performance. We usually accomplish no more than to making scheeeet.
***
Overall, this is one of my best courses. The lectures are good.
The professor makes powerpoints outlining his lesson and gives numerous examples. If you don't understand an example (which has been the case for me several times now), he tries another one and another one until you get it. Most of the examples have to do with organizing a project to build a plane (engine, landing gear, interior comfort, etc)!
***
As with all classes in France, no matter the year/level it seems, the students talk constantly. The professors cannot control the students, and most make a very weak effort to do so. My project management professor, on the other hand, is indeed a little more intimidating than the average, and manages to provoke about 5 minutes of silence at a time instead of the usual 1 minute.