Internships - a losing battle.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the pseudonym Oliver R Lloyd III, and do not necessarily represent the views of the real Oliver R Lloyd. Thus, if any potential employers read this blog and actually take it into account when considering my applications, please do not be offended if your company is publicly mocked, and please mind your own fucking business. This is a personal blog, why are you using this to judge me? It's George Orwell's 1984 in real life - seriously, leave my personal life alone. By all means, check out my Twitter and LinkedIn pages - actually don't, because they're empty at the moment. Just look at what I give you okay? My CV, cover letter, application form... the documents that are actually written for you. If you want to know the real me, ask me in for interview, don't Facebook/Blogger stalk me. Instead, focus on restructuring national debts or something and get us out of this economic crisis. I'm sick of paying 20p for a Freddo. 




Okay I had to write that disclaimer, because this week I posted a Facebook status saying that I was about to start my first internship application, adding the words "Bullshit cap ON". Upon reading this, a friend warned me against posting such honest statuses when companies could judge me by my Facebook posts. Of course, my Facebook statuses are only viewable by my Facebook friends, to protect me from paedophiles and beggars (despite me being 21, and beggars probably not having access to Facebook. But hey, it seems everyone has it these days!) so I didn't have to worry there. But my friend made a good point - and this sucks!

Why are companies looking at our social media? What are they hoping to achieve? Of course, most of our profiles aren't going to be very flattering from a career perspective, what with photos of drunken antics, crude wall posts from friends, and other things that show that Facebook is what it is - a SOCIAL network! Yes, it is a good way for marketing companies to judge your 'social influence' but isn't that what the Klout score is for? And what about assessment centres etc?

So a profile without anything that may hinder the candidate's chances of employment. Hmmm... what could that look like? How about this? 

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003114301784

Now of course my real profile isn't like that (much) - because when I say 'bullshit cap ON', I don't mean 'lie' - I just mean extend the truth somewhat. The art of bullshitting incorporates the inherent ability to tailor your achievements and experiences to the values and requirements of that for which you are bullshitting, may it be a company, a seminar tutor, or a Warwick Advantage Award application (I managed to get an award to demonstrate my contribution to extra-curricular activities at Warwick, which should hopefully give my CV a boost). Bullshitting is not a bad thing, it is simply a colloquial term to describe the art that all candidates should practise. So even if the companies about to receive my applications did see my status, they should understand that I would not be lying to them, as that would be illegal (and cheating - and I don't want to get anywhere in life not on my own merits).

So yeah, moving on. This week has been my much-needed week off. No classes, no annoying 8:15am starts, no boring entrepreneurship lectures, no-thing! I was going to go home for the week, see my family and friends, and watch the rugby world cup final in Cardiff if Wales had made it there (as was our right). Or I could have gone with Cam to see Kai in Rome, which he tells me was beautiful and awesome (he's already returned). But no, I decided to save my money, stay in Rennes and focus on one thing - getting these internship applications started and out of the way so I could focus on my 32047 group projects and exam revision.

Did that go to plan? Of course not.


Why, you ask? The truth is, I'm scared. I'm scared of investing hours of valuable year abroad time on each application, only to be rejected by each company. I've read their job descriptions - the people they're looking for, and the experiences that they need. I'm scared. I only scraped my 2.1 last year, I wasn't an official exec member of any society, and the only work experience I have had is making and serving pizzas. I'm not 'Employable Ollie'. I don't know much about fancy economics graphs, I don't really care about fluctuations in the Dow Jones market, and I couldn't tell you what major factors affect the yield on a corporate bond. But I can tell you this - I love dealing with people. It gives me a buzz. But that's not very impressive for a Warwick business undergraduate.

For a first internship, it would be great to have a great brand name on your CV. It would open so many doors. I'm looking at consulting, because I'd love to try it out and see whether or not it's for me. I'm also backing it up with HR and marketing positions at other companies. I need to apply to many companies to increase my chances of getting something, so it's a massive task ahead of me. Naturally, Prokey's been hanging out with me loads this week. We've watched a whole season of How I Met Your Mother together.

But it's starting to bother me now, this lack of getting anything done. So I've made a deal with Cam, to not shave until I've sent an application to each of the Big 4 financial firms (Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst&Young, Deloitte and KPMG). As they are massively popular and very intimidating, expect photos of me with a Taliban-esque beard. I've already gone about a week without shaving, and have a nice healthy stubble going on here - so it's probably gonna get quite Jesuslike by the time I manage to find a way to convince the Big 4 that I would make a fine consultant. I mean, come on! Look at the photo! I'm a natural professional!

So yep, this week was totally wasted. Went nowhere, did nothing. But at least I'm relaxed. If you're also applying for internships, or have completed internships in the past, feel free to comment below to share your experiences, give tips (would be greatly appreciated) or just say anything you want to about this topic. Best of luck to those who are applying!

Rant over
Ollie

Patriotism & Punishment

Yes guys, that's right! I know the pain you had to endure without a post for nearly four weeks, so I have graciously decided to give you two for one! I know, aren't I kind to my non-existant fans!

Now, as you should know (and if you don't, you've been missing out!) the Rugby World Cup has been happening these past few weeks in New Zealand. Obviously this isn't very student friendly, with kick-offs being as early as 5:30am! So it is a true test of one's patriotism. And what a tournament it has been! I have always preferred watching rugby to football, unlike what seems to be an overwhelming majority of the British population, and the TV in my room, mostly used for the Xbox, has found a second function.

Now let me firstly say that watching rugby in France is SO much fun! The commentators are not exactly impartial! With the excited cries of 'Wheeeeey penalité!' and 'Aie aie aie' at poor drop goal attempts, it adds an extra dimension of fun to the games themselves. The English games really needed some fun commentary, so thanks France! It's also really fun to hear the French pronounciation of the Welsh rugby players ('James Ook', 'Shaymee Roober', 'Woh- button'). Your TV and music sucks, but with rugby broadcasting you deliver!

Obviously, my main concern in this tournament was that of my little home nation, Wales, who have had a rather unimpressive period since their last Grand Slam in 2008. Watching the first game against South Africa, I wasn't very optimistic. But then Wales turned it up, and only lost by one point to the defending World champions, with a kick by James Ook that was discounted for no apparent reason! So, a one-point loss - a fantastic achievement against the defending champions, but also really frustrating, as we were so close!

Now I don't know about you, but I find you become more patriotic the further away from home you are. In Wales, I thought to myself 'Shit, I'm Welsh. I have to learn this useless language, and there's nothing to do there'. While studying in England I conveyed the attitude 'Yep I'm the Welsh guy. We have a fair few things to do in Casnewydd. And no, we don't shag sheep - they've taken a vow of celibacy'. In France, I'm wearing Welsh tops, speaking about the amazing places to go and things to do in Wales and reciting llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to near perfection.

And from this point on, the night I decided to stay up til 5:30am (I can't get up in the mornings you see) to watch the all-important clash against Samoa, I was ready to sing 'Mae hen wlad fen nhadau' at the top of my voice on the streets of Rennes. Of course, I was knackered during the match, and when Samoa scored that 40th minute try, I decided to get some sleep. No, I wasn't bailing on my team. I had faith that they would win, okay!

And of course, I was right.

Next came our rape of Namibia. Unfortunately I was stuck in International HRM class with my idiot of a teacher, so I had to rely on a BBC News Feed, and confused expressions from my classmates as I pumped my fists every time we scored a try (12 times in all). Then my favourite match of them all - Fiji, the bastards who knocked us out of the last World Cup. I watched in my room and relished every single point we scored, and every time our rock-solid defence denied them from scoring a single point. And Jonathan Davies' last try giving us the bad-ass final result of 66-0  made sure we qualified for the quarter finals. I wore my Welsh jersey all day, proud of such a powerful performance!

Now I knew what was going to happen. Ireland had beaten Australia in a shock victory, but if Italy beat Ireland, they would still not qualify, so I made sure to watch the match, hoping that Ireland would win so Wales would face them in the quarter finals and not Australia. Of course Ireland won, which was great, and convincingly, which was a bit vexing. But later that day I knew what I needed to do. I know a couple of Irish girls here, Katie and Michelle, who I like to chat with about the rugby, as they too are rightfully proud of their national team, and it's nice to discuss our shared hatred of the English team. They have watched some Ireland games at an Irish bar in Rennes, called the Westport, who serve a nice 'Irish' breakfast (which is a French version of the Irish version of the English breakfast) and I had agreed that if it was Wales v Ireland, I would watch it with them there. So I went to the bar later that day to book the breakfast.

That following saturday was the best morning of my time in Rennes so far.

You should know what happened, and if you don't - start watching some rugby! I was the sole happy man in the bar early saturday morning as Wales had a comfortable victory over the Irish. Of course I felt sorry for the irish people there, including Michelle (Katie had a class that she couldn't bail out on), and plus there was a slightly drunken Irish guy who looked like he wanted to maim me, so I didn't rub it in. Obviously, I was extremely happy. Never in my lifetime has Wales got to a semi final! (The last time was the inaugural cup in 1987). But the poor Irish have never even had that achievement, and I was shocked to find that out, with their incontrivertible talent.

And so after the heartbroken Irish fans left, I stayed to watch the second half of my great morning: England getting beaten by a weak French side! I cheered with the French at every opportunity France seized and England squandered. At half time, the French were 16-0. I'm sorry to say this. I feel ashamed to say this. Like a prisoner confessing his deepest sins, like a guy telling his best friend he is in love with him, like a paedophile revealing himself to the school board, I will now reveal the disgusting thought that went through my head at this stage.

I wanted England to score a try.

There, I said it! I'm ashamed to have had such a dirty mind, but I couldn't help thinking it. My English friends (including Matt) were sat with me, really depressed, and with a bar full of cheering French fans who were outnumbering them, I didn't want my friends to be humiliated. It just wasn't fair, plus France weren't playing anything like as well as Ireland did against us, and the fans were getting a little complacent. They needed a wake up call. One try, just to put the English on the board.

The try came in the second-half, and I was pleased to see the excitement on the English guys' faces. There was hope in their eyes once again, that maybe their shitty overhyped team could actually beat the other shitty overhyped team. But then, like a bump on the head, I reverted back to my Welshness. That's it England, you've got your try. Now France, kill them.

They didn't. England continued to attack and scored a second. This was getting stupid now. I had confidence that if France didn't beat England, then Wales would in the semi, but I wanted Wales to progress further than England. Much further. If Wales were the only home nation to make the semis, perhaps the BBC would start taking notice of us. Perhaps the French would take notice of us. Perhaps other countries around the world would now know of my little nation.

And thank God, the clumsy French side held their own, and I cheered with them as the final whistle was blown. Still in my Welsh jersey, I turned to the small French throng and yelled 'LE SAMEDI PROCHAIN!' and they all cheered - I felt like Aragorn or something!

So Wales had won and England had lost - it was a perfect morning! Now people were hearing of le Pays de Galles, the team that have trimphed and progressed beyond last cup's finalists England and South Africa. With our defensive performances and fluid attacks against Fiji and Ireland, and the last surviving team of the Pool of Death, I felt we could beat anybody, and the French would need to play a lot better against us. I was waiting for the semi, waiting to hear the final whistle blow and a superior Welsh side be sent to the final for the first time ever. I was preparing to deal with a lot of abuse from jealous French fans, and even to go online and book a flight back home to watch the final with my family, with 50000 Welsh fans in the iconic Millennium Stadium. I was well and truly excited that maybe, just maybe - Wales could lift the Webb Ellis trophy.

And then my hopes, and the dreams of my nation, were shattered in the worst possible way.

Getting up on Saturday morning to watch the game, I made the last minute decision not to return to the Irish bar, for fear of not being able to see the TV screen, but to watch it at Frieddie's instead. With a French boyfriend, Frieddie's allegiance was with les bleus, but she just did not understand what the match meant to me. How nervous I was that Wales succeed.

It started off well, with three easy points for Wales. I joked that I was happy for the match to end like this, while Frieddie, in her own sceptically curious way, asked questions not on the rules of rugby, but on why the rugby players had tape on their legs, which I admit, was a bit annoying. But she continued this throughout the match, and it soon became almost infuriating.

20 minutes into the game, the tragedy occured, and I stared at the screen evaluating the replay of the tackle by our captain and national hero, Sam Warburton, seeing it as a clear yellow card offense, having seen worse tackles get sin bins.

When Warburton sat down on the side, and the display said Carte Rouge I had thought maybe my French was wrong. Maybe rouge meant yellow, not red, because that couldn't happen. It couldn't be. I had never seen a straight red card before, but I had seen worse tackles!

My head fell into my hands. We had lost the game after 20 minutes. It was over. The French had an extra man for a whole hour of play. They would now destroy us, and it was just a matter of how many tries Wales could prevent.

But that was not the case. Although the French then seemingly dominated possession and territory, they could only get three penalties - not a single try! Usually the ten minute sin bin is a turning point in the game, and France had an hour with an extra man (sorry, TWO extra men with that bastard half-French, half-Irish ref - why the fuck was he in charge of  Wales v France!) and France still couldn't get past our defence, even when we were missing our captain!

Then I saw Mike Phillips break away and score a Welsh try and jumped up in the air. I could not believe it. There was just over 10 minutes left, and if Steven Jones could only convert this try, we would be in the lead! As the ball hit the post, I was annoyed (that was the 4th missed kick that could have sent us through) but still hopeful. We had the momentum. Just one more try. We could STILL do this. Screw the try, just a penalty. We could actually beat the French with a 14 man team, a historic victory. Screw the penalty, just a drop-goa-PENALTY!!! PENALTY!!! A straight long-distance kick, the very kick Leigh Halfpenny successfully put between the posts against Ireland last week. Yes! This was it! God the pressure he would have been under! I saw the ball go towards the posts and jumped in the air, smashing the glass of water I forgot I had left near me. We had done it! Just defend Wales, defend!

And then kick-off started, and to my horror, the number next to Wales was not 11, but 8. I yelled a curse - he had missed it! The ball had fallen centimetres short of the posts. We were still behind, and had one more chance. 22 phases. Come on Wales, get that drop goal! We need this! The French commentator was repeating 'pas de faute, pas de faute', to which I replied 'plein de fautes, plein de fautes'.

But the ball was lost. I could not look as the French kicked the ball away to seal their 'victory'.

Now I'm not going to lie to you guys, I was almost in tears. I was devastated! Of course, I do not believe it was a red card offence, as it was clearly momentum. He lifted Saint-Clair off the ground, which deserved a yellow, but he did not force him to the ground, so it was not a red-card offence. And if we had Warburton for that hour, oh what we could have done!

But it was too late for 'what ifs' and 'buts'. It was over. Our dream was killed by injustice and poor kicking accuracy (it was perfect against Fiji, why couldn't we have borrowed just one of those penalties?) It would have been easier if the French had thrashed us, if they had demonstrated that they were the better team. But they clearly weren't. I'm sorry to be a bad loser, but they weren't. Wales was undeniably the better team, and it was the undeserving French team, the team whose players don't trust each other or their mocha-moustached coach, who have made it to the final.

And then I was punished. Punished for my patriotism. Frieddie and Cam, who had arrived just after the final whistle, were totally unsympathetic. They just didn't understand what it would have meant to me. I tried to compare this to Germany in the football world cup, but Frieddie didn't care enough about them either. She was just bewildered at my upset, laughing and telling me 'it's only a game'. This was 10 minutes after the final whistle. How dare she be so patronising!

And then a French classmate of mine texted me saying 'Now you have to kiss the French flag as you promised!' Kiss it?! More like piss on it! How fucking dare she - like the French deserve this?! The French had beaten us by one point with an extra man! And now, they were acting like they had beaten Wales outright, rubbing it in my face. I didn't do that to Michelle and Katie, and I didn't even do it to the English guys, so why was I getting this treatment? I had to be alone for a while, gather my thoughts and relax. As I told Frieddie, she laughed. That girl really didn't get it! Maybe I was being melodramatic, but I was genuinely devastated.

All I can say is - I'm glad I wasn't at the irish bar.

So yeah, as I meet more French people this week and they ask me where I'm from that match always comes up. And the heartbreak returns. I'm still not really over the shock, but I know Wales will have to be tomorrow to face Australia for the 3rd place. But yeah, I still think of the match that should have been. Wales v the All Blacks. How incredible would that have been?

But despite all that, I have never been so proud to be Welsh. There is a SHIT load to do in my country, and loads of beautiful valleys to see. Despite the high teenage pregnancy rate, the low intelligence, and the hatred for anyone who has it, Wales is still my home. The rugby team has done us all so proud in this competition, and Shane Williams will be missed, as our greatest-ever try scorer and a phenomenal talent. But with the likes of Sam Warburton, George North, Rhys Priestland, Jonathan Davies, Toby Faletau, Scott Williams and Luke Charteris at the fore of our young talent, France had better watch out.

So despite the smug looks that were fired in my direction that day, I wore my Welsh jersey through the streets of Rennes, proud of my little nation and their conduct in this Rugby World Cup.

Good luck tomorrow, boys! Cymru am byth!

Rant over

Ollie

Business & Busyness

 Hey guys! I'm Ollie Lloyd from Newport, South Wales and I'm currently staying in Rennes, France "studying" business on my exchange year.

Just thought I'd reintroduce myself because it's been so long since you've heard from me you've probably forgotten who I am! I'm very sorry for this, but I have been very busy experiencing Rennes these past few weeks, and the longer it took, the bigger the task would become, and the more my manipulative friend Procrastination 'Prokey' Jones asked me out for a drink instead.

So how have I finally gotten the time to go through with this post? Simple, I'm in an Entrepreneurship & Small Business class with a teacher who, nice as he is, is a bit of a bore. He talks at us repeatedly for three hours at a time, with only a ten minute break to rush to get some Coke. It's thanks to him that I'm now officially addicted!

But as Richard Ashcroft sang in the classic Verve song "the drugs don't work", and the Coke can only get you so far. The effort needed to listen to his lectures, in which he says the same thing in 9 different ways (typical businessman I guess) is just overwhelming, and after finally getting (kinda) used to the 8:15am starts, this is still too much for me, and I always dose off. FYI, my body clock is still in British time, so I technically get up at 6am every morning, so any Warwickers reading this can stop complaining about their 9ams!

He doesn't allow usage of phones or even laptops during class, so I can't distract myself. And as Prokey is still at home having a staring competition with the pile of unwashed dishes, I thought - hey, let's write my blog OFFLINE! Yep, I'm seeing things differently, just like Warwick Business School claim to do. They have pictures of blue strawberries - MINDFUCK!

Okay so where did we leave off? Shit - Disneyland?! You're kidding me, that was weeks ago! Dammit this might be a long one. I might need to do this through Project Management too.....


Disneyland

I was very excited to go to Disneyland last Sunday 24th September - but why? I've been there so many times I've actually lost count! Well, 50€ for return travel and entry is quite the bargain, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to bond with those who live with me in Appart'City.

The bus ride was a pain in the ass - and neck, and back, and legs. We got up to get the bus from school at 4am (well I didn't get up because I didn't even go to bed, but let's not get pedantic about this). While we were waiting for the bus to arrive, I cracked open a can of Coke (they've stopped putting cocaine in their drinks right?). STUPID DECISION! The bus ride did not consist of cheerful banter and sing-along songs (It's been a while since I've been on a school trip), but everyone trying to get some sleep. My friends and I took a double seat each at the back of the bus and tried to curl up. With the caffeine bubbling frantically in my oesophagus, and the double seats clearly not ergonomically designed to be laid across, this ended up being quite the struggle, and thus I started my new hobby - contortionism.

When we got there five hours later, my feelings were a strange mix of nostalgia - it had been a whole 13 months since my last visit - and sadness. The magic of Disney was wearing off on me. I was there not for the atmosphere, not to hug Mickey Mouse and ride It's a Small World, but only for the 'big kids'' roller coasters. Walking through the park I was shocked at my own thoughts. I wasn't thinking I was in a different world where happiness and hope is forever ubiquitous, and my favourite Disney characters were there in the flesh. (At this age only weed can do that for you.) I was busy thinking how high the park's daily operating costs would be and sincerely doubting that, even with such a massive consumer base, Disneyland's annual revenue would be enough to make profit: WHAT HAS BUSINESS SCHOOL DONE TO ME?!

And, even worse than that, I was checking out the girl dressed as Rapunzel. She had to be my age and Oh God WHAT HAS BUSINESS SCHOOL DONE TO ME?!

Okay so anyway my priority was to try Rockin' Roller Coaster, the Aerosmith ride, and the fastest roller coaster in the park. After a childhood distaste of roller coasters, I had only conquered it last year by riding Space Mountain twice, and I had not tried the ride that, with its blasting rock music and guitar-shaped carriage, had my name written all over it!

So far it was looking good. The wait time was only 35 minutes - perfect! But then things started getting a bit shit. We were all asked to leave after 20 minutes of queuing due to the ride having a fault (I pictured a group of 24 people screaming and dangling upside down as the carriage stopped mid-loop, one or two hanging on for dear life, having somehow escaped the safety bars) and as we looked elsewhere in the Studios park, the rides either had a 90+ minute wait, or they had also messed up (more dangling screaming people). Okay, to the main park!

I won't bore you (anymore) with the details, but despite missing out on Rockin' Roller Coaster, it was still a great day, definitely worth the money!


The guys

Maybe I should introduce you to the guys with whom I went to Disneyland, who have since become some of my closest friends here at Rennes. To protect their identities, their names have been changed. Just kidding, I'm using their real names!

Matt (England) - Coming from Weston Super Mare, close to Wales, and also studying in the Midlands (Birmingham) he is from a similar background to my own, and coupled with our shared love of music and comedy we have naturally got on very well. As the only other British guy at ESC Rennes (Chris has left Rennes by the way - forgot to drop that bomb eh! He didn't like it here and decided to endure a 3rd year at Warwick instead. Wishing you the best Chris!) the two of us enjoy talking about British culture, how we miss fish and chips, and teaching our international friends PROPER English, not the American drivel they've had forced upon them.

Itzel (Mexico) - with enough kindness, wit and general awesomeness to make up for her short stature, my IBPM classmate is a great laugh, and her accent is the most adorable thing you could hear!

Simon (Ecuador) - A really funny and chivalrous guy who's somehow studying IBPM in English with me after having learned the English language for just one year! He's improved greatly already, and his voice is AWESOME - I can do an impression of him, it's so much fun!

Satu & Jaana (Finland) - Yep, it's your signature pair, where one without the other is weird. Satu is fairly quiet, but very wise when she speaks, while Jaana's lightning-fast dialogue conveys confidence and indifference towards anyone who disagrees with her. They are both fantastic, and often make my day.

Annelien (Belgium) - She knows just about everything there is to know about her home country (politics, beer, cities, culture, sport - anything!) and is very clever - luckily for me, I work with her in most of my group projects. She's also a very talented singer and a joy to discuss music with.

Rob (Cyprus) - Okay, this dude didn't come with us to Disneyland, but he lives with us in Appart'City and is definitely worth a mention! He's a big lad with a bad-ass goatee, and if you didn't know him you wouldn't want to spill his pint! But then you see his Family Guy t-shirts and realise he is just a great laugh, with a soft sense of humour, referring to my home country as the 'U Gay'. Great dude to drink with too!

Yeah I probably shouldn't have exposed these guys online, but I feel I should - they're an integral part of my time here, and I think they're all awesome! And the mix of nationalities never ceases to amaze me. I feel humbled every day to be part of such a cosmopolitan group, and I get to learn so much about other cultures from all over the world, not just that of France.




My studies

Another reason for the delay in the blog update is the sheer amount of work I have been doing for my various courses. I realise I haven't really explained what I am actually studying here, so here's a brief outline of what I'm doing:

International Human Resource Management - I realise this is my favourite field of business study - dealing with people and human capital. When I finally get started with my internship applications, I shall be focusing on this line of work. Unfortunately, I'm not the biggest fan of my teacher, who doesn't really listen to anyone's opinion. Dude, this is organisational behaviour - bloody psychology! Everyone's entitled to an opinion, and he tends to ignore our suggestions, having just asked for them, in favour of his own views based on uncited research. One particular example that pissed me off was when we had a case involving a staff member who spends his lunchtimes on the Internet and the HR manager finds he has uploaded his CV on a job website. Instead of trying to get to the bottom of the situation, our teacher would just fire the guy instead for using company Internet bandwidth for non-work related matters, even if his job performance were flawless! He even compared improper use of company bandwidth to using a company car to take your kid to Disneyland for lunch time. WTF? Who takes their kid to Disneyland for lunch? 90 minute wait times!

After an hour arguing with him, asking if our mark would be based on our almost-psychic ability to say what he thinks rather than arguing our own opinion based on academic research and business cases, we had to accept that he just would not give way. When I mentioned how demotivating firing the guy would be, the manager audaciously claimed that that was what all the Fortune 1000 companies do. When I mentioned Google and Microsoft, he said 'the rest do it'. Um, what?! How do you know this?! Have you conducted research on all 1000 companies?! Do you even know the names of all the companies! Do you even know what a company is?! Ugh, he's an idiot, but at least the arguments wake me up on Monday mornings. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 0.3

Project Management - this is taught by the same guy who teaches Entrepreneurship, and I don't really know the point of this class, because it seems to just fall in with the business plan that we have to do for the latter class. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 1

Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management - apparently we have an exam at the end, but at the moment I'm doing exactly what I did in my first year - creating a business plan and pitching it, except this time it is only worth 30% of the class, and the info in the lectures seems to be geared towards that. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 0.8

French Culture - Taught by a hilarious French professor resembling Bilbo Baggins, who himself claimed that the Finnish think he's either drunk or mad. It is quite a fun class, albeit a little pointless. I'm experiencing French culture firsthand through living here, meeting French people (which, by the way, I'm continuing to succeed at) and trying raclette - a great dish involving melted cheese and various cooked meats. So it seems studying it academically may be a waste of time. Fortunately, however, it is taught in fluent French, and is a great way for me to practise listening and understanding it. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 0.1

French Language - Due to being in the top level, and having not studied French for two years beforehand, it is extremely difficult for me at the moment, especially considering the lack of any English. The teacher knows some English, but she'd rather flap her arms about doing strange motions to explain new words. I think to myself 'just say it in English, dammit!'. I presented for the first time last week (on Coca-Cola of course, while drinking Coca-Cola of course) and it actually went pretty well, and since then my confidence has gone up. This is definitely the most difficult class, and sometimes I'm as enthusiastic about it as a snail about to enter a salt factory, but this tactic of total immersion is used in Europe, according to Frieddie, and the Germans are brilliant linguists. Maybe this is the reason we Brits suck at foreign languages so much - we need to be taught like this from the start! PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 0.7

Distribution & Channel Management - With a topic that seems unnecessarily drawn out, and a teacher whose English and general voice projection is somewhat lacking, this class immediately became my least favourite. Furthermore, considering it is early on a Thursday morning, the day after my 6 hours of French classes (which is very tiring), and sometimes the open bar events that are on Wednesday nights, it just did not seem worth studying. So, to reduce my credits to a normal level, and to allow myself a much-needed mid-week lie in, I dropped this class after just one lesson. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 2

Marketing Metrics - This is a VERY useful class, actually giving quantitative values to the otherwise wishy-washy field of studying that is marketing. Unfortunately the teacher is from Nice in the South of France, and her commuting means that we get only a few classes in this module, but they are intense and tiring - good job that it is so interactive. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 0.5

Salesmanship & Sales Force Management - taught by a charismatic American who clearly knows what he is doing, this course has been a very interesting introduction for me to the field of sales, a subject that is not taught at Warwick. Like metrics, the classes are few and long, but as the teacher is so engaging, and the course is so interactive, it is easy to follow, and is currently my favourite course in business. PROBABILITY OF SLEEP: 0 (except the ethics topic - that was a higher score of 0.8)


So there you go, a summary of my studies. As you can see, I have had an awful lot to do here, but it is mostly interesting, so I do not mind it at all. Although the 3 hour classes do take their toll.


Busyness

Finally, I thought I'd summarise the past few weeks outside the classroom. The weather was great the weekend after Disneyland, and I spent most of my time chilling at le Parc du Thabord, a beautifully-maintained park in the centre of Rennes, with many different people, drinking wine and enjoying what will probably be the last great weather of 2011. 

Of course, with all my various new-found friends, there has been the odd night out or fifty. I want to dedicate this, my longest blog post, to my stomach, who is an absolute LAD. The mélange of substances he has had to deal with has been ridiculous, from strong Belgian beer, wine and vodka orange juice shots (I drank so many of those shots at the last open bar I probably got my 5-a-day!) as well as one night where I decided to cook chicken that was rather funky, having been in my fridge for a bit too long. I had to pull out of a cremaillère that I was invited to in case of my getting salmonella, but fortunately my stomach fought off the small amount of funky chicken that I had thoroughly cooked, and I was perfectly fine. If there was ever a time to get food poisoning, that was it! So thank you, my stomach. Your continous service is much appreciated, and I will not test you like that again (the chicken, not the drink).

Obviously, summarising nearly a month is very difficult, but of course, for me, there was only one more event of continual importance throughout - the Rugby World Cup, which has made me very proud indeed to be a Welshman. So proud, that I will have to dedicate a separate blog post will the awesomeness of the Welsh rugby team, because clearly, I have written enough here for now.

So once more guys, I am sorry for the delay, and I will try to update it more frequently so you can get more detailed stories. But this has been a very important update for me, because I have finally outlined a few important parts of my stay here.

So what's next? Well tomorrow, after French class, I will have a half-term holiday that, coupled with the holidays of All Saints Day, will give me nearly two weeks of vacation. I wanted to travel through Europe with Cam, but due to the high costs of last minute flights, I will probably travel in January instead. I shall stay here to do some catch-up work while some friends go visit their loved ones. However, hopefully I will have some more stories to tell very soon. For one, yesterday I made sure that I achieve my main resolution for 2011 - to visit a new country. I have booked a ticket to Amsterdam for the weekend of the 5th November to see the sights and try the local specialties. Stay tuned for this guys as it should be a good one to report!

For now, I'm bloody tired, so I should leave you. I'll add photos when I can be bothered.

You look great today by the way

Rant over

Ollie