My Last Week

               It’s hard to believe that my stay in Toulouse is almost over.  Both of my roommates have already moved out; my last day of class is tomorrow; I have already started packing/ cleaning; and I am officially leaving on Monday.  In some ways I feel like I just got here, but at the same time I feel like I’ve done so much in the past four-ish months. 

                My last week in Toulouse began with a trip to Narbonne.  It was a beautiful day in the small coastal town.  As usual here in France, the bus system wasn’t working due to the holiday.  We began the day walking around the small town.  It was quite charming with a lovely canal and an absolutely beautiful cathedral.  When traveling in France, I’ve found that you see many cathedrals, but this one was quite impressive.  My only complaint about our short visit was the map.  We were given a beautiful map of Narbonne at its impressive office of tourism complete with illustrations and explanations of major landmarks; however it only displayed major street names so it was quite easy to get lost.  After our tour of the old town, we caught a train to where we were told there was a beach since the buses were not running due to the national holiday.

When we arrived we had no idea how to get to the beach.  After briefly scanning a map and gaining an idea of the general direction of the nearest beach we began walking.  About an hour later after walking through “creepy French suburbia” where all of the pink houses all looked the same, we finally arrived at the beach.  The weather was perfectly hot.  The cool Mediterranean water even felt nice.  I would have spent more time in the water had it not been for all the jellyfish all over the place.  Overall it was a lovely afternoon sleeping, sunning, reading, and chatting on the beach.

Best Cook Award

Tuesday was the final Erasmus event of the semester organized by our wonderful welcome team.  The final gala was an amazing four course dinner on a boat that cruised down the Canal du Midi at sunset.  The food was amazing.  It was served progressively by waiters carrying around trays of food so we got to try everything including gazpacho, duck and goat cheese skewers, a massive cheese assortment, and panna cotta.  It was delicious! The event was so nice.  We all got dressed up and felt super classy eating our French food cruising down the canal.  After dinner, we went downstairs for the presentation of a video and an awards ceremony.  We had all voted for our favorite Erasmus.  I got the title of “Best Cook.”  It was the perfect end to an absolutely incredible and unforgettable semester.

The rest of my last week in Toulouse was spent in Artemis, a business simulation.  I have done an online Capsim business simulation twice before at the University of Arkansas.  Each of those was completed over the course of an entire semester.  We did this one, which I would argue was even more complicated than Capsim, over the course of four days.  It consisted of two practice rounds, eight decision rounds, a series of conferences, a business plan, several excel models, and a final presentation.  The business decisions we were required to make in each round involved marketing, production, finance, labor issues, changing economic conditions, and response to carbon emission regulation.  My team did relatively well.  We didn’t finish first, but we were competitive the entire simulation and showed the highest exponential growth during the final two quarters of any team.

It was a lot to complete in four days, but I found it to be immensely beneficial.  I learned how to deal with complicated decisions in a short matter of time and how to better work in a team (something I’ll admit I find difficult when under extreme time pressures).  The intensity of the simulation made it a good and somewhat realistic experience.  I’m very glad I decided to participate. 

I can’t believe my studies in Toulouse are complete.  It’s weird to think that the next time I’m in a classroom I will be at the Walton College in Fayetteville.  This has been an unbelievable experience both personally and educationally.  I have learned how to work with people from all different backgrounds and operate in a very dynamic setting while simultaneously studying very relevant and diverse business topics including trade law, finance, marketing, management, and economics. I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything.