Eighth Week

This past week has been the busiest that I have had in terms of classroom workload.  I experienced my first midterm in Rouen followed by a short test the following day.  My midterm was for my Intermediate Corporate Finance course, which I was pretty satisfied with when I left the exam.  I wasn’t sure what to anticipate, so I prepared for the worst over the weekend.  To my surprise, the exam was relatively straightforward and consisted of only three questions. The test that I had the following day was also quite easy, consisting of only twenty multiple choice questions.  

As I have mentioned before, the classes at Rouen are directed more at the final exam, which accounts for between 70-100% of my grade for my classes.  Attendance is also a larger issue than at uWIndsor.  While there isn’t a “participation” component to your grade as there is at some classes in Windsor, it is mandatory to attend classes, and students that opt not to may fail the class if they do miss too many classes without a legitimate excuse for their absence. 

This weekend I ventured off into the interesting kingdom of Belgium.  Without a government for over year, the country holds and is currently extending the modern world record for longest period without a government. Belgium is also known for their famous waffles, creating French fries, and their beer.

This was easily the best waffle that I've tasted!

 My trip to Belgium consisted of visiting four cities: Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and finally Brussels.  Each city had interesting history behind it. In Bruges, I visited a museum about chocolate and one around French fries.  The mystery behind the ‘French fry’ name was finally explained to me.  The rumor has it that during the First World War, French speaking Belgium soldiers gave American soldiers fries and the American soldiers had mistaken the Belgium soldiers as French and dubbed the name ‘French fries’.  The chocolate museum was also quite interesting.  In addition to being given some background behind chocolate and how the sweets are made, the museum also featured large sculptures made entirely out of chocolate.  

The Choco Story Museum featured many sculptures - Including this life sized Barack Obama.

The second city that I had visited was Ghent. While I didn’t have much time to visit the city, I did experience my first Belgium waffle (which was delicious!) and took a tour of the city through a canal tour.  I am surprised at how popular canals are in European cities; my impression prior to traveling around Europe was that canals were only common in Venice. 

A picture of me as I'm awaiting the start of the boat tour in Ghent.

 I spent my Saturday evening in Antwerp, Belgium.  Upon arriving at the train station, I was amazed by its size.  The station has four different levels, and resembles buildings in sci-fi movies.  Look through my pictures and see for yourself.  The city is also known for having one of the largest seaports in Europe.  Antwerp is also an important city in the diamond industry; around 85% of the World’s diamonds are traded in Antwerp annually. It was difficult trying to find a restaurant open on Sunday to have breakfast, but oddly enough each jewelry store that I had walked through was open. 

Antwerp is home to countless of diamond and jewelry stores.

The final stop in my “Discover Belgium” trip was Brussels.  It is commonly known as the capital of Belgium and the headquarters of the European Union.  While I visited common monument and statues, my favourite stop was visiting Delirium Café: known for carrying the largest selection of different beers in the world.  When I visited, the menu consisted of around 2,500 different beers from around the world.  From a business perspective, I couldn’t help but wonder how large the costs must be for carrying such a large inventory.

The menu continues to grow with more beers.  When I visited there were about 2,500 different beers on the menu, with a written promise to keep at least 2,400 of those beers in stock.

I have classes until Thursday this week, at which point my fall reading week will begin at Rouen.  I have two friends coming to visit me from Canada and we will be spending the next week and a half traveling.  I will be sure to post a new blog again next Tuesday that focuses more on the academics of my exchange.