ISM insight: Life as an ISM student

The ISM Student Blog provides insight into life at ISM. Bloggers are current students and recent alumni who are excited about sharing their diverse learning experiences in ISM’s programs. Explore this blog to learn more about life at ISM, and how the program benefits students in the long run. You may also want to follow ISM on Facebook or join the conversation on Twitter.

Student Life in Paris

: Written by Abdallah Farid - IMBA Alumnus - Egypt; IMBA Student Blog; Created: 28 March 2014

Don’t go to Paris, it’s expensive!

The French people are not friendly.

You will not survive unless you have good knowledge of French language.

These are some of the most popular words of advice that you will hear when you mention that you are planning to study in France. But are they right? Is Paris really an expensive city for students to live in? Are the French people unfriendly? Will you get lost if you don’t have at least a basic level of the French language? The answer is NO- all of what you heard about Paris is untrue. .

Ready To Start

: Written by Marcela Madero Madero - IMBA Student - Chile; IMBA Student Blog; Created: 28 March 2014

I started my first job shortly after completing my first degree, and I found that the real workplace was quite different from the classroom and from the internships. It was a rough immersion into the real world. Eighteen years and a number of jobs later, I found myself looking for options to broaden my knowledge and give some additional and fresh theoretical framework to what I have acquired through my work experience. Given my area of work, an MBA came up as the next natural step.

What a Month

: Written by Marcela Madero Madero - IMBA Student - Chile; IMBA Student Blog; Created: 28 March 2014

I am preparing to leave Liberia for good, with no clear work destination or timeframe to date. After some insane months, I have finally made peace with the fact that I am not the one who gets to choose this time, and that I have no control on the timing of whatever is going to happen. I now have a one-way ticket out of Liberia and into Paris, which is where I will be for my next post , if, of course, my flight does not get cancelled because of the (small) Ebola outbreak affecting Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Some countries in the area have closed borders or banned flights coming from the affected areas. In addition, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake followed by a minor tsunami, and a huge fire which to date has destroyed about 2.500 houses and affected some 12.000 people, have rattled my country in these past weeks. Too many events, too many emotions, too much…