Monday, March 20, 2006
Parties again...
Ok the week with many exams is gone, and a big positive thing were the numerous parties after - a reward :) First, the famous "Tous burre ensamble!" (Everybody drinks together) party here at our dorm, was very fine. On Saturday, another party at the school next to us. Three stages, one with Dj, one with bands, one with student orchestra :) Everybody drunk more than me (well I did not even drink because of the cool atmospehere). More than 1000 people I guess. Some of theme really crazy. Just look at the pictures...
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Vieux Lyon
Such a nice day yesterday! I went to my "french class" to St. Georges, Old Lyon. It is not a real class in school, I am just speaking french with Maria and she has to correct me all the time. I hope this will help to pull up my poor french!
When I was there, I took some photos of this ancient part of Lyon which is a mixture of the last 20 centuries and so an Unesco heritage, as the guide says. It has really nice atmosphere with cobblestone streets, historic renaissance houses, steep narrow alleys and of course quiet large churches. The sheltered passages that lead through blocks of houses can be found between the streets, they have served as a protection during WWII bombings. Two retro-looking funiculars climb the slopes of Fourviere mountain on which the quarter is built. One of them goes to Roman ruins, the other one to Basilique de Fourviere. Especially the Roman amphitheatre from 19AD is a great place! While standing on the stage at the bottom, I wondered how it was like to give the Powerpoint presentations in there? ;)
When I was there, I took some photos of this ancient part of Lyon which is a mixture of the last 20 centuries and so an Unesco heritage, as the guide says. It has really nice atmosphere with cobblestone streets, historic renaissance houses, steep narrow alleys and of course quiet large churches. The sheltered passages that lead through blocks of houses can be found between the streets, they have served as a protection during WWII bombings. Two retro-looking funiculars climb the slopes of Fourviere mountain on which the quarter is built. One of them goes to Roman ruins, the other one to Basilique de Fourviere. Especially the Roman amphitheatre from 19AD is a great place! While standing on the stage at the bottom, I wondered how it was like to give the Powerpoint presentations in there? ;)
Monday, March 13, 2006
Exams have arrived
So I had the first exam today. It was Business Policy and we had a case study of 20 pages, 5 questions and 3 hours. All of the students finished after those 3 hours... I personally spend 1 hour reading, 1 hour writing and 1 hour just thinking what the hell is everybody writing?! Well not my best performace, for sure.
When we were going back to dorm, we noticed a small rabbit sitting in the middle of road. We started to chase him so he gets lost but he was still running in circles. Probably he was too shocked or... it reminded me of a book of drawings, called The Bunny Suicides. Some samples:
Ok tomorrow morning I have another exam that will last 3 hours and now I am totally dead from today's gym. I need to see the slides, at least...
When we were going back to dorm, we noticed a small rabbit sitting in the middle of road. We started to chase him so he gets lost but he was still running in circles. Probably he was too shocked or... it reminded me of a book of drawings, called The Bunny Suicides. Some samples:
Ok tomorrow morning I have another exam that will last 3 hours and now I am totally dead from today's gym. I need to see the slides, at least...
Friday, March 10, 2006
Le Palais de la Biére
There is a place in Lyon called "The Beer Palace" and their advertisement says that they offer 300 different kinds of beers. We went out to check it out.
We arrived in "happy hour" which is until 9pm. The friendly waiter sat us to a table and then we ordered or I better should say "then we were ordering". He asked each of us what kind of beer we like, what beer we haven't tried before and brought us samples of what he recommended to us. Quite nice job, he devoted to us maybe 20 minutes for one order! So this was auite a drawback, we were dying of thirst until we could finally order. And also he said to me that I should not taste the sample he gave to Lucy because then neither of us will get the taste right. So I brainstormed with her and came to the conclusion that if we want to try the beer of the other we need to keep it in our mouth and kiss... okay I am just provoking you ;)
The beer was of course good - as always is. The only thing that prevents me from beiing a returning customer (besides time-consuming ordering process) is the price - 4-6€ for small, 8-10€ for large?? This was definitely the most expensive beer in my life :) Luckily I am going to see Prague in two weeks so I will visit numerous real palaces of beer that are there! Because for me, being a king of beer means that I can get more than two glasses in one evening ;)
We arrived in "happy hour" which is until 9pm. The friendly waiter sat us to a table and then we ordered or I better should say "then we were ordering". He asked each of us what kind of beer we like, what beer we haven't tried before and brought us samples of what he recommended to us. Quite nice job, he devoted to us maybe 20 minutes for one order! So this was auite a drawback, we were dying of thirst until we could finally order. And also he said to me that I should not taste the sample he gave to Lucy because then neither of us will get the taste right. So I brainstormed with her and came to the conclusion that if we want to try the beer of the other we need to keep it in our mouth and kiss... okay I am just provoking you ;)
The beer was of course good - as always is. The only thing that prevents me from beiing a returning customer (besides time-consuming ordering process) is the price - 4-6€ for small, 8-10€ for large?? This was definitely the most expensive beer in my life :) Luckily I am going to see Prague in two weeks so I will visit numerous real palaces of beer that are there! Because for me, being a king of beer means that I can get more than two glasses in one evening ;)
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Nourriture... or what do I eat here
French cuisine... famous in the world!
First week I arrived I was eating in canteen of Ecole Centrale which is in the same campus. A menu for 2.8€, that was not bad for entree, main dish, desert and bread. I have to say that the dishes vere usually quite good tasting. But the steaks! Bloody hell! If you like your steak RARE then this canteen is the right place for you to eat. But I like mine MEDIUM WELL so I don't eat in canteen anymore. Am I really that principled person that if I experience once something I don't like, I don't come back trying again?
So now I more or less cook for myself because other places where to eat are quite far and more expensive. Well sometimes Jannik cooks for me his special and famous Spaghetti Carbonara (very near and absolutely the cheapest option :) and sometimes I have something small in schools cafe. But most of time, Carrefour is my ingredients supplier and I am the main chef.
My most favourite thing to cook is STEAK HACHE. Frozen steak, 1kg package, 10 pieces, quick easy, cheap and it's red meat! Everytime I come back from Fitness I want to eat this source of proteins. Plus mixed vegetables, broccoli, cous-cous or just bread, 15 minutes to prepare and finish eating.
Then it's PASTA. Million of variations - pasta carbonara, napolitana, bolognese, with pesto, with corn, with chicken meat and cream, with olive oil and olives, with mushrooms, with everything previously mentioned...
And SALADS. With tomatoes, olives, mozzarella (48 cents:), tuna chunks, boiled eggs and bacon strips, add vinagrette and olive oil and its done. Last time I also bough some norwegian SALMON + fresh dark french baguette and had it with the salad. This was the best thing ever!
I cannot forget small chocolate+vanilla cream desserts from whole milk, chocolate croissants, perfect muesli and fruit youghurts. I have to admit that Carrefour brand makes really good products! (Hidden advertising in here. Unfortunately without remuneration.)
All of these things are pretty basic and quite cheap because they are sold in larger or multiple piece packages. But they still taste very nice. When I recall my troubles while being in USA with food from stores that had no taste (or everything tasted the same), contained a excessive amount of sugar or salt, everything was sweet (meat, milk, bread) France comes as a much more better country to live. That's why "French women don't get fat" (name of quite famous book) - because they don't need to eat expensive organic high-tech low-calories natural-grown trendy food and they still eat much more healtier than American women. Well from what I see in my school, French girls are quite okay, you-know-what-I-mean ;)
At last, don't forget you eat to live and not live to eat!
First week I arrived I was eating in canteen of Ecole Centrale which is in the same campus. A menu for 2.8€, that was not bad for entree, main dish, desert and bread. I have to say that the dishes vere usually quite good tasting. But the steaks! Bloody hell! If you like your steak RARE then this canteen is the right place for you to eat. But I like mine MEDIUM WELL so I don't eat in canteen anymore. Am I really that principled person that if I experience once something I don't like, I don't come back trying again?
So now I more or less cook for myself because other places where to eat are quite far and more expensive. Well sometimes Jannik cooks for me his special and famous Spaghetti Carbonara (very near and absolutely the cheapest option :) and sometimes I have something small in schools cafe. But most of time, Carrefour is my ingredients supplier and I am the main chef.
My most favourite thing to cook is STEAK HACHE. Frozen steak, 1kg package, 10 pieces, quick easy, cheap and it's red meat! Everytime I come back from Fitness I want to eat this source of proteins. Plus mixed vegetables, broccoli, cous-cous or just bread, 15 minutes to prepare and finish eating.
Then it's PASTA. Million of variations - pasta carbonara, napolitana, bolognese, with pesto, with corn, with chicken meat and cream, with olive oil and olives, with mushrooms, with everything previously mentioned...
And SALADS. With tomatoes, olives, mozzarella (48 cents:), tuna chunks, boiled eggs and bacon strips, add vinagrette and olive oil and its done. Last time I also bough some norwegian SALMON + fresh dark french baguette and had it with the salad. This was the best thing ever!
I cannot forget small chocolate+vanilla cream desserts from whole milk, chocolate croissants, perfect muesli and fruit youghurts. I have to admit that Carrefour brand makes really good products! (Hidden advertising in here. Unfortunately without remuneration.)
All of these things are pretty basic and quite cheap because they are sold in larger or multiple piece packages. But they still taste very nice. When I recall my troubles while being in USA with food from stores that had no taste (or everything tasted the same), contained a excessive amount of sugar or salt, everything was sweet (meat, milk, bread) France comes as a much more better country to live. That's why "French women don't get fat" (name of quite famous book) - because they don't need to eat expensive organic high-tech low-calories natural-grown trendy food and they still eat much more healtier than American women. Well from what I see in my school, French girls are quite okay, you-know-what-I-mean ;)
At last, don't forget you eat to live and not live to eat!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Presentation... f**k it!
So today we finally had the last presentations for the most important subject this term - the mighty BUSINESS POLICY.
The course was very good (not like us :). It covered the basics for any businessman - Industry analysis, Porter's five forces and value chain, GE or Boston Consulting Groups matrixes. I think every student of "economics" should know about these things. For every manager or consultant, they represent the same as a Bible for a priest or Kamasutra for a lover. ( I don't know these books :)
But in Prague, University of Economics, we have no idea what these things are! I mean we have subjects on finance, accounting, management... but actually no one teaches us how to look at the company we work for, our competitors, our environment to survive, to make money, to profit! How to make business! Which is our future job, I suppose.
This is still a very wide difference between "the western world" and our "transition country", at least in school. We are not taught how to analyse the sitation we are in, to be creative, to make decisions, to be entrepreneurial, to exploit our capabilities, to be successful. We learn "how to know things". I hope that this is gonna change a we will also be able to develop and progress economically thanks to persons that are not just "studying so they are wise" but persons that study "to find a way how to put the ideas into existence".
Okay that's it. The big credit for today's presentation goes to Jannik. When presenting, he forgot his vocabulary for a while and while unable to finish the explanation, after 30 seconds he desperately said: "fuck it. sorry!". I was in tears :)
Jannik. Of course, in the bowl there is wine!
The course was very good (not like us :). It covered the basics for any businessman - Industry analysis, Porter's five forces and value chain, GE or Boston Consulting Groups matrixes. I think every student of "economics" should know about these things. For every manager or consultant, they represent the same as a Bible for a priest or Kamasutra for a lover. ( I don't know these books :)
But in Prague, University of Economics, we have no idea what these things are! I mean we have subjects on finance, accounting, management... but actually no one teaches us how to look at the company we work for, our competitors, our environment to survive, to make money, to profit! How to make business! Which is our future job, I suppose.
This is still a very wide difference between "the western world" and our "transition country", at least in school. We are not taught how to analyse the sitation we are in, to be creative, to make decisions, to be entrepreneurial, to exploit our capabilities, to be successful. We learn "how to know things". I hope that this is gonna change a we will also be able to develop and progress economically thanks to persons that are not just "studying so they are wise" but persons that study "to find a way how to put the ideas into existence".
Okay that's it. The big credit for today's presentation goes to Jannik. When presenting, he forgot his vocabulary for a while and while unable to finish the explanation, after 30 seconds he desperately said: "fuck it. sorry!". I was in tears :)
Jannik. Of course, in the bowl there is wine!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Happy Hour Today
What a cool idea to do happy hour evenings every Wednesday in the school's bar! We might have two bars in my university in Prague, but they usually don't serve as a place for parties. They are boooooring!
Here in EM Lyon, the bar is run by students that have been elected to do this function. The team changes every year or so, I think. So when the bar begins to us ("students"), active and creative people, doing something more than just serving beer is quite understandable. So that's the reason for the happy hours :)
The elections for many of the school clubs take place every year and are preceded by pre-election campaign. Basically, the guys in charge for this year give some rules to follow to competing teams to embarass them in the school. At least I think it's like this. It has been almost two weeks since the those students are running in school with plastic dicks or red girl underwear on their heads and doing funny dances during the breaks....
Okay, this is not very interesting! Right now I went to TV room to see football game between France and Slovakia. What a coincidence :) The French were very sad that thay have lost 1:2! This is quite lucky for me that Slovakia beats France maybe for the first time ever... and it brings me into a good mood when I am here!
Here in EM Lyon, the bar is run by students that have been elected to do this function. The team changes every year or so, I think. So when the bar begins to us ("students"), active and creative people, doing something more than just serving beer is quite understandable. So that's the reason for the happy hours :)
The elections for many of the school clubs take place every year and are preceded by pre-election campaign. Basically, the guys in charge for this year give some rules to follow to competing teams to embarass them in the school. At least I think it's like this. It has been almost two weeks since the those students are running in school with plastic dicks or red girl underwear on their heads and doing funny dances during the breaks....
Okay, this is not very interesting! Right now I went to TV room to see football game between France and Slovakia. What a coincidence :) The French were very sad that thay have lost 1:2! This is quite lucky for me that Slovakia beats France maybe for the first time ever... and it brings me into a good mood when I am here!
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