This summer I am spending 3 weeks studying abroad in Bordeaux, France. The course I’m taking is Wine Marketing and I couldn’t imagine a better environment to take this class in! The KEDGE School of Business is located right outside the city center of Bordeaux and the building itself was just finished and opened in January of this year. It’s very modern and completely different from most of the buildings on Louisville’s campus!

For about 2 weeks prior to classes, 3 other students from U of L and I backpacked through Germany and Italy visiting Berlin, Munich, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome. Every single one of these cities was completely unique and amazing to experience. I took so much away from just the short time and did so many once in a lifetime things. Some of my favorites were visiting Dachau Concentration camp in Munich, hiking up a mountain in Cinque Terre, and seeing the Pope in Rome! Looking back I can’t believe how much we packed into less than 2 weeks. It was an exhausting experience but definitely worth it!

After a crazy 2 weeks I was so excited to arrive in Bordeaux and settle into my new home for the next 3 weeks. We spent our first weekend exploring this beautiful city. Bordeaux has a long and interesting history, but also is filled with young people and has a modern vibe to it, thanks to several universities located in and around the city. Bordeaux has so much to offer, I already know I won’t want to leave come June!

I just completed my first week of classes here at KEDGE, and to say it is different than my typical U of L classes would be an understatement. On our first day we took a field trip to do a wine tasting! This week we had class for 4 days from 8:30 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon, which took some getting used to! We have 3 different professors teaching one course, but they all have their own expertise and life experiences to bring to lecture, so the long days have gone by pretty fast! Our classes themselves consist only of lecture, but we have 2 group projects to complete outside of class, one paper and one presentation. Normally I don’t really enjoy group projects, but it should be interesting to work with some students from other countries and get some completely different perspectives on the projects!

I’m definitely enjoying my time here in Europe and at KEDGE and I can’t wait to see what else this city and course have to offer!

À bientôt!
Laura Fleenor