Hello everyone, hope you all have had and fruitful summer. My name is Allison, currently in my 3rd year being a Sociology student at the University of Southampton. During the summer, I have had a chance to study virtually for 4 weeks at Audencia Business School. In this blog, I will bring you through my journey in joining the virtual summer course.
At the beginning of the course application, I wish to apply for a business or marketing-related course. Then, I saw Audencia provide various choices of courses and flexibility. Each module lasts for one week, with about 4-6 hours of the lesson each day, depends on the intensity of the modules. I was attracted by the adaptability it provided and how I could learn things from different fields in such a short period of time. Therefore, I applied for four courses: Cross-Cultural Management, Digital Marketing, Luxury Management and Entrepreneurship and Psychology of Money and Consumer behaviour. I was so nervous a few days before the summer school begins, as I am not familiar with all those topics and meeting new coursemates made me worry yet excited.
I was amazed by how fast these weeks had gone by. The lectures are so professional and knowledgeable that they would explain and respond to questions in detail. The courses are assessed by the participation of the presentation in each lesson and/or mostly the quizzes that happened on the last day of the week. The students came from all around the world, which means we are all different in culture, language and educational background, it was marvellous to see how this programme had brought us together.
Taking courses online is not easy especially when it is the summertime, so having a regular routine and maintain discipline got me through the course. Since France and UK has one-hour time differences, I would always check what time I needed to attend class every night, as a reminder for myself. Before the lesson, I usually have my breakfast in order to provide me with energy. During the daytime, I would focus on the work and lesson, making sure I understand what the lecture said and I was on track. At night, I will have a quick revision for the assessment of the module. During the weekend, I would relax and go out with my family member, enjoy my summertime with a pause of academic work. I think this routine helps me a lot as I have to separate the work time and rest time in a clear way.
Overall, the experience of virtual summer school by Audencia Business School was fascinating and I am thankful to have this opportunity. I really recommend it to students who are still thinking about whether or not to join the summer course. The summer course is not only a way to leave your own comfort zone to learn new things, but also a way to keep improving yourself. Here, I would like to thank you for the help of the study abroad team and Audenica Business School for organising this wonderful course.