Lectures in Poitiers

The lecturers I've had here so far have also left "a stamp" after their lectures however here are the ones who stood out for me.

The first lecturer was a Welsh man who had a posh London accent (I’m not sure what happened there), said "alright then, ok then, here we are" a lot and also spoke a lot of French. I have to say he is the best lecturer I have ever had. I am not even exaggerating. At first I was quite sceptical about him but he did a great job. He did not use PowerPoint slides but just talked a lot and wrote on the board and guess what? It was an excellent method. I wish all lecturers did that because it made us remember the content of the course more. He gave us nice questions for the exam too ha-ha.

The next lecturer we had looked like Robert Downey Jr. only less sexy. He had an American French accent. He talked really slow and steady, so calm. It was cute! LOL. Oh and he studied law at Harvard oooo fancy so I guess we are receiving Harvard standard lectures seeing as he gave us Harvard Law materials woooohoooo.... (Moving on). He was very good but was always late.

The final one who stood out for me was my tall German hottie, my favourite of them all. All the girls in the class loved him. He was so knowledgeable on everything Social Media and helped us with our dissertations. He had done the course a few years ago and went on to work in America. I can guarantee all the girls will pass that class because we listened attentively. Yes to more handsome lecturers in the future, they make it easier to learn. We left a few kisses for him on his feedback form. He got only one last year but this year he got 6!

I will certainly have the most memories in Poitiers. I've grown a lot closer to my classmates, taken trips with them, had various lunches and dinners with them and so on. Now all that is over but I certainly hope we will have lots of reunions later.

On the plus side I won the award for funniest in my class. And I got a “certificate” to prove it ha-ha. Check me out:

Till next time,

Toodles!

IMCo* Course Reflection

Overall the course has been an amazing experience for me. Coming from a science background I was a bit sceptical about it. However it has totally exceeded my expectations. I had no clue about marketing before I came into the course and now I am confident that I can excel in the marketing world with the skills I have learnt in this course. I didn’t feel this way with my undergraduate course, I couldn’t see myself in a lab but now I can certainly see myself being a PR consultant.

My team working skills have improved throughout this semester. I haven’t done so much group work in my entire life. I learned to tolerate people and their opinions. I was used to always being a leader but I learned from this course that other people can also lead. I learned the importance of team work in a marketing campaign. Different brains work together to produce amazing concepts. Sometimes one person cannot do all the work. I also learned the strengths and weaknesses of the different people I worked with. When different people’s strengths some together, it cancels out the weaknesses. Listening is key in team work, it is the key to cooperation and cooperation is the key to great teamwork and therefore great results.

The structure of the course gave us a lot of time to think about what we have done as well as reflect. The lunchtime lectures also gave us an insight into a world outside the classroom. It gave me the opportunity to think about where I would like to end up when I’m finished with this course.

Being with so many different cultures for such a long time in one place was a new experience for me. It is nice to know that we share memories from two different countries that we will cherish forever. I was also able to learn important aspects of different cultures especially that of France because it was the most dominant. I never believed I would want to live in a different country apart from mine but now I am more open minded and would like to explore more of the world as well as improve my French language skills. Being in Poitiers has certainly given me the opportunity to improve my French and this is an excellent skill if I want to work in a multinational company.

The question now is: am I equipped to face the future? Yes I believe I am! I have gone from being the minority in group work, back to being a major contributor. With all the skills I have learned during this course, I am ready to face the world through employment, and make spectacular changes to the future of marketing.

I have now come to the end of the taught part of my masters degree. What’s next for me some might ask? My reply will certainly be: 6 exams, thesis and work placement. Wish me luck.

IMCo is the way!

Toodles!

*The official name for the course is MA Strategic Marketing Communications (dual award). Seeing as it is a dual award, we will also be getting a certificate from France Business School for MSc International Marketing Communications (hence the name IMCo) as well as University of Greenwich for the MA.

Female bants

My mother has started asking for my boyfriend or better still “husband”. Shout out to those of us who are already married at 22, you certainly escaped this period. When I was in secondary school I remember mum telling me “Tosin you cannot have a boyfriend until you are 18” and then it changed to “You cannot have a boyfriend until you get to university” because she realised I was starting university before 18. When I turned 21 it was “I hope men have started looking at you oh because you are getting old, almost ready for marriage”. Some people were not even allowed to have boyfriends until university graduation. Our mothers really don’t know what’s going on but I’ll give you a low-down.

Exhibit A: The guy that takes a girl to the cinema and allows her to pay for her movie ticket and drink, and watches her while she does it. Why would you invite me to the cinema if I’ll be paying for myself, on a date????? Why???? Can’t you even pretend? Like seriously so that at least you can score a second date. I mean, if I invited someone to the cinema, I would pay (okay maybe not all the time but I’m not asking them on dates so it’s different).

Exhibit B: The guy that asks a girl to buy him credit, lunch, dinner, etc.

Exhibit C: The guy that asks a girl to borrow him money and doesn’t pay it back for three months or more even when he has the money and he knows you are broke!!!

Exhibit D: The guy that behaves like a woman and expects you to be following him up and down like flies.

I need to school some dudes on how to make a girl like you, ask her out, etc. I am the sort of girl who likes to act all “independent woman” and stuff. I have no issue paying for other people’s things whether it is a guy or a girl. A lot of guys notice this and they try to take advantage or maybe they are just flat out broke. At least try to impress me on the first date!

I used to wonder why Nigerian girls were so desperate to marry rich men. In fact, I called them gold diggers. I would like to apologise to them publicly. I certainly did not know what I was saying. Okay maybe I did. Some chics just take it too far. Every woman needs “security”. I am not saying go out and look for rich men. At least “hold your own” and I shall hold mine. I’m always down for the odd “pay for movies and I’ll pay for dinner”.

I’m guessing there’s still a lot to learn about the male specie…

*sigh*  The life of a young ambitious lady.

Toodles!

I hate vegetables

This was written by a good friend of mine who wants to remain anonymous. I absolutely love vegetables so I have no idea what she’s on about. However the rest of you who don’t like vegetables may be able to relate. Enjoy!

LOL. All I can say is someone please help her out! ASAP!

Job hunting woes

I think this has to be the most difficult time in a young person’s life. It’s absolutely horrific. It is so stressful having to change your CV for every job you apply to. Some companies asking for impossible things makes me just want to pull out all my hair. The worst part of it all is that there’s usually no time (24 hours in a day is never enough). When you go to classes for 9am to 5pm everyday and all you want to do is sleep and eat but you realise that “oh wait I’ve got to finish my P&G application”.

The sad ones are the ones which read “unfortunately you were not successful at this time”. So when will I be successful??????? :( :( :( Another annoying one was when I got an email saying I lived in Ireland and the job is in the UK, its only two days a week, its unpaid, we need someone asap and you are not available asap. Sad Sad stuff!

So I got an interview for a job I didn’t even apply for. One would think I’d be happy about it. Indeed! I was absolutely freaked out. I started to check all my email accounts for when I applied for this job and I couldn’t find any application evidence. I even checked my LinkedIn but nothing. I asked the people on my Facebook; some said it is a miracle, it’s Jesus, it’s God (I wish), while others said it’s a scam or they found you on LinkedIn. I know I’m absolutely amazing and all but I don’t think I’ll be as attractive as those who bother to pay for LinkedIn premium. I mean I would have loved to have been found by a company who would have said “we will pay you a minimum of £18,000 per annum” or “this is unpaid voluntary work experience”, not necessarily one that will collect nearly £2000 off me to do an internship; I certainly could not afford that! If I could I probably would take the opportunity to go to Beijing, so if anyone wants to sponsor my trip to Beijing don’t hesitate to give me a shout :) :) :)

Some CV advice from a ‘not so amateur’!

Source: www.milkround.com

So on the very first day of lectures in Poitiers, a recruiter came in to speak to us about employability. I can’t remember his name but I took down a few notes which I thought were very important. A lot of things were repeated but it was good to hear them again to stress how important they were, and I also heard a few new things. I thought I’d share some things with others who are in the same position as I am in terms of job-hunting and CV editing and stuff. These are my own notes from what he said with some of my own input. I hope this helps someone. Good luck and happy reading!

• Languages - You need to be able to speak more languages to be able to stand out from the crowd. Everyone speaks English now. I used to think I was absolutely fantastic because I could speak fluent English (well apparently not!). Now I’m learning French (again). I’m very glad I did French in secondary school so I’m not totally lost! It helps to be in France where they actually speak French so you are forced to actually speak in French to people; although I try to cheat the system by asking most people “vous parlez en anglais?” which means “do you speak English?”, just so I can escape having to think of how to say whatever it is in French.This is especially for those who would like to work abroad. Most companies want you to be fluent in the country’s official language before they employ you.

• 80% of people are not honest on their CVs. DO NOT lie about the languages you speak. That shows you cannot be trusted.

• Sell yourself - We are all products on the market; you need to sell yourself through your CV. Show the employer that you know what you want.

• Write down your summer jobs. Date it as well. You look motivated as you are working instead of travelling over the summer. I never thought about it like this, I just wanted to get experience so I guess this is a plus for me.

• Memberships, sports, associations, travel. Employers like to see someone who likes the same stuff. Differentiate yourself. You are still a product when you apply and when you are within the company.

• You need to change your CVs depending on the job you are applying for. CVs these days are read by computers and will focus on keywords.

• If a picture is needed use professional ones, same for email addresses. Add references for France but not for other countries. Make sure you inform them.

• Give only facts when you apply for jobs especially in France as the first thing recruiters look for is the school (Are you from the top 10?). Better jobs abroad than in France; better work conditions.

• Look online to see where the best places to work are. Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway are on top. Australia has been rated best place to live and work in the world, in 2013 (third year in a row), by the OECD.

• Your last internship is the most important one as they might keep you on. Be careful about the internship you will choose as that may be what your end career is.

• Don’t write Microsoft Excel on your CV except you are really good at it. Just write Microsoft office. I am certainly taking excel off my CV because I only know the basics and formulae generation and that kind of stuff and I’m pretty sure they are rusty now after my science degree.

• You need to know if you are able to do the job or not, or if you are able to learn. Sometimes recruiters make mistakes.

Till next time,

Toodles!

Poitiers Update

Erasmus* is a program that I have always wanted to embark on. A few of my friends had done Erasmus during their undergraduate degrees and I was quite sad that I had missed the opportunity but then I decided to take up the masters at the University of Greenwich which included a semester in France (woohoo!).

So what do I expect from France?

I came into Poitiers with absolutely no expectations, and yes I was quite disappointed when I got here. I did not Google Poitiers or anything before I came; I left it as an element of surprise for myself. I was completely shocked to see how old the buildings were hmmm I hoped that the interior had absolutely nothing to do with the exterior (Thank God it didn’t). Never judge a book by its cover. 

I have to say that in these past five weeks I have really enjoyed myself. So far I am most proud of the fact that my French language skills have been immensely improved. I have met lots of new people from around the globe and learnt a lot of different cultures especially different types of cuisine (mostly Chinese, French and Vietnamese). I especially like the fact that Poitiers is really small so everyone is about 20 minutes (maximum) away from each other, which makes it a lot easier for social gatherings. There’s always something on at somebody’s house every weekend. It is never a dull moment.

The course itself is absolutely fantastic in my opinion. I guess this is the most important bit. We have lectures for 30 hours a week and projects the week after. I have been praying for this kind of structure all my life. This means our weekends are more or less free to apply for jobs, finish our dissertations and whatever else people are into. The lecturers are really good and their years of experience reflect on the content of the lectures they deliver. I think the French half should be worth way more credits than the Greenwich half because we learn a lot more solid stuff here that will make us more employable.

Anyway I hope I have more interesting stuff to tell you next time instead of my beautiful life in France. I will leave you guys with some beautiful photos from my time so far, something to hold on to till the next post J.

Till next time,

Toodles!

*Erasmus enables higher education students to study or work abroad as part of their degree and staff to teach or train in 33 European countries.

Another BIG MOVE!

Feels like it's a while back now (in fact over a month!) but hope you all had an awesome new year. Fantastic! I had an excellent Christmas back home in Ireland with my beautiful family. This was my first time going back home since I left in September 2012, which also means I hadn’t seen my friends in over a year. It was like a reunion, it was great seeing everyone again. Now it’s back to reality!

Did I forget to mention, I now live in Poitiers in west central France (I know you’ve never heard of it; its south of Paris). Yes I moved again. From Lagos to Abuja to Dublin to Galway, back to Dublin, then to London and now I’m in Poitiers. I really need to settle down lol I’m beginning to get tired of carrying my whole life around with me. I need a permanent postcode! I’d actually love to get a job in France so I can stay and perfect my imperfect French. It’ll be so handy to speak another language. I have a Cameroonian friend who speaks Mandarin (apart from French and English), I mean she’s the coolest person to me right now (OK maybe not, but you get my drift).

Anyway back to Poitiers. I must confess, I was quite depressed when I first arrived here two weeks ago (even though I absolutely loved my 24 square metre studio flat). There was no internet and I was close to being broke. Could life get any worse? One couldn’t even get a sim card without having a bank account. There was just so much protocol I couldn’t stand it. Everyday had all sorts of things happening that were annoying. But, I am happy to say now that I am getting used to the quiet lifestyle in this country. Thank God I understand a little French or I’d have been totally lost here. Surprisingly, a lot more people than I imagined speak English here. The food here is of better quality than in London too. The only problem I have now is I can’t find a Church to fellowship at. I guess it’s just me and God in my flat then :(

Here are a few things I’ve discovered so far about this little town:

It is tiny! You can walk around nearly the whole city.

The male and female toilets are not separated (super awkward!!!), okay maybe just at the business school.

You need a passport to change your currency and it’s only the post office that can do it. They charge you €5 to change from sterling to Euros on top of the exchange rate. You cannot even exchange your travellers cheque except you open a bank account (I’m not sure how it works in other countries to be honest).

Nearly everywhere is closed on Sundays. Some restaurants may be open.

They have two hour breaks from 12pm till 2pm, except restaurants obviously. At this time most shops and banks will be closed.

The zebra crossing means absolutely nothing here, just a waste of paint! You may die if you don’t know that and just decide to cross the road as freely as you do in London. The drivers here are mental.

The city is really clean, you’d hardly find any litter on the floor but will find lots of dog poo everywhere it’s disgusting.

Most of the buildings are ancient.

French people love meat, fish and dairy. It’ll be difficult for vegetarians here.

Till next time,

Toodles!

Epic Fail

Hey guys so I tried to dye my hair again. Oh wait I didn’t even tell u I tried to dye my hair twice before. Silly me! Ok I’ll start from the very beginning.

So I asked a few ladies with natural afro hair like myself who had dyed their hair previously and I was told that dark and lovely was the best as it had no alcohol in it. I was trying as much as possible not to put chemicals in my hair. It seemed to work for everyone else but me. I was so annoyed after all the stress I had gone through researching and all that. I later found out from this random blog on google that I would have to bleach my hair first before dyeing it as my hair wouldn’t normally retain dye; which means chemically treating my hair (errr no!!!). I did not cut my long luscious relaxed chemically damaged hair to start bombarding it with chemicals again. I worked too hard to keep my hair looking pretty, it is not about to be messed up! 

They also said that I could use henna instead of having to bleach my hair as it is a natural dye and is also healthy to use on natural curls a.k.a my fro (or maybe I read it wrong). Anyway I bought the henna at the beauty store in Lewisham for 99p (delighted) and also bought some lime from the fruit and veg store in Lewisham. The guy at the hair shop told me that if I wanted to dye my hair I should mix henna with egg (haven’t tried it but I have used egg as protein treatment before with avocado, yet to try cucumber, also cucumber apparently is good for you face, ok moving on). So I went home and prepared my hair remedy, no measurements (maybe that’s why it didn’t work). Safe to say, my hair is still black! But then I discovered that henna excellent for deep conditioning your hair. So maybe something good came out of this whole dyeing hair process. I really wanted to rock red hair :(

Check out the results of my henna application. Before and After. My fro has never felt this good.

               


Toodles!