France trip: The First 3 days

On the 17th of February, I was able to join the study trip to France where over 300 hospitality degree students invaded France! It is all part of our course where we would have a 2 week trip to France to participate in some management games, See the University we twinned with and of course, To have loads of fun!

As my batch was one of the largest batches in history of Taylors University, They had to split us up into 3 groups where we would arrive on different dates. As for group 1, they arrived during the 1st 2 weeks of Feb, And for group 2 & 3, on the 17th and 18th of February.

So as I was part of Group 2, We headed over to the Airport on the 17th and what's even more awesome, We travelled by Emirates! on a nice Airbus A380.

So basically our travel itinerary was KL (7 hours) > Dubai (3 Hours Transit) > Paris (7 hours)

it was a really taxing journey as we had to travel nearly a whole day. Being Malaysians and jacunz as we were, we basically exploited the flight by drinking loads of liquors & wines while feasting on anything possible. And of course, Watching awesome movies of the past!

So as for now, This are a few pictures:

The group at KLIA

Dubai Airport

Myself, Joshua, Mervyn, Chung, Patrick

Arrival at Paris

As we arrived at Paris, We loaded up 3 buses with all our junk and headed over to the hotel we were staying at. We stayed at a budget hotel called F1 located about a 20 minute train ride from the city centre. The rooms are for 2 people sharing & the most fascination thing is, Everyone shares the Toilets and Washrooms! LOL

So as for the first day in Paris, We just walked around the shops near the hotel as we wouldn't wanna tire ourselves out as it was a long trip. We had short walks, bought groceries, And of course WINE! You can practically find a bottle of wine from 1 Euro above.

WINE IS CHEAPER THAN WATER!

Loading up the buses

Hotel F1

Mervyn being a Giraffe

Joshua being himself

The Crossroads

The offices & lots

Judo & Taekwando sports centre

Patrick being...errr himself

DAY 2

We woke up early about 9am as we had to board the train to Toulouse. Toulouse is located at the south of France and its a 7 hour train ride there. Sadly we weren't able to take the bullet train so yeah, it was a 7 hour train ride.

And as for the morning, The first batch of students were heading back to Kuala Lumpur, so basically there was a mega photo taking session outside the hotel as everyone wants to say

"WE ARE ALL IN FRANCE"

A group photo

Wei Ling, Eunice

Evon, Serene

At the Train Station

Cantya & Eunice

After a tiring 7 hour train ride, We finally reached Toulouse & Basically checked into the next hotel we're staying at. We stayed at another budget hotel which was called Etap which was located near the airport. Pretty Cozy, Has a nice garden outside for us to drink the night away, and everyone was pretty happy there. The night ended that day over there as Everyone was pretty exhausted on the train

Etap Hotel

Some of the guys

While waiting for our key cards to be issued

Day 3

Finally the day has come where we head to the University we are bonded with, University Toulouse Le Mirail. We had to take a 20 minute bus ride & a 10 minute train ride to the University. Basically it was kinda hectic as well, Everything is pretty new to us, and we just had to adjust to it.

And as we reached the University, Its nothing like what we had in mind as well, Its not as futuristic as Taylors! WTF? LOL

The Sunrise

some random plate at the bus stop

The University

The dining hall

Eunice & I

The lecture theatre

We had a briefing on what we were supposed to do at the management games and well, It starts by having a virtual company, and seeing on how we plan & organize the company to gain profits, popularity & future strategies. Its a 4 day management game and well, It was pretty tough!

but as for the first day, It wasn't that bad and we just headed over to Toulouse town at night for some sight seeing and dinner

some pictures of Toulouse Town: