Laura FUCHS

Laura FUCHS – Germany – Master in Management (exchange)

Where do you come from? 

I am from Germany and I am currently enrolled in a Master in Business Administration program at the University of Bamberg.

What studies have you already done, and what exact programme are you doing at TBS?

I completed my bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany and during one of my bachelor semesters I studied at the University of Southern Denmark. At TBS, I am in the last year (M2) of the Master in Management (Grande Ecole) program and the OP (the major) I chose is “International Marketing Management”.

Why did you choose TBS over other schools?

I wanted to improve my French during my exchange semester. That is why I decided to study in France. Since TBS belongs to one of the top business schools in France and offers a wide range of international majors in the M2 program, I thought it was a great choice.

How has your integration into TBS gone? What do you feel after your first few weeks at TBS? Are there any services/support which helped you? Any events you particularly enjoyed? Any difficulties you experienced?

The integration into TBS went really well. After I had arrived in Toulouse, I met up with Margot from the Welcome Team. She even accompanied me to my dorm and helped me with my luggage. So that was super helpful! After the first week, a French student also invited us to a pool party at his parents’ place. It was an awesome start into the semester! Moreover, the Welcome Team organized quite a few get-togethers. That was great in order to get to know all the exchange students.

So far, what do you appreciate about Toulouse: the people, the town, the School etc.?

I really like the city itself; Toulouse is very pretty, the climate is great and there is always something going on. Besides that, one can easily travel to Barcelona, the French coast and also to the mountains. So we did a trip to Cannes, Nice and Monaco and went skiing in Andorra.
I also really value the support by the welcome team and the International Student Office. They are very helpful.
Additionally, the lecture style at TBS is very different from the style at the universities I attended so far. In our OP many lectures were held by professionals who gave us a great insight into how business is done in France. So I really appreciate what I learned here.

Can you give us a small anecdote concerning your time so far at TBS? It can be informative/funny/whatever you wish.

One day we were standing in front of TBS after class and we were joking about going on a trip to the French Riviera during the bank holiday in November! Well, we actually ended up renting a car and reserving a place to stay at. So we met at the car at 7 in the morning the day we wanted to leave. However, we did not manage to unlock the handbrake and because we did not want to break the brake, we had to wait for a mechanic. Since we had tried to unlock the brake for quite some time, we thought that it would take a lot of time to fix it and that the trip had already ended before it even started. Nevertheless, during the wait, a bird “pooed” on my friend’s trousers and another friend said that in Germany this was supposed to bring good luck. So when the mechanic came, he was able to unlock the brake in no time and we actually took off to a perfect trip! 🙂

What advice would you give to a future incoming international student?

Practical advice: Hand in or send in your CAF form as soon as you get to France. It is helpful to collect all the relevant documents before coming to France.

Have a wonderful time in Toulouse. You will love it!