Adrien Néret, Reporting from ESSEC

Residence is pretty cool. I have a shared studio (each a single room, with shared kitchen/bathroom). Here's my Snapchat story showing where I live and class. I've met other exchange students here, and we have dinner together sometimes :)

On the weekend on our first week of class, three friends and I rented a car and drove to Amsterdam for a few days. We stopped in Lille on the way there, and in Brussels on the way back. It was a bit rainy, but the weather cleared up Saturday afternoon so we got some nice pictures. Of course, we did a tour of the Heineken Brewery too.

Finally, last week since my last class was Tuesday afternoon, I left for Barcelona for 6 days with a friend. We stayed with a friend, and also visited Palma, on the island of Mallorca. I did a cooking class, shopped for shoes, went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and drank plenty of sangria. On the Wednesday morning, we ran into a protest for the independence of Catalonia. It was very peaceful, but will probably heat up as we get closer to the referendum (October 1st). It's organized by the local Catalan government, but is deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish government.