Why I like to live on campus

#campus #studentlife #partyoftheweek

As an International student at HEC Paris, I have the privilege to stay at its residences. HEC Campus can modestly be described as huge and residence units are spread across the campus. You can choose for individual rooms or shared accommodation.

Each residence building has a common kitchen where you can cook at your leisure or have fun group hangouts. Every time I enter the hallway of my building, I can smell the lovely four-fromage pasta being cooked by my Italian neighbor or the tantalizing shrimps cooked in an authentic Chinese way. We have an International Students’ Food Group which plans trips to exotic restaurants in Paris. Watching people exchange culture at this level is a part of the HEC experience I truly love.

At HEC, we have Party Of the Week (POW) every Thursday. But the pre-POW’s are even better! Students from a specific country come together and organize a pre-POW which is almost always themed on culture. I particularly loved the Lebanese pre-POW which had Sheesha and Shwarma. The best part about these pre-POW’s is the music. I remember liking many songs from across the world even if I couldn’t remember even one word from those songs the next day…

When you live on campus, you can watch students play piano at the chapel or you can enjoy food and drinks from all around the world. You can learn to greet in many languages or you can become fluent in one. You can learn how to use chopsticks or how to pour beer into a glass. You can get expert local advice on the places you wish to visit from your neighbors or can even accompany them when they visit their home country the next time: I am visiting Italy this February and my Italian friends have planned the entire journey for me!

That’s what I like most on campus, these limitless possibilities to meet students from all over the world and to share unique moments with them.