HEC: My first big travel in Paris.

Okay, traveling in Metro was easy. I finally leave for HEC campus at around 2:00 pm. I had heard that it takes about 1 hour and 15 mins to the campus. I thought that I had enough time to be at Campus before 6:00 pm.

What I didn’t realize was that HEC was in Jouy en Josas, a quiet little suburb of Paris that no one knew about. Even worse, it was on the C line the most complex RER line. There are 7 or 8 different C routes and one routes makes a full circle, so if you choose the wrong direction, you have just doubled your travel time. Well everything that could go wrong did – wrong train wrong direction.

After asking lots of questions to five different people ( two of whom didn’ know English) finally I reached the station Massy Plaiseau. Moved from the RER B to RER C station and there was a train on the station. I went inside and asked the guy.

“ Est-ce-que cette train va a Jouy en Josas”.

He said “Oui”.

I asked him “Parle Vous Anglais”.

He said “Yes”.

He looked like coming directly from Airport and so I asked him.

“Are you going to HEC.”

He said “Yes”.

“ Great now 3 more stops and I reach my destination by 4:45.” I thought. We started chatting and the train started after 20 mins delay because of some suspect baggage.

You guys are expecting another twist in tale and there is :)The train starts and we keep talking after a couple of stations, I realize that the stations don’t match the names I had seen on the train map. I ask him and surely we are going on the opposite direction. This was the last thing that could go wrong. Okay we get down at the next station and I am ready to pay a Taxi driver (Cabs are called Taxi in the rest of the world) to take me to the Jouy en Josas. But, the other guy informs me that this is a suburb and so there are no Taxis easily available. And that baggage delay has delayed all the trains going in our direction. Anyway we board the next train and this time I confirm myself that the train is going to Jouy en Josas. I call up the Residential Expensial ( HEC MBA residential building) coordinator and inform her that I will be late and she asks me to give me a call if I can reach by 6:30pm. I reach Jouy en Josas by 6:15 and call her. She waits 20 mins extra to give me the keys. Else, I would either have to stay at the Campus Holiday inn paying 160 E for a night or go back to Paris and find a cheap hotel for 50-60 E.

This is the second time the bed looks like heaven and I crash in the same clothes. Later I get up at 10:00 pm and couldn’t sleep till late in the night. This schedule goes on for the entire week.