Some experiences don't add a line to your résumé. They change you from the inside.
This was my first year teaching first-year students. And today, looking back, I understand something with tremendous clarity: teaching isn't just transmitting knowledge. It's stepping, even briefly, into a decisive stage of someone's life. Right when everything is starting. Right when there's still doubt, nerves, insecurity, excitement, the urge to prove yourself, the fear of not measuring up, and also an immense amount of potential waiting to be woken up.
Maybe that's why it's been so special. Because I've seen learning in its purest form: the growth, the quiet effort, the timid idea that finally finds its voice, the insecurity that slowly turns into judgment, the maturity that starts to show almost without anyone noticing.
There's a line from Antonio Machado that has stayed with me in a particularly beautiful way this year:
"Traveler, your footprints are the only road, nothing else; traveler, there is no road, the road is made by walking."
And that's exactly what I've felt this year. That teaching is also walking alongside others. Not for them. With them. Being there, asking more, listening, pushing, trusting. And, at the same time, letting them transform you too.
Because you learn by teaching. And you learn a lot. You learn to look more closely, to listen more slowly, to be more patient, to spot talent even before it knows how to name itself. You learn to remember that behind every assignment, every presentation, every mistake and every step forward, there's a person building themselves.
Thank you to EBS Paris and to Ferrières Hospitality & Luxury Management School for the trust and for giving me the chance to live such a deeply beautiful experience.
A very special thank you to Maria Angels, Catherine Al Hachem, Sophie de Rougé, and Sébastien Chantelot, in Paris, who made this experience possible. Thank you for your trust, your support, and your kindness throughout this journey. Your support meant far more than you can imagine.
Thank you to everyone who was part of this course. And thank you, above all, to my students. For your work, your effort, your dedication, your growth. And for reminding me, every week, why teaching remains one of the most human, most challenging, and most beautiful experiences there is.
And thank you, from the heart, for that wonderful bouquet of flowers. It was much more than a gesture. It was the perfect way to close an experience I'll carry with me and that I sincerely hope to live again, again and again.
I take away learning. I take away pride. I take away affection. But above all, I take away the certainty that teaching leaves a mark. On the one who learns. And also, forever, on the one who teaches.
With deep gratitude, affection, and a sincere wish to live such a precious experience again very soon.