The End Has Only Begun

Hi...it's been awhile, practically a month a guess. But what a month! I'll pick up from the second when I got my internship. The next day my advisor Louis arrived for the week. I was excited to tell him I finally had an internship. We had french track family dinner at a lovely restaurant (thanks Darla). The next week was our second week of vacation. I wish I could say I went somewhere exciting and exotic but hey, I already live in Paris...where else is better. I had a wonderfully lazy week of sleeping in.

One of the days we went to Reims (say the word rinse with a snotty french accent), the capital of Champagne for a little visit. We had such beautiful weather. It was the cutest little town. The cathedral was beautiful. Twenty-six French kings were coronated in that cathedral! How awesome is it to be in the same place where 26 kings were!?!? We also took a tour of Madame Pommery's 'cave,' one of the oldest and well-known champagne makers. The cave has different art exhibits each year which made the tour quite exciting (and the photographs really funny).

On Sunday of the break, I did a little walking tour of Montmarte based on an article I found (well technically Jenna found it) of Amelie film sites. It was a gorgeous (but hot) day and Paris is starting to fill up with tourists. Nevertheless, I saw some pretty little streets and it was good to be out of the house and get some exercise.



After vacation, I had three days of class left and then we had to take the TEF (test of evaluation of french). After finishing the test, we picnicked in Luxembourg gardens. It was the perfect ending to a not so perfect semester. On Friday, some of us did a daytrip to Normandy!! We visited Caen (um, con with a snotty french accent) and drove up to the coast and saw Omaha Beach. It was a fantastic road trip...we heard crazy music on the radio...video killed the radio star, wonderwall, just crazy stuff! The beach was cold with the breeze coming off the English Channel. But it was nice to be out on the coast...we took a little walk on the beach. It was an amazing place.

This past week was a change of pace. Some of the awesome Global Trackers came to visit us the first half of the week, but we still had seminars and business visits. Monday, we visited a L'Oreal factory. Nerdy, but it was awesome. We saw different assembly lines. The robotics and machines were incredible, especially for hair dye kits where three different things go in a box with a set of instructions...it's so cool how the process is lined up with 3 empty bottles that get filled up, labeled, capped, and shoved in a box together. Tuesday evening, we hung out at the Trocadero with the Global Trackers. It's doing stuff like that that makes me love living here in Paris. On Friday, we visited the Paris Chamber of Commerce. We were all expecting boredome like on our visit in Brussels, but this building was beautiful! We were given a tour of the mansion and a little bit of the history. In the afternoon, we visited Ariane Space...the French NASA. We got to see how rockets were made and actually saw some in different stages of production. It's amazing that building something that can go into space is possible.

So now I'm just chilling till my internship starts on Thursday. I'm excited and nervous. There will definitely be an update at the end of the week. Till then enjoy my millions of photos:

champagne:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123535&l=f5214&id=12600427

montmartre:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2124014&l=abb2a&id=12600427

spring photos:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122186&l=504cd&id=12600427

roadtrip to normandy part 1:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125672&l=bce4f&id=12600427

roadtrip part 2:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125674&l=5f5cc&id=12600427

At Last

At last....
My stage* has come along,
My worried days are over,
And life is like a song!!!
Oh at last!

*stage = internship

So, as you might have guessed, things went well with my Michel Dyens interview. I will be doing research on industries and companies and reporting my findings. I am soooo excited about this opportunity. I met two ladies, Amelie and Katri, who both seem very nice so I'm looking forward to working with them. The office is on rue Montaigne...along with Chanel, Valentino, Armani, Jimmy Choo, and other fancy boutiques. The street is off of Champs-Elysees if that explains anything. Nanda is working at L'Oreal at place de la Concorde, so I expect lots of lunch dates with her :-D I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Days Go By + Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

I know it's been awhile....there hasn't been too much going on. The weekend after Jenna left, Casey and Becca came and stayed with me. That was a fun weekend...I did some things I hadn't done yet and it was fun playing tourist again. We went inside Opera Garnier which was a GORGEOUS building. We visited some museums I hadn't seen yet. It was fun to have more girly time.

Besides that...I've just been living. Classes are going...the teachers have started giving tests...not fun. I've been desperately searching for an internship. In the span of 5 days I applied, had an interview, and was rejected. At least they didn't leave me guessing. I have a lead with Michel Dyens, a financial advisor. Check out their website www.micheldyens.com. Hopefully they will be the one. I'm really excited about what this company does, so I hope this works out. So there are only 3 weeks left of school with a week of vacation in there too. So I'm starting an internship in four weeks. I am terrified!!! I enjoy new things but a new job + new people + new experiences = scary.

Since I've just been going back and forth between school and home...I've noticed lots of things about my neighborhood. There is a vent on the sidewalk down the street from my apartment. Pidgeons love to sleep on it...I guess it's warm. But walking by, when the thing is covered with pidgeons and you can't see it, it just looks like homeless pidgeons sleeping on the sidewalk. The other day, as I was walking by, a little boy ran through and scattered them. I thought it was funny, his mom just had a tired exasperated look on her face. I also pass a daycare on the way to the metro. I love watching kids get dropped/picked up. They are so adorable and happy.

So, the other evening we had an 'etiquette' dinner at the school restaurant. We met at 7:15 and didn't leave until midnight! This dinner was 7 courses long!! and it could have been 8! First we started with calamari as the mise-en-bouche (kinda like an hors d'oeuvre but at the table) and then had a hot appetizer of either foie gras or boudin (sausage). There could have also been a cold appetizer but the restaurant didn't include one. We had a fish plate and then a meat plate. There was a nice selection of cheeses and then DESSERT!!!!!! The meal ended with coffee and a plate of sweet goodies. There was a nice professor there that taught us a little big about the history of the french table and a little etiquette.






Yesterday was Jamie's golden birthday: 31 on the 31st!!! We had dinner at a cute little restaurant in the Oberkampf area. This dinner also lasted four hours, but it was a lot more enjoyable!!! The weather is finally picking up. Today is a gorgeous day! The only problem is now tourists will be flooding in and the metro will be a lot smellier...I guess it's a small price to pay for living in this fantastic city!

march photos:
in like a lion:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118262&l=8f131&id=12600427

out like a lamb:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118357&l=72058&id=12600427