Looking, looking, looking

Je vais réfléchir: I'll think about it
Thanks to Jenny, I learned this important shopping phrase

Je regarde: I'm just looking
More shopping words courtesy of my French friends

Je jete un oeil: Also, just looking
Literally, I'm throwing an eye. Ick.

Ne pas mettre la charreu avent les bouefs: Don't put the cart before the horse (or cows, literally)

And the List Might Be Longer Than I Thought

Ce n'est pas possible:

• to deposit bills and coins in the same envelope (or plastic bag, rather) at the bank
• for the bank to post said cash deposit
• ergo, for the landlady to stop harrassing the old tennant

Also, c'est impossible for the RER train to run without certain disaster between Paris and Cergy when I'm on it. Interesting.

Finally, c'est impossible for the man in our French class movie to eat anything at the restaurant because his stomach was upset. My question to that situation was, "Why did he go to a restaurant?"

It's Monday Alright

Not much time to write so just a note to let you know what is "just not possible" today.

C'est impossible: withdrawing more than X euros cash out of your own account with your own check card at your own bank because that particular branch is not the actual branch at which you set up the account

Interestingly enough, I need the cash to pay rent, and I have to deposit said cash at the landlord's original account's bank branch in the 19th. I don't even want to know why all of this has to be done in cold hard cash . . . .

J'habite à Paris!

I made this really cool panaramic photo of my view, but it's not being cooperative with blogger so I put it into a mini-slide show for you. Whenever I'm climbing up the 6 flights of stairs to my apartment, I think of the view and tell myself that it's worth it!

My Apartment

Cheese Krispies and Cheetos

Lots to cover, we have (that was for you, Paul). Before I catch you up on all of the goings-on since mid-October, I’ll do a quick recap of Christmas and New Year’s. I arrived home for Christmas break on December 18th, looking a little worse for the wear. C’est la vie. It was so wonderful to be at home. We threw a shower for Lacy on the 22nd, which was lots of fun. I’ll post pictures when I have them. Christmas was really nice and relaxing and Mom decorated the house to the nine’s and the tree was magnificent as usual. I ate about 500 cheese krispies, which you’d think would have turned me off of them, but I’m thinking I could really use some right now.

Other than eating cheese Krispies, I managed to make it to The Picnic a couple of times and tool around in the little red car a bit. The Wallace family had its decade-ual (my new word for happening once every ten years) Christmas party. Grab a name tag and get a stiff drink. We introduced Paul to eggnog, which did not go over well.

Sarah, Beth, Mary and I also had a dinner with Lacy to celebrate the bride-to-be. After a ridiculously fun dinner, a bar stop and Lacy elbowing me in the ribs in order to get a seat in the back-back of the stay-wag, we convinced our driver (Tom) to stop at Walgreens for Twizzlers, Oreos and Cheetos (which Maggie the dog later dumped over with the cone she was being forced to wear) and mixers we never used. About half an hour after arriving home, Sarah had vacuumed up the Cheetos and the dog and we had all passed out on the couch. Oops.

Although I was sad to leave home again, I was looking forward to seeing Jenny and Mike, who were in Paris for New Years. I managed not to have jet lag (yay!) and went out to dinner with them on Sunday night. On Monday, a group of us went out to a restaurant in the neighborhood and then came back to my house for une petite soirée. I had been missing the parties Beth and I threw in New York so have a little get together was a perfect way to start the New Year. Of course, Jenny and Mike bring the party with them wherever they go.

Lacy's Dinner

Bonne Annee 2008

Around Town and Such

Beaucoup of pictures from the last couple of months for you to see. Stories follow. I'll keep adding this week, so you'll have to hunt for new stories.

Out & About in France and Elsewhere

Research at Sephora

Friday, October 12th

Why I had devoted an entire entry to this one? Je ne sais pas. Oh well, it was fun. Our group decided to create a new fragrance for a product development project so we went to Sephora to do research. We basically mapped out the whole fragrance section, which obviously took a while. I was asked a couple of times where certain things were. I guess standing in Sephore madly writing things down on a clipboard makes people think you work there – crazy. We had such a good group and the project turned out really well. Yay, team!

My Computer Becomes Multi-lingual

I had my first enlightenment moment later with the same fragrance project. Of course, I knew I was in a very international program, but I just hadn’t truly appreciated the fact. I was in charge of combining everyone’s slides into one presentation so I was gathering and deleting and such. Suddenly, I realized that, given the particular slide, my computer gave me my options in English, French or Korean. I was a little bit miffed that the computer is apparently C3PO when it comes to language, but that I was still struggling with my 2nd. However, I forgave my computer and then took a moment to appreciate how cool it is to learn so many things about so many cultures in just one semester.

A Bad Week, A Good Dinner, Tout Est Impossible and Les Rêves en Francais (et Espagnol)

Monday October 15th – Friday, October 19th

Hmmm . . . a bad week. I don’t quite remember what happened so it must not have been that bad. Most likely, it was too much work and too little sleep.

I do remember having a good dinner with Marta and Meeta. Meeta makes the best chicken curry. It’s the first Indian food I’ve ever liked. Then Marta is such an excellent cook too and she always brings thinks like Spanish omelets or tapas to the table. I just try to provide wine and entertainment.

“Tout est impossible” must refer to my learning that the French actually do believe that many things are, in fact, impossible. And I’m not talking about things like living underwater in a mermaid village or flying to the moon with wings made out of tin foil. I should further explain. Below are some things that are “impossible” in France:

• Going in an exit, despite it being physically possible
• Cancelling my lease contract
• Picking up your residency card before the school has called you, even though the school knows that the card is at the Préfecture and the Préfecture knows that the card is at the Préfecture (the way around this dilemma is simply to lie and say that the school called you)
• Almost anything you want to do at the train station
• Picking up dog poop on the sidewalk
• And my personal favorite: Doing anything one simply does not feel like doing

Actually, I’m going to start a list of impossible things. Let’s see what we have by summer.

Finally, les rêves. I do remember this happening. I was dreaming in French and then in the dream, I was supposed to take Spanish lessons. I was all upset, though, because I knew a few Catalan words, but nothing in Spanish. Needless to say, I was confused the next morning.

My 30th and Laura's Visit

Monday, October 22nd

Laura came to visit for my birthday and it was fantastic to see her. I was so happy to see a face from home. We went out to dinner on Monday night and then later that week we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which I had never done before. Merci! Merci, Laura! Your visit meant a lot to me.

Ma Classe

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I promise promise promise to update the blog in the next week! Quick summary: I was crazy busy with school and fun since October 20 -- about 18 presentations, one trip to Normandie, a week in London and a move into Paris! I'm so excited to post pictures of my new Swiss Family Robinson apartment in Le Marais. I hope that you've all been doing well and I'll write much more soon. I'll do my best to make it exciting because you have a lot to read.

xxx,
Allison

It's All Happening

Alright, it’s become fairly obvious that my blog is suffering due to time constraints. Two things happened today that reminded me that I should be enjoying this experience and sharing it with my nearest and dearest (you). First, Margy nagged me to death about posting. Hee hee. I’m teasing. Then, Anne reminded me that I am supposed to be at school during the week and enjoying culture when I’m not in class. After a couple of stressful weeks, I somewhat forgot that I should be making the most of this experience and sharing my adventures with you.

So let’s reeee-wind and get this posting party started. Settle in because you’ve got a lot to read. Oh, and I want to know which one of you has been reading this blog from Latin America.

BFC, 100 year-old Korean Wine and Party at Nond's Palace
Friday, September 21st

My friends Damian and Stephanie and I decided to celebrate completing our Financial Accounting mid-term with lunch at BFC (Best Fried Chicken) near school. Damian and I had been joking about BFC since day 1 of classes and finally curiosity got the best of both of us. Best Fried Chicken is a bold statement when someone like me comes across it. It might very well be the best fried chicken in Cergy, in France or in all of Europe as far as I know, but simply Best Fried Chicken? Doubtful.

BFC is also Gyro Sandwicherie, a fact that we discovered only when we got close enough to examine the situation. How can fried chicken and gyros share one space? I still don’t know, but apparently they can. I think many people would have walked away from BFC at this point, but not us. Actually, I’m not sure how many people even think to walk toward BFC at all. Fearless, we entered and ordered a big ole family meal that came with 800 french fries. I was nervous that instead of BFC it would be WFC (Worst Fried Chicken). However, BFC isn’t so bad. It’s no Mrs. Winners or even KFC, but BFC adds its own little spiciness that makes its fried chicken a Cergy delight. Don’t worry, I won’t make any of you go when you come visit. It’s not that good.

After waking up from my BFC coma, I met pretty much all of the Asian kids in my class at a Korean restaurant in Paris. Unfortunately, I missed dinner – most likely from oversleeping – but I did have a few minutes to sample two kinds of Korean wine, one famous for being aged 100 years, and learn some things about Korean dining culture. Some of you, and you’ll know who you are, will be delighted to learn that among good friends, putting your empty glass on your head is really a sign of needing a refill. Needless to say, Jung-Ick was a little surprised when I responded to his question, “Do you know what you do in Korea when you want someone to fill up your glass?” by putting my glass on top of my head. I was doing it as a joke, but it turns out I was actually right!

After dinner, we all headed to a party at Nond’s apartment right outside of Paris. Nond decided to throw a birthday party for Ginger, Vanessa and himself since they all had birthdays this week. Nond’s apartment, is actually Nond’s family’s apartment and it’s huge. I contemplated hiding out in one of the bedrooms. I think I could have lived there for three weeks before he noticed. Here are some pictures from the party:

Party at Nond's

And some from the weeks before:

Paris

Alumni Cocktails: A Story of Hope and Despair

Saturday, September 22nd

On Saturday, we had a networking cocktail party in Paris with the local alumni. No alumni showed up for quite a while, which was a little unnerving and a little annoying since most everybody was still tired from the night before. Finally, a few appeared. Unfortunately, the first two alums I spoke with had just graduated in July and still didn’t have jobs. Yikes! I don’t like being unemployed. No alums, then unemployed alums? I became even more tired. Fortunately, I then found employed alums with good jobs – a ray of hope for the year to come. Then, Jody’s wallet got stolen.

Heaven in a Macaroon and Graduation with Chantal Thomass

Monday, September 24th

On Monday, our class was “invited,” as in told it was mandatory, to the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2007. I was sort of in a mood that day and didn’t want to go. Then, because I didn’t want to go, I piddled around, ended up drying my dress with a hairdryer and making myself late for the train. Nice. In a scene reminiscent from my early days in New York, I attempted to buy a train ticket with coins (and small coins at that). Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the machine did not accept 2 and 1 cent pieces so I was 5 cents short. A line had formed behind me. I had 1 minute to catch the train. It took 30 seconds for all of my coins to drop back out of the machine. What’s a girl to do but use her non-Paris ticket to get on the train and just worry about it later?

In France, you must use your getting-on ticket to get out of the station. Since my getting-on ticket wasn’t for Paris, I couldn’t technically get out of the station once I arrived in Paris, but that is a small detail. The machine should accept all coins. It’s the machine’s fault. I thought I would just crawl through the first turn-style and that I would then find a ticket machine for the metro. Knowing that someone would hold the little metro turn-style door open for me, I followed a man out of the RER station section – “Merci! Merci!’ as I crawled under the turn-style in my nice dress. Oh, so classy. Oddly enough, there was not a metro ticket machine to be found anywhere. I was forced to crawl under yet another turn-style. I did end up on the metro and ran into Gabby on the way out of the station. Luckily, the exit doors were broken and I didn’t have to do any more crawling.

We were required to arrive to the graduation ceremony 3 hours before it began. I’m still not entirely sure why. I tied the diplomas together with red ribbon and then we took a class picture in the garden of the fancy Cercle de L’Union Interalliée, where the fancy 2007 graduation ceremony took place, which is on the fancy Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré. After picture taking, we were allowed to go for about an hour. A group of us walked over to Ladurée, the most fantastic, dreamy, wonderful tea house in the world. I’m in love. I had rose-flavored tea, which was divine, and 3 of the most heavenly macaroons. The best best best was the caramel au beurre salé (salty butter caramel) macaroon. Contrary to BFC, I will be taking all visitors to Ladurée for caramel macaroons. Everyone should have one. It’s happiness in a macaroon.

After tea and cookies, we headed back to the graduation (my friend Diane took a quick 10 minutes to introduce me to the Roger Vivier store – my now second favorite place behind Ladurée), which was boring – too many speeches and not enough fun. Chantal Thomass was the highlight of the night for me though. Among other things, she makes very beautiful umbrellas and she is sublimely French with a straight black bob, dark glasses, and high high-heels. I introduced myself to her at the party afterwards, but I was too star struck to say much of anything. She said that she promised to come to class and talk for an hour. I’m looking forward to that.

The boredom of the ceremony had all but erased the macaroon high, and by the time the post-ceremony party had started, I was back into whatever mood I began the day with. À la ESSEC MBA Luxe pomp and circumstance, waiters offered us champagne from silver trays right as we came to the top of the stairs. Champagne never hurt anyone’s mood. And, then, I walked over to a big French window that looked out over the garden below and on to a magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower all lit up. I am in France!

Graduation

Career Conundrums

Thursday, September 27th

Today I had my first meeting with the career counselor. This story isn’t really interesting. I told her I was interested in jewelry, watches and wine, but I’ve since changed my mind. I’ll have more to reveal after my second meeting in November.

A Trip to Les Puces in Paris, the Hobo, the Party and the Missed Train

Saturday, September 29th

Saturday, Jody, Stephanie and I went to Les Puces (The Fleas) right outside of the city limits. It was nice to walk around outside and discover another something in France. These were serious flea markets, though. Everyone had his or her own stall that they opened every weekend. One part of the market was really nice and fancy. The other was more like Chinatown on a Saturday afternoon. Neither part consisted of a bunch of junk strewn across tables like the old Chelsea flea markets. Therefore, I wasn’t inclined to buy anything since the fun of digging was taken away from me. We did, however, all stop for crepes (I had nutella, banana and coconut – yum):

Jody and I took the train home to change clothes and then we headed back into Paris to go to a party at Lacy’s friend’s sister’s friend’s house. So, Lacy, I met Caroline and she is really nice. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk, but I’m making it a point to meet up with her some weekend soon. Our schedules keep missing each other.

On the way to the fete, we stopped at an ATM to get some cash and a hobo proceeded to harass Jody for about two blocks. He smelled like cheese. Finally, we out-maneuvered the hobo at a red light and were free.

We arrived at the party a little confused by our encounter on the street, but we were immediately put at ease by Caroline and all of her nice friends. Sadly, we had gotten a late start so we didn’t have much time to mingle. I sacrificed Jody to a gay couple to talk to a nice boy, but then, as always, the train! Stupid train and its stupid schedule that never jives with mine! So Jody and I made a classic French exit, which consisted of a few frantic good-byes, before jumping into a taxi to race to the train station. But there is no racing for anything in Paris. We hadn’t been in the taxi for 5 minutes before we realized that we were never ever going to make the last train. Oh well, back to Cergy en taxi we went. We should have gone back to the party. At least we laughed about it the whole way home.

Sunday Ritual

Sunday, September 30th

On Sundays, I go with Meeta to get coffee and croissants at Show Gourmand. It’s not a replacement for Sundays at Georgia’s, but it is nice to have a Sunday coffee routine again. If we are extra industrious, we manage to do laundry too.

A Trip to the Other Side of the World

Monday, October 1st

Rabbit, rabbit. Today I had to go to the opposite side of Paris to visit the doctor in order to get my residency card. The exam consisted of an eye test in French and a chest x-ray. I’m afraid I might grow a second head now because the x-ray machine seemed a little old. Anyway, I was declared not to be a “danger to society” and was then told to bring my x-ray to whichever GP I chose to that if I ever got the flu . . . . Huh? As many times as I’ve had the flu, I never once had a doctor request a chest x-ray. Anyway, step 65 of getting residency card completed.

London Business School

Wednesday, October 3rd

Today I officially found out that I was selected to go to the London Business School for a week in December as part of an exchange program. Five of us are going and it’s a great group. It should be a lot of fun (and educational, of course) and I’m looking forward being in London for the first time in a long while.