McDonald's

Yes, I went to a MickeyD's in France....c'mon, you have to try EVERYthing, right? ;o) No Playplace...poor french kids are really deprived. It's more of a 'family' restaurant. There are kiosks where you can place your own order and pay with a cc, or you can give your order to a guest representative who is Not located behind the counter. Food is a little different, but I just got the good ol' 69cent cheeseburger. it was exactly the same, squirt of ketchup, squirt of mustard, minced onions, and the poor stray pickle that always seems to be added as an after thought. One minor difference--the beef came from France. One major difference...our 69 cent cheeseburger costs 1.70 Euros. Which is roughly$2.50. D'oh! And our 99cent coke? 2 Euros...over 5 bucks for a cheeseburger and coke! What did I learn from this experience? Don't go to McDonald's...anywhere in the world!! :D :D hehe Can't wait to see what KFC has to offer.....

Integration Weekend

We went to La Rochelle for our integration weekend. It was a lot of fun, and we really got to know each other. We left the residence at 5:30 am (ouch!) and took the RER to Paris, where we caught the metro to the train station, then took the train to La Rochelle, where we caught a bus to some other town about an hour away. Very long ride, but a lot of fun. After we unpacked we went to a vineyard. Beautiful country, crap wine. :D
The next day we went to the beach and had some team building exercises, including tug of war and team 'chants'...a little routine we made up in 15 minutes. A lame game of dodgeball (only 1 ball) and lots of fun in the sun.
The next day we went back to La Rochelle and toured the town until it was time for the train. There's the brief overview. Now for the nitty gritty....as we're approaching the 'camp site', they tell us that we're in bungalows (this is apparently french for tiny trailer) 6 of us in 4 beds, 4 boys and 2 girls. The first room I looked in had a queen bed, the next thing I saw was a tiny sleeping area similar to a tent trailer when you put the table away and turn it into a bed. I decided to opt for door number 3, just my luck!!! 2 twin beds. :D The girl and I took that bedroom and made the guys sleep together >:0) They weren't happy about that, but they got over it quickly.
Not much more to tell than that, lots of team building exercises and good times. Now for pictures....

My First French HairCut

I went for a hair cut last week, and fortunately Danielle came with me. No one in the salon spoke English, so Danielle got me set up and then took off. First thing I noticed, their 'capes' are MUCH better than the US--very flattering. They are just like a jacket, and tie in front. It's a little strange though, they don't use conditioner when they wash your hair. Maybe that's a quirk of the salon I went to, but it was a little strange. She grabbed a book of hairstyles and we agreed on something, just a basic cut. She took off 4 inches. Then she asked if I wanted it 'light'...me, silly me, thinking just a few layers. She took off another 4 inches in some places. Then, just when I'm starting to grasp how a dog feels ashamed when you cut all it's hair off, she grabs another type of scissors, and KEEPS cutting!!!! Whew, I survived, but I have a very French haircut now--about 2/3 of the girls in class have a similar cut.

My First International Bday Party--Redo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAN7Ts0xBo Can't believe I forgot to add this link!! This was the music from last night's bday party... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAN7Ts0xBo



Wow, we had a bday party for Mattius (guy in the middle who can't keep his eyes open), and if you can believe it, we can squeeze 20 people into our little dorm rooms!! :D This is where I learned that Lay's Potato Chips markets the nastiest chips ever, Poulet Rotis e Thyme or something. Yes, Chicken flavored potato chips. Gross!! Guy in the red is Nico, he hosted the party. I also learned that Coke and Malibu is NOT acceptable en Parie. Weirdos. Got to know a lot of people.
This party was Saturday night, and tonight (Wednesday) we had a bday party for Patrick Saade, a lebanese guy in the program. Everyone was dancing, but dances from their country. Lots of fun. 63 students, 12 months...that's a lot of birthdays to celebrate!!

Day one of School....

I survived! ;o)
They fed us coffee and croissants on our morning break, and a true french spread for lunch, complete with red wine. AT SCHOOL!!! :D It's going to be very challenging, but that's why I'm here, to bring my brain back from the state of mush it was in. There are actually 4 americans in the program--I met the other 2 today, then there's Dami and me. (Kristin, I'm sure you'll appreciate the pic--it's not 'thumbs up', it's our 'first day')
I spent Saturday in Paris with Max, (current student) Olivia, (alum that lives just down the street from the arc), and Dami. We had lunch at a cafe in Marais, next to the Place des Vosges. Later we went to Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre (pic of the church) and spent the rest of the day on the grass drinking wine, listening to a band and enjoying the view of all of Paris from high on the hill. After dark we went to Pegale and saw Moulin Rouge.
Today was school and now I'm tired and going to bed, but I wanted to send a quick update and pics.
XOXOXO
m

1st email, for those of you I missed.....sorry!

Good greif, I am here!!! It hasn't really sunk in, and as is obvious by my lack of communication things didn't go as planned. Missed the guy at the airport, not sure how that happened, but I did meet up with the other student. She is great, and we worked everything out together. Grabbed a random cab (she had 4 checked bags!!!) and my 2 plus my 2 carry on things, then got lost on the way to the school, at which point I tried to call but the phone is turned off until Sept 1 and I didn't have the calling card info with me at the point I was near a phone. I am SO SORRY for not being in touch sooner!!! I had to pick up the welcome packet that had the key to even access the internet before I could send this, and the wired connection isn't working (gotta get with Chad on that). But things are going very well and here's what I've learned so far:

-Chicago's airport has some very tacky decorations on the way from terminal B to C.

-Duty Free means you pick up your purchase from the gate BEFORE the flight takes off, not after it lands. And they don't like it if you make them call your last name 4 times and keep the plane waiting because you are clueless. :D hehe Oops.

-And then you survive the glares and the world is right.

-Never trade seats on the plane after you've secured the perfect window seat so that a family of 4 can sit together. The Asian lady in front of you will lean her seat back as far as she can the first chance she gets and won't put it up until she has to.

-And then you survive the flight and the world is right.

-It's very easy to follow the crowd through immigration to the baggage claim, esp since the entire airport is under construction and there's only One possibly direction to go.

-It's difficult to recognize other's suitcases that have been loaned to you, thank goodness for the bright orange 'heavy' tags!!!

-If you wander around looking clueless because the cab driver isn't there, the other student will recognize you.

-After an hour of waiting you realize it's ok to give up on the cab driver and get your own.

-The cab driver gets you to the school and you survive the ride.

-The school charges you 50 Euros for insurance, and then gives you your room keys.

-My room is on the 5th floor, the elevator only goes up to 4. I am going to be FIT when this is over!!! ;o)

-The room is a decent size, but I need a microwave if I'm going to survive. (see attached pics)

-It costs 3 Euros to take the train from my building to campus and back.

-I now have my school id and computer log-in so I can send this message!!

-We met Joelle Harris, and she gave us a brief run-down of campus, including where our first class will be on Monday and the requirement of dressing formally for the first day of class.

-There's a shopping center right when you get off the train at campus--and you bag your own groceries everywhere you go!!

-People hit on you in the super market in France. For Real!!! I have my first date lined up. hehe not really, but could have. And the ratio of men to women in the program is 3 to 1. Sorry mom, I might bring a frog home after all. ;o) Or all the sisters might move here. haha!!!

-Most importantly, I am going to survive this experience, and love nearly every minute of it.

It's quiet because not a lot of students are here yet, so it was nice to have a day to myself to acclimate without the craziness of having to deal with 300 students.

And I'm having dinner--red wine, morbier and a baguette. Won't be the usual by any means, but it's my first night in France, and I'm doing it right!!!!

I love you all very much. Thank you for all of your support and encouragement.

1st Week of Classes are Over....

and I ran my restaurant into the ground! ;o) We did an excercise called CRASE (Cornell Restaurant Administration Simulation Excercise) in which each of 7 groups develop a restaurant in the same market. We decide on menu, pricing, portions, staff and payroll, advertising, etc. (and there are A LOT of etc.s involved!). Each 'quarter' the instructor runs the figures and gives us our market standing. My group's restaurant sucked, but we came in 2nd place in the excercise because he measured the winner by how far off we were in estimating our last quarter net income. Since we knew we sucked and would have a loss, it was easy. hehe :)
I know about 20 people fairly well now, and 3 of them VERY well. This group work really forces you to get to know one another. I worked with Pierre-Edouard who is from France, about 2 hours away from Cergy, Jean-Christophe (JC) also from France, and Ning, from Japan. Today Ning fed us donkey. And cow tendon. Weird. He had little snack packs of the meat, and fed them to me before we had to do our presentation. Don't worry, I didn't ask what part of the animal it was until AFTER I ate it (thanks to all of you for that sound advice!!)
We start another course next week, and another after that. Then it should slow down for a bit. The administration so far has been incredible. Very professional and helpful, yet still light hearted.
For those of you who haven't seen them yet, I've attached photos of my dorm room.