I think this was the second weekend I've actually been in Nantes since I first arrived, and it was a good one.
Thursday night I went over to my classmate Abdel's house for a "Managerial Economics and Pizza" party. I went over fully expecting that we were all just going to drink, eat and have a good time. I was surprised when everyone actually had their books with them and we started discussing economics. I took econ last year, so it was all review for me, but many of my classmates weren't familiar with it, so they asked me to give them an overview of the key concepts as best I could. When we had class the next day, I felt like I actually explained things pretty well. Not sure how much I'm going to enjoy 10 weeks of repeat information, but maybe there will be some new information or at least a different perspective from the prof.
After class on Friday, I went to lunch with Pan, Cherif and Gihad at the University Cafeteria. Amazing bargain: 3 course meal for less than 3 euros because it's subsidized by the government. I had a salad, pork jambalaya, spinach with mornay sauce, and some sort of chocolate cream for dessert. Not too bad.
After lunch, I had to take care of getting my OFII form mailed in to the French government. Since I'm staying in France for more than 3 months, I had to fill out a form that gives them my local contact information, and eventually I'll probably have to have a medical exam and pay a 55 euro tax. That part seems kind of silly to me since I'm only here for three weeks past the three month deadline, but I'm not going to argue with it. The form had to be sent registered mail, so I was hoping the postal worker would speak English so I could be sure I sent it in the right way. No luck. I told them I spoke French, but not very well, and proceeded to explain what I needed. It worked out just fine... and in fact, the postal worker told me I spoke French very well. That was a nice confidence booster.
Friday night I had dinner with Ivan a few blocks from my apartment. An interesting meal, with chicken, carrots, mushrooms, onions and rice in a tahini-coconut milk type of stew/sauce. Probably not very French, but it was delicious. I had a pineapple-apple-chocolate crumble for dessert, and it too was fantastic. We went to a bar for a glass of wine after dinner, and then it was time to call it a night.
Yesterday I went to the big shopping plaza, Atlantis, in hopes of finding a sports store that Ivan told me about. He said they had very low prices on good quality sweaters and sweatshirts, but when I asked where the "magasin du sport" was, no one knew what I was talking about. Maybe next time. I did go into IKEA and had a slice of almond cake because it was a 1 euro special. I'm starting to appreciate French desserts more and more every day... though I'm really going to have to make sure I keep walking around a lot to make up for it.
Cherif and Abdel came over last night for some drinks and conversation. Cherif made me speak to him in French all night so that I would get some practice, and it actually went pretty well. The thing is, I basically know how to say what I need to say, I'm just really bad at conjugating verbs correctly. Practice makes perfect (or at least a little improvement) I guess. We went out to a dance club around 2 a.m., it closed at 3, then we went to another one until about 5. I had a great time dancing with the boys, but I was exhausted by the time I got home.
Today I watched some TV, wrote and edited a group memo for our law class, and did a load of laundry. It's going to be another pretty easy week at school. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday have class from 9-12 and then free afternoons, and Tuesday is class from 9-12 and 2-5. We have Thursday off, though, so I'm going to take a train trip somewhere to use up the last day of my rail pass. Not sure where yet, but I'll figure something out.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Roommate Situation
I don't think I've written much about my roommate/apartment situation since the first week I was here, so today seems like a perfect occasion to do so.
Leslie is from Colombia, but she graduated from Audencia's European MBA program a couple years ago. When I found her ad for a roommate online, it sounded perfect, and she was very understanding of my need to just rent a room for 4 months. The ad mentioned a washer and dryer, and a dishwasher, both of which are fairly rare in France from what I understand. I would have my own bedroom, and we would share the bathroom, kitchen and living room. No problem.
When I first arrived, Leslie was busy moving her stuff out of the larger bedroom into the smaller bedroom. She was giving me the larger of the two bedrooms because it had a desk for me to use when I studied. Very nice of her. What I don't think I've explained yet is the other roommate-- Antoinne. The day I arrived, Leslie's boyfriend was also busy moving a lot of her stuff from the apartment down to his car. She told me that it was because her friend Antoinne was staying in our apartment while he completed an assignment for work. He'd be gone in a couple weeks, but until then, she would just stay at her boyfriend's house. She also said that since Antoinne was from Paris, he usually left Nantes on Friday afternoon, stayed in Paris for the weekends, and came back Monday evenings. I met Antoinne very briefly the Friday I moved in, and then, sure enough, he was off to Paris.
I should also mention the key debacle(s) that took place my first weekend here. The Friday I moved in, Leslie hadn't made me a set of keys yet. She had to go to a hair appointment, and ended up being gone for about 3 hours. The whole time, I was stuck in the apartment because if I left, I would have no way to get back in. Awesome. So when she got back that night, she told me she and her boyfriend were leaving town for the weekend and would be back Sunday night. I asked for a set of keys, and she said "well, since I'm going to be gone, you can just have my set." I told her that was fine, but that I'd be leaving for Madrid on Monday, so we needed to make sure we each had a set of keys before I left. "No problem," she said. Sunday night came and went. I tried calling her, but her voicemail picked up right away. I left her text messages Monday morning, and didn't receive any replies. I had to leave for Paris to go to the airport, and I had to lock up the apartment, so I took the keys with me.
Once I got to the airport, I had 5 missed calls from Leslie. When I called her back, she told me she was at the mall, and wondered where I was. I told her I was in Paris, on my way to Madrid. Of course, she wanted to know where her keys were. Of course, they were with me.
Me: "I tried calling you and I left you a message. I didn't know what else to do. I'm really sorry."
Leslie: "But that's the only set of keys I have. I can't get back into my apartment. When do you get home?"
Me: "Not until Wednesday night, but Antoinne is coming home tonight, right? He can let you in."
Leslie: "OK, then I'll see you tonight."
Me: "No, I'm going to Madrid until Wedesday night. Antoinne should be home tonight from Paris."
Leslie: "OK, no problem."
And that was that... I thought. I should probably mention that there are three keys to the apartment: one to get into the building, a second for the "Storm door" to our apartment, and a third that finally gets you into the apartment. The first two locks require the normal kinds of keys that are easily copied. The third lock requires a skeleton key... which apparently cannot be easily copied, as Antoinne did not have a copy of said key. Therefore, even though he was able to get Leslie into the first two doors, there was no way to get into the third door without a locksmith....or a really really strong and determined boyfriend.
I got home from Madrid around midnight on Wednesday, and found the door frame completely busted. Apparently it was easier to break the door frame than to call someone who could get into the lock without damage, or it was just too urgent when Leslie needed to get into the apartment. I felt bad, but at the same time, I did try to call her, and even if I'd left the keys in the apartment, she wouldn't have been able to get in without Antoinne. The door frame has been fixed since then, but it was still a sticky situation.
So over the last few weeks, Leslie has been coming over a few times a week to do laundry or cook dinner or do other chores. She never stays long, and she's always very pleasant. Odd thing is, she also keeps taking more and more stuff out of the apartment. First it was the dish soap, then laundry detergent, toilet paper and paper towels. No big deal, I can buy my own. When I got home today, though, I thought I was going to freak out. The dining room table was gone, as was the dishwasher. The nice leather couch had been replaced with an old canvas one, and the washer and dryer was replaced with an older version that doesn't dry. Her clothes were piled up outside, and there were a couple suitcases that looked ready to be taken away.
She also decided that today was the day to de-ice the freezer (which is just a small box near the top of the fridge), which meant that she took all of the food out of the fridge, put it on the counter, and left the door wide open with a bucket below to catch the melted ice. Luckily I hadn't gone grocery shopping lately, but I did have some lunchmeat, cheese and milk in there, and I was concerned that it had been out for a long time.
My biggest concern was that she was moving out, and I was going to be left to find a new apartment really really quickly. When she came home a few minutes after I arrived, I asked right away: "Leslie, what is going on?"
Leslie: Oh, I'm just moving some things around.
Me: I saw that you took away the dishwasher and replaced the couch?
Leslie: Yeah, I'm going to bring a new cover for the couch though.
Me: And the laundry machine?
Leslie: I put in a different one. I took the other one to Guillaume's.
Me: Ok. Could you just be very direct with me and tell me if you're moving out?
Leslie: Yeah, I probably should have told you about this. Guillaume and I got a really nice flat together. It's big, and it's beautiful. But I'm going to keep my place at least for another year.
Me: So I am going to be able to stay here until the end of December, right?
Leslie: Oh yes. This doesn't affect anything with you at all. I'm leaving the TV here, and still paying for Internet.
Me: Ok. I was scared when I came home today.
Leslie: Yes, I put myself in your shoes and this wasn't good. But there is no problem. You are staying until December. I don't know when Antoinne is moving out, but even if he does, I probably won't look for anyone else to stay here.
So I guess that means I'm going to have the place to myself, if and when Antoinne moves on to his next job. Leslie did say that she was going to move the smaller bed from Antoinne's room into my room if he moves out (I have a queen size right now... a little bummed about that, but it's not the end of the world). So while I don't have a dishwasher or a dryer, everything else is ok. I'm just glad it's all settled. And on a bigger plus side, I don't have to worry about Guillaume smoking here anymore!
Leslie is from Colombia, but she graduated from Audencia's European MBA program a couple years ago. When I found her ad for a roommate online, it sounded perfect, and she was very understanding of my need to just rent a room for 4 months. The ad mentioned a washer and dryer, and a dishwasher, both of which are fairly rare in France from what I understand. I would have my own bedroom, and we would share the bathroom, kitchen and living room. No problem.
When I first arrived, Leslie was busy moving her stuff out of the larger bedroom into the smaller bedroom. She was giving me the larger of the two bedrooms because it had a desk for me to use when I studied. Very nice of her. What I don't think I've explained yet is the other roommate-- Antoinne. The day I arrived, Leslie's boyfriend was also busy moving a lot of her stuff from the apartment down to his car. She told me that it was because her friend Antoinne was staying in our apartment while he completed an assignment for work. He'd be gone in a couple weeks, but until then, she would just stay at her boyfriend's house. She also said that since Antoinne was from Paris, he usually left Nantes on Friday afternoon, stayed in Paris for the weekends, and came back Monday evenings. I met Antoinne very briefly the Friday I moved in, and then, sure enough, he was off to Paris.
I should also mention the key debacle(s) that took place my first weekend here. The Friday I moved in, Leslie hadn't made me a set of keys yet. She had to go to a hair appointment, and ended up being gone for about 3 hours. The whole time, I was stuck in the apartment because if I left, I would have no way to get back in. Awesome. So when she got back that night, she told me she and her boyfriend were leaving town for the weekend and would be back Sunday night. I asked for a set of keys, and she said "well, since I'm going to be gone, you can just have my set." I told her that was fine, but that I'd be leaving for Madrid on Monday, so we needed to make sure we each had a set of keys before I left. "No problem," she said. Sunday night came and went. I tried calling her, but her voicemail picked up right away. I left her text messages Monday morning, and didn't receive any replies. I had to leave for Paris to go to the airport, and I had to lock up the apartment, so I took the keys with me.
Once I got to the airport, I had 5 missed calls from Leslie. When I called her back, she told me she was at the mall, and wondered where I was. I told her I was in Paris, on my way to Madrid. Of course, she wanted to know where her keys were. Of course, they were with me.
Me: "I tried calling you and I left you a message. I didn't know what else to do. I'm really sorry."
Leslie: "But that's the only set of keys I have. I can't get back into my apartment. When do you get home?"
Me: "Not until Wednesday night, but Antoinne is coming home tonight, right? He can let you in."
Leslie: "OK, then I'll see you tonight."
Me: "No, I'm going to Madrid until Wedesday night. Antoinne should be home tonight from Paris."
Leslie: "OK, no problem."
And that was that... I thought. I should probably mention that there are three keys to the apartment: one to get into the building, a second for the "Storm door" to our apartment, and a third that finally gets you into the apartment. The first two locks require the normal kinds of keys that are easily copied. The third lock requires a skeleton key... which apparently cannot be easily copied, as Antoinne did not have a copy of said key. Therefore, even though he was able to get Leslie into the first two doors, there was no way to get into the third door without a locksmith....or a really really strong and determined boyfriend.
I got home from Madrid around midnight on Wednesday, and found the door frame completely busted. Apparently it was easier to break the door frame than to call someone who could get into the lock without damage, or it was just too urgent when Leslie needed to get into the apartment. I felt bad, but at the same time, I did try to call her, and even if I'd left the keys in the apartment, she wouldn't have been able to get in without Antoinne. The door frame has been fixed since then, but it was still a sticky situation.
So over the last few weeks, Leslie has been coming over a few times a week to do laundry or cook dinner or do other chores. She never stays long, and she's always very pleasant. Odd thing is, she also keeps taking more and more stuff out of the apartment. First it was the dish soap, then laundry detergent, toilet paper and paper towels. No big deal, I can buy my own. When I got home today, though, I thought I was going to freak out. The dining room table was gone, as was the dishwasher. The nice leather couch had been replaced with an old canvas one, and the washer and dryer was replaced with an older version that doesn't dry. Her clothes were piled up outside, and there were a couple suitcases that looked ready to be taken away.
She also decided that today was the day to de-ice the freezer (which is just a small box near the top of the fridge), which meant that she took all of the food out of the fridge, put it on the counter, and left the door wide open with a bucket below to catch the melted ice. Luckily I hadn't gone grocery shopping lately, but I did have some lunchmeat, cheese and milk in there, and I was concerned that it had been out for a long time.
My biggest concern was that she was moving out, and I was going to be left to find a new apartment really really quickly. When she came home a few minutes after I arrived, I asked right away: "Leslie, what is going on?"
Leslie: Oh, I'm just moving some things around.
Me: I saw that you took away the dishwasher and replaced the couch?
Leslie: Yeah, I'm going to bring a new cover for the couch though.
Me: And the laundry machine?
Leslie: I put in a different one. I took the other one to Guillaume's.
Me: Ok. Could you just be very direct with me and tell me if you're moving out?
Leslie: Yeah, I probably should have told you about this. Guillaume and I got a really nice flat together. It's big, and it's beautiful. But I'm going to keep my place at least for another year.
Me: So I am going to be able to stay here until the end of December, right?
Leslie: Oh yes. This doesn't affect anything with you at all. I'm leaving the TV here, and still paying for Internet.
Me: Ok. I was scared when I came home today.
Leslie: Yes, I put myself in your shoes and this wasn't good. But there is no problem. You are staying until December. I don't know when Antoinne is moving out, but even if he does, I probably won't look for anyone else to stay here.
So I guess that means I'm going to have the place to myself, if and when Antoinne moves on to his next job. Leslie did say that she was going to move the smaller bed from Antoinne's room into my room if he moves out (I have a queen size right now... a little bummed about that, but it's not the end of the world). So while I don't have a dishwasher or a dryer, everything else is ok. I'm just glad it's all settled. And on a bigger plus side, I don't have to worry about Guillaume smoking here anymore!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
School
Figured I should probably blog a bit about what I've done at school the last week, since the main reason I'm actually able to spend 4 months in France is because I'm an exchange student.
Last Thursday and Friday were the JESSIE business simulation, which was created by one of Audencia's professors, Emmanuel Dion. The description of JESSIE made it sound very much like the Fisher Tycoon simulation we all had to do with our core teams at the beginning of the MBA at OSU, so the thought of spending two more full days with a business simulation didn't really excite me. However, this simulation started out much more smoothly, probably because I'd already been exposed to some of the concepts we needed to use in order to make the business decisions.
I was on a team with Carlo from Peru, and Xavier-Freddy from France. We all tried to pick teammates that we hadn't talked much with before, and I really hadn't had a chance to get to know either one of these guys. We got along really well, but of course, we all had very different ideas about how we should proceed with our business. We weren't great with our time management, and we really didn't consider some of the scenarios that we should have to make optimal decisions. We lost money in the first few rounds, but we ended up making a profit, and we didn't finish in last place, so for me, it was a good experience overall.
On Monday, we started a team building workshop with a professor from the US, and I finally felt like I was back in my element. We discussed organizational behavior topics for about 3 hours in the morning, including a management assessment tool called LIFO. We were asked a few weeks ago to complete a survey where we had to rank 72 statements in terms of how much they were like us or unlike us. My results were right on the money. I'm a dominant Controlling/Taking personality, which means that I want to be seen as active and competent, and I just want to reach my goals without wasting time. I also scored high on the Conserving/Holding personality, which means that I am very careful and rational with my decisions, and I like to analyze a situation before making any big decisions. My scores in the other two categories were quite a bit lower, which suggests that I need to balance my task-oreintation with my people-orientation. This is also something my manager told me over the summer, and I'm definitely taking it to heart. My professor told me that I'm the type of girl who will "take numbers and kick ass," but I need to be more of a people person if I want to be a great manager. True statement.
In the afternoon and the next morning, we did a couple teamwork exercises. One exercise asked us to assume that we had just crashed a plane into the rainforest, and we had a list of 15 supplies. We had to rank the supplies in order of importance individually, then as a team, and then compare our rankings and our team rankings to that of a survival expert. In all cases, we learned that our team scores were better than our individual scores in terms of how close we were to the expert's rankings. In another exercise, we were paired up with another classmate and walked around campus with one person blindfolded and the other person as a guide. When blindfolded, we all started off walking very slowly, but as time passed and trust was built, we started walking faster and felt much more comfortable that the person guiding us was going to keep us out of harm's way. No one got hit by the tram, so that was a plus. Finally, we built a tower out of card stock and whatever supplies we wanted. Another team created a beautiful Asian-inspired tower, while ours was focused on being an environmentally-friendly, green building (we even covered it with green floral wrapping paper). The third team created a map of sorts with a big Audencia tower connected to all the different countries represented by our classmates. A very fun exercise.
We ended the workshop with a final exam that I thought was very easy. Our prof told us he didn't want the class to be hard for any of us, but that he wanted us to learn from it. That goal was met.
Today we had a 3-hour Human Resources Management class. We talked about the basics of HR, what we were going to learn about in the class, and then spent about an hour talking about a case on Southwest Airlines. I did two or three cases on Southwest last year, so it was rather repetative, but since I'm the only American in class, my classmates and my professor were interested in hearing my viewpoint of Southwest and whether the airline is all that it's cracked up to be.
I should make one more point about my experience as an American exchange student in this program. In general, it's my understanding that the culture here in France is pretty relaxed about time. However, it drove me absolutely nuts that on our first day of the JESSIE simulation, we were supposed to be done at 6 p.m., and we didn't leave until just after 7. During our team exercises, we were given several deadlines to meet, and every team went over the deadlines by at least 15 minutes. We were supposed to have a 2-hour lunch each day, and we decided to cut it by 30 minutes so that we could leave 30 minutes early at the end of the day. Instead, we had a 1.5 hours lunch break and still stayed until 5 p.m. each day. Finally, in HR class today, we got out 15 minutes late because people kept asking questions. I know it's just something I have to get used to, and I'm sure as the weeks pass I will be fine with it, but in a way, I kind of miss the Rudis and Jay Dials of the MBA world who insist on punctuality. Oh well, I'm in France. C'est la vie ici.
Last Thursday and Friday were the JESSIE business simulation, which was created by one of Audencia's professors, Emmanuel Dion. The description of JESSIE made it sound very much like the Fisher Tycoon simulation we all had to do with our core teams at the beginning of the MBA at OSU, so the thought of spending two more full days with a business simulation didn't really excite me. However, this simulation started out much more smoothly, probably because I'd already been exposed to some of the concepts we needed to use in order to make the business decisions.
I was on a team with Carlo from Peru, and Xavier-Freddy from France. We all tried to pick teammates that we hadn't talked much with before, and I really hadn't had a chance to get to know either one of these guys. We got along really well, but of course, we all had very different ideas about how we should proceed with our business. We weren't great with our time management, and we really didn't consider some of the scenarios that we should have to make optimal decisions. We lost money in the first few rounds, but we ended up making a profit, and we didn't finish in last place, so for me, it was a good experience overall.
On Monday, we started a team building workshop with a professor from the US, and I finally felt like I was back in my element. We discussed organizational behavior topics for about 3 hours in the morning, including a management assessment tool called LIFO. We were asked a few weeks ago to complete a survey where we had to rank 72 statements in terms of how much they were like us or unlike us. My results were right on the money. I'm a dominant Controlling/Taking personality, which means that I want to be seen as active and competent, and I just want to reach my goals without wasting time. I also scored high on the Conserving/Holding personality, which means that I am very careful and rational with my decisions, and I like to analyze a situation before making any big decisions. My scores in the other two categories were quite a bit lower, which suggests that I need to balance my task-oreintation with my people-orientation. This is also something my manager told me over the summer, and I'm definitely taking it to heart. My professor told me that I'm the type of girl who will "take numbers and kick ass," but I need to be more of a people person if I want to be a great manager. True statement.
In the afternoon and the next morning, we did a couple teamwork exercises. One exercise asked us to assume that we had just crashed a plane into the rainforest, and we had a list of 15 supplies. We had to rank the supplies in order of importance individually, then as a team, and then compare our rankings and our team rankings to that of a survival expert. In all cases, we learned that our team scores were better than our individual scores in terms of how close we were to the expert's rankings. In another exercise, we were paired up with another classmate and walked around campus with one person blindfolded and the other person as a guide. When blindfolded, we all started off walking very slowly, but as time passed and trust was built, we started walking faster and felt much more comfortable that the person guiding us was going to keep us out of harm's way. No one got hit by the tram, so that was a plus. Finally, we built a tower out of card stock and whatever supplies we wanted. Another team created a beautiful Asian-inspired tower, while ours was focused on being an environmentally-friendly, green building (we even covered it with green floral wrapping paper). The third team created a map of sorts with a big Audencia tower connected to all the different countries represented by our classmates. A very fun exercise.
We ended the workshop with a final exam that I thought was very easy. Our prof told us he didn't want the class to be hard for any of us, but that he wanted us to learn from it. That goal was met.
Today we had a 3-hour Human Resources Management class. We talked about the basics of HR, what we were going to learn about in the class, and then spent about an hour talking about a case on Southwest Airlines. I did two or three cases on Southwest last year, so it was rather repetative, but since I'm the only American in class, my classmates and my professor were interested in hearing my viewpoint of Southwest and whether the airline is all that it's cracked up to be.
I should make one more point about my experience as an American exchange student in this program. In general, it's my understanding that the culture here in France is pretty relaxed about time. However, it drove me absolutely nuts that on our first day of the JESSIE simulation, we were supposed to be done at 6 p.m., and we didn't leave until just after 7. During our team exercises, we were given several deadlines to meet, and every team went over the deadlines by at least 15 minutes. We were supposed to have a 2-hour lunch each day, and we decided to cut it by 30 minutes so that we could leave 30 minutes early at the end of the day. Instead, we had a 1.5 hours lunch break and still stayed until 5 p.m. each day. Finally, in HR class today, we got out 15 minutes late because people kept asking questions. I know it's just something I have to get used to, and I'm sure as the weeks pass I will be fine with it, but in a way, I kind of miss the Rudis and Jay Dials of the MBA world who insist on punctuality. Oh well, I'm in France. C'est la vie ici.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Oktoberfest
This past weekend was the opening weekend of Oktoberfest 2009, and I was there to experience the insanity. I met up with 12 of my friends from Fisher, and we all had the times of our lives.
I had a very late flight to Munich Friday night, and when I arrived, Christian was there to pick me up from the airport. From there, we went to the Landshut train station to pick up the guys who are studying in Zurich.
When we got to Christian's, just about everyone was already asleep, as we had to be ready to go by 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. I took a shower that night so I could sleep in at least a little on Saturday, and then it was off to bed.
We woke up around 6:30, and somehow, we were all ready to go at 6:55. We all learned from our Finance professor, Rudi, just how important punctuality is to Germans, and Christian was impressed that 13 of us were actually in the cars and on our way to the train station by 7. We got to the train station about 10 minutes later, and each got something to eat and drink. The train ride from Landshut to Munich is about 45 minutes, and the train was packed. I'd never seen so many authentic German outfits before, but it was really great to see. Melissa and Christian were both dressed up, and they looked fantastic.
We got to Munich and took a quick metro ride to the Oktoberfest park. We arrived around 8:30 so we could wait in line in hopes of getting into a beer tent when they opened at 9:00. We split our group into two, and each group waited at a separate entrance. Melissa, Celina, Tim, Josh and I were waiting at one of the entrances, and though none of us actually spoke German, we heard someone say that the door on the right was for people with reservations, and the door on the left was for anyone. Therefore, our strategy was the "European way" of waiting near the front of a line but to the left. (A little explanation on the "European way": Those of us who've done a lot of plane travel during our time in Europe have learned that no matter how the waiting area is organized, most people here just push and shove their way to the front as soon as people are allowed through the gates.) We thought our idea was going to work, but as soon as the doors to the beer tent opened, we found out that the door on the left was for people to exit from inside. At that point, we were screwed, as you can't get served beer unless you're sitting at a table.
About 2 minutes after the doors opened, we saw some people quietly moving around to the other side of the building, and Melissa followed them. She didn't come back, and when we finally got inside, we saw Melissa standing on a bench, with the other half of our group sitting at a table. VICTORY!!!! It was going to be a good day. Now we just had to wait 3 hours until they started serving beer at noon.
We played Uno for a while, and then Melissa and Elias and I decided to walk around the rest of the area. There were a lot of food vendors around with pretzels, roasted nuts, sausages, and all sorts of other German treats. I ended up getting a crepe, which isn't German, but tasted delicious anyway. We also walked through several other beer tents, and they all looked about the same. Ridiculously crowded with thousands of people anticipating a crazy day of beer.
We went back to our beer tent and waited some more. Finally around 11:45, the band made its way into our tent, and at 12, the Mayor of Munich came in to tap the first keg/barrel. That's when the fun really began. For the first round, about half of us wanted Radler, which is half beer + half lemonade. However, when our server showed up with 13 steins of beer, we decided we'd be waiting quite a bit longer if we really wanted the Radler, so we just took the beer... and it was fantastic! This is me, Elias and our server... she was awesome.
The band had moved to it's stage and was playing all sorts of great German music, and it was just a very happy place. I don't know how the servers carry so much beer at once, but it just kept coming, and everyone just kept drinking and having a great time. We also got our Radler eventually, and it tasted just as good as I remember it from the first time I went to Munich.
We changed seats with one another every hour or so in order to talk to everyone at some point. It was great to catch up with everyone, since most of us hadn't seen each other in several months. With the exception of Melissa and Christian, everyone else is studying somewhere in Europe for fall quarter, so it was also really interesting to hear about all the different places I need to travel. Not sure what the order is, but I definitely need to figure out a way to make it to Milan, Copenhagen and Zurich.
We took the train back to Munich, and most of us crashed as soon as we got home. It was a long day, but more fun than I've had in a very long time.
Melissa and Christian came by on Sunday morning with a huge basket full of pretzels and bread, plus meats, cheeses and jams. It was an incredible spread, and we definitely all needed it. People left at various points after that. My flight from Munich took off around 5, and I got into Paris at 6:30. Had to wait at the airport for about 2 and a half hours before my train came, but then it was back home to Nantes. Unfortunately, we had a few delays at some of the train stops, so the train didn't get into Nantes until after 12:30 a.m. Apparently the tram in Nantes stops running at 12:30, so I had to walk back to my apartment from the train station. It's less than a mile I think, but with a big backpack, it wasn't the most enjoyable walk. The fun of the weekend more than made up for it though!
I had a very late flight to Munich Friday night, and when I arrived, Christian was there to pick me up from the airport. From there, we went to the Landshut train station to pick up the guys who are studying in Zurich.
When we got to Christian's, just about everyone was already asleep, as we had to be ready to go by 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. I took a shower that night so I could sleep in at least a little on Saturday, and then it was off to bed.
We woke up around 6:30, and somehow, we were all ready to go at 6:55. We all learned from our Finance professor, Rudi, just how important punctuality is to Germans, and Christian was impressed that 13 of us were actually in the cars and on our way to the train station by 7. We got to the train station about 10 minutes later, and each got something to eat and drink. The train ride from Landshut to Munich is about 45 minutes, and the train was packed. I'd never seen so many authentic German outfits before, but it was really great to see. Melissa and Christian were both dressed up, and they looked fantastic.
We got to Munich and took a quick metro ride to the Oktoberfest park. We arrived around 8:30 so we could wait in line in hopes of getting into a beer tent when they opened at 9:00. We split our group into two, and each group waited at a separate entrance. Melissa, Celina, Tim, Josh and I were waiting at one of the entrances, and though none of us actually spoke German, we heard someone say that the door on the right was for people with reservations, and the door on the left was for anyone. Therefore, our strategy was the "European way" of waiting near the front of a line but to the left. (A little explanation on the "European way": Those of us who've done a lot of plane travel during our time in Europe have learned that no matter how the waiting area is organized, most people here just push and shove their way to the front as soon as people are allowed through the gates.) We thought our idea was going to work, but as soon as the doors to the beer tent opened, we found out that the door on the left was for people to exit from inside. At that point, we were screwed, as you can't get served beer unless you're sitting at a table.
About 2 minutes after the doors opened, we saw some people quietly moving around to the other side of the building, and Melissa followed them. She didn't come back, and when we finally got inside, we saw Melissa standing on a bench, with the other half of our group sitting at a table. VICTORY!!!! It was going to be a good day. Now we just had to wait 3 hours until they started serving beer at noon.
We played Uno for a while, and then Melissa and Elias and I decided to walk around the rest of the area. There were a lot of food vendors around with pretzels, roasted nuts, sausages, and all sorts of other German treats. I ended up getting a crepe, which isn't German, but tasted delicious anyway. We also walked through several other beer tents, and they all looked about the same. Ridiculously crowded with thousands of people anticipating a crazy day of beer.
We went back to our beer tent and waited some more. Finally around 11:45, the band made its way into our tent, and at 12, the Mayor of Munich came in to tap the first keg/barrel. That's when the fun really began. For the first round, about half of us wanted Radler, which is half beer + half lemonade. However, when our server showed up with 13 steins of beer, we decided we'd be waiting quite a bit longer if we really wanted the Radler, so we just took the beer... and it was fantastic! This is me, Elias and our server... she was awesome.
The band had moved to it's stage and was playing all sorts of great German music, and it was just a very happy place. I don't know how the servers carry so much beer at once, but it just kept coming, and everyone just kept drinking and having a great time. We also got our Radler eventually, and it tasted just as good as I remember it from the first time I went to Munich.
We changed seats with one another every hour or so in order to talk to everyone at some point. It was great to catch up with everyone, since most of us hadn't seen each other in several months. With the exception of Melissa and Christian, everyone else is studying somewhere in Europe for fall quarter, so it was also really interesting to hear about all the different places I need to travel. Not sure what the order is, but I definitely need to figure out a way to make it to Milan, Copenhagen and Zurich.
We took the train back to Munich, and most of us crashed as soon as we got home. It was a long day, but more fun than I've had in a very long time.
Melissa and Christian came by on Sunday morning with a huge basket full of pretzels and bread, plus meats, cheeses and jams. It was an incredible spread, and we definitely all needed it. People left at various points after that. My flight from Munich took off around 5, and I got into Paris at 6:30. Had to wait at the airport for about 2 and a half hours before my train came, but then it was back home to Nantes. Unfortunately, we had a few delays at some of the train stops, so the train didn't get into Nantes until after 12:30 a.m. Apparently the tram in Nantes stops running at 12:30, so I had to walk back to my apartment from the train station. It's less than a mile I think, but with a big backpack, it wasn't the most enjoyable walk. The fun of the weekend more than made up for it though!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
First Day of School...
Started classes today, and it looks like it should be a pretty good quarter. There are 20 students in our class: 40% French, 35% female, average age of 34, and an average of 11 years work experience. Needless to say, I'm the baby of the group. My guess is that if I wasn't an exchange student, I would be placed in the IMM (International Masters' of Management) program, as it typically has younger grad students, but since I've already had a year of MBA coursework, I'm in the International MBA program.
I took a trip to school on the tram yesterday just to make sure I knew my way, and it took about 15 minutes. Even so, I left at about 9:15 this morning to make it to school by 10:00. I didn't want to take any chance of being late on the first day. Sure enough, I made it to school by 9:30, and was the second student to arrive. I met Gihad who had arrived right before me, and she seems like such a sweetheart. She's from Sudan, and has been a pharmacist for 8 years. She's been living in Nantes for 6 months, and, like me, has gotten a bit bored with it. She was just as eager to meet new people as I was.
We then met several of the men in our program... and that's when the age difference between Audencia MBAs and Fisher MBAs became incredibly apparent. I'm very interested to learn about business from their perspectives, and I just hope that I'm able to make contributions that are valued by them.
We met two more girls in our program, Pan (from Thailand) and Mai (from Vietnam), and we had coffee and juice with the dean, associate dean, director of programs, and some of the faculty. The rest of the morning was typical orientation/introduction stuff, but considering I don't really know anything about this school other than it's an exchange partner with OSU, it was all good information to have.
I ate lunch with a lot of the guys, and we ended up talking quite a bit about American pop culture. We talked a lot about the media coverage that Michael Jackson's death got here in Europe-- I knew he was an international star, but I really didn't think the media attention would have been nearly as strong here-- apparently I was wrong. We also talked about Patrick Swayze's death, and while some of the guys didn't know who he was when I talked about Dirty Dancing, as soon as I said "Ghost" with Demi Moore, they seemed to remember him. Interesting which movies strike a chord with which audiences.
After lunch, we went to the cafeteria for some coffee and more chit-chat. I met Cherif, who is originally from Senegal, but who lived in the States for several years. In fact, when he learned that I was from Ohio, he told me that he did his undergraduate work at Xavier University in Cincinnati. Incidentally, I lived in Xavier's dorms this summer while I did my internship in Cinci. Small world. We talked to our classmate Carlo, who is from Peru, and who said that he might want to visit Ohio. Cherif and I really couldn't think of anything great that Ohio has to offer except the Buckeyes (during a good season), and the fact that it's close to Chicago. This is now a running joke with me and Cherif anytime someone mentions Ohio.
As the day wrapped up, I spoke with Cherif, Pan and Gihad, and we all decided to have dinner together tonight. I invited my weekday roommate Antoinne to dinner with us, and we met up with Pan, Pan's friend Ying, and Cherif at a pasta place (similar to Noodles in the US), and just talked about being some of the youngest in the program. Pan is 26 and Cherif is 28. They both said they felt a little odd today being so young, but since at least the three of us are on the same page, it doesn't seem to be as big of an issue as I had originally thought. Gihad and another classmate Abdel came out a bit later, and we headed to Place Royale to sit by the fountain. We spent some time just getting to know each other better and then called it a night around 10:30.
We have tomorrow off, and then two days of business simulations! If it's anything like Fisher Tycoon, I'm not super excited about it. However, after getting to know some of my classmates tonight, I think it could be a lot of fun to work on a team with them, so I'm sure the experience will end up being a positive one.
I took a trip to school on the tram yesterday just to make sure I knew my way, and it took about 15 minutes. Even so, I left at about 9:15 this morning to make it to school by 10:00. I didn't want to take any chance of being late on the first day. Sure enough, I made it to school by 9:30, and was the second student to arrive. I met Gihad who had arrived right before me, and she seems like such a sweetheart. She's from Sudan, and has been a pharmacist for 8 years. She's been living in Nantes for 6 months, and, like me, has gotten a bit bored with it. She was just as eager to meet new people as I was.
We then met several of the men in our program... and that's when the age difference between Audencia MBAs and Fisher MBAs became incredibly apparent. I'm very interested to learn about business from their perspectives, and I just hope that I'm able to make contributions that are valued by them.
We met two more girls in our program, Pan (from Thailand) and Mai (from Vietnam), and we had coffee and juice with the dean, associate dean, director of programs, and some of the faculty. The rest of the morning was typical orientation/introduction stuff, but considering I don't really know anything about this school other than it's an exchange partner with OSU, it was all good information to have.
I ate lunch with a lot of the guys, and we ended up talking quite a bit about American pop culture. We talked a lot about the media coverage that Michael Jackson's death got here in Europe-- I knew he was an international star, but I really didn't think the media attention would have been nearly as strong here-- apparently I was wrong. We also talked about Patrick Swayze's death, and while some of the guys didn't know who he was when I talked about Dirty Dancing, as soon as I said "Ghost" with Demi Moore, they seemed to remember him. Interesting which movies strike a chord with which audiences.
After lunch, we went to the cafeteria for some coffee and more chit-chat. I met Cherif, who is originally from Senegal, but who lived in the States for several years. In fact, when he learned that I was from Ohio, he told me that he did his undergraduate work at Xavier University in Cincinnati. Incidentally, I lived in Xavier's dorms this summer while I did my internship in Cinci. Small world. We talked to our classmate Carlo, who is from Peru, and who said that he might want to visit Ohio. Cherif and I really couldn't think of anything great that Ohio has to offer except the Buckeyes (during a good season), and the fact that it's close to Chicago. This is now a running joke with me and Cherif anytime someone mentions Ohio.
As the day wrapped up, I spoke with Cherif, Pan and Gihad, and we all decided to have dinner together tonight. I invited my weekday roommate Antoinne to dinner with us, and we met up with Pan, Pan's friend Ying, and Cherif at a pasta place (similar to Noodles in the US), and just talked about being some of the youngest in the program. Pan is 26 and Cherif is 28. They both said they felt a little odd today being so young, but since at least the three of us are on the same page, it doesn't seem to be as big of an issue as I had originally thought. Gihad and another classmate Abdel came out a bit later, and we headed to Place Royale to sit by the fountain. We spent some time just getting to know each other better and then called it a night around 10:30.
We have tomorrow off, and then two days of business simulations! If it's anything like Fisher Tycoon, I'm not super excited about it. However, after getting to know some of my classmates tonight, I think it could be a lot of fun to work on a team with them, so I'm sure the experience will end up being a positive one.
Monday, September 14, 2009
A Note on Railpasses
More than a week into my trip, I'm still not sure how I feel about the railpass I bought. I have three one-month passes, one with 6 days unlimited travel, and the other two with 4 days each. The 6-day pass cost $270, while the 4-day passes cost $214 each. Since I'm under 26 years old, the cost was $186 for 3 days unlimited travel in a month, plus $28 for each additional day. The caveat to "unlimited" is that if you want to take any high-speed trains (by the way - these are the only kind that get you from Paris to Nantes and Nantes to Paris) you also have to pay a reservation fee. If you read any of the Rick Steves or other travel books, you'll see that these reservation fees should be somewhere between 3 and 5 euros each when you buy them at the train stations in France. These books also mention that some reservations on the most popular routes can sell out a few days before a trip, so make sure you book at least a couple days before you plan to travel whenever possible (wish I'd read this ahead of time).
Before I left for my trip, I bought a reservation from the Paris Airport to Nantes, as I didn't want to have to worry about anything once I got to the airport. I paid US$18, which is about 12 euros. No big deal, I figured, price will go down once I get into France. The next reservations I needed to buy were for my trip to Madrid, so once I got to Nantes, I bought a reservation from Nantes to Paris (the city train station, not the airport), and then again from the Paris airport to Nantes. The reservation from Nantes to Paris was 12 euros, while the airport to Nantes reservation was only 3 euros. The only reason I can think of that the first one cost more was that it was during a peak period, whereas the one coming home was very late at night, and therefore, probably wasn't nearly as full. In any event, I got both reservations without a problem.
Today, I went to the train station to book my reservations so that I could get to and from the airport for my trip to Munich this weekend. I told the woman at the desk exactly which trains I wanted to take (from Nantes to the airport, and from the airport to Nantes), and was surprised when she told me that all the reservations were sold out. I asked her to check another train from Nantes that would leave about 30 minutes later and would take me to the city instead of directly to the airport, and that one was available, so I booked it. I'm not crunched for time on the way there, so that wasn't a big deal.
However, trying to get from the airport to Nantes was going to be an issue. There were three trains leaving the Paris (city) train station, at 8, 9 and 10 p.m. However, the trains at 9 and 10 p.m. are sold out of reservations too, which leaves 8 p.m. as my only option. My flight is supposed to land at 6:30. Ordinarily, 1.5 hours should be plenty to get to the train station from the airport, but now I'm wary because a)my delayed flight from Madrid had me running through CDG and barely catching my train, and b) the RER schedule from the airport to the city is a bit different on the weekends, and may not run as regularly. Given that I didn't have a lot of options, I took my chances and booked the reservation on the 8:00 train for 3 euros. Worst case scenario would be that I miss the 8:00 train, and have to pay full-fare for a seat on the 9:00 train (somewhere around 60 euros-- which is about US$90).
When I got home, I was just curious to see if the ticket agent at the train station had missed something. I checked online on raileurope.com to see if I could find a reservation from the airport to Nantes, and sure enough, I could have gotten one online for US$18, plus a US$12 fee to print my ticket at the train station. I almost did it, but then decided to run back to the train station, just to see if they would look again. I had a different ticket agent this time, and while she first told me the reservations were sold out, I must have said the magic word (or looked at her in a way that made her feel sorry for me), because she went to the back office, came back in 5 minutes, and told me that if I paid 12 euros instead of 3, I could get a reservation on the train directly from the airport to Nantes. YAY!! I'm not sure if I'm able to return the original reservation I bought, but I really don't care. It's certainly worth the 3 euros to avoid the hassle of trying to get from the airport to the city late at night.
I should note that using the railpass is very easy. The first day you want to use it, you take it to the train station from which you're departing and have it validated by a ticket agent (note, it takes a good 30-45 minutes of waiting in line if your first train station is Paris airport). After that, you just fill in the date that you're traveling, then find your seat marked on the reservation, and when the train manager comes through, you show him or her the pass and the reservation, and you're good to go.
It's simple enough, but when all is said and done, I'm going to see if I actually got a good deal cost-wise, after factoring in all the reservation costs. Will let you know.
Before I left for my trip, I bought a reservation from the Paris Airport to Nantes, as I didn't want to have to worry about anything once I got to the airport. I paid US$18, which is about 12 euros. No big deal, I figured, price will go down once I get into France. The next reservations I needed to buy were for my trip to Madrid, so once I got to Nantes, I bought a reservation from Nantes to Paris (the city train station, not the airport), and then again from the Paris airport to Nantes. The reservation from Nantes to Paris was 12 euros, while the airport to Nantes reservation was only 3 euros. The only reason I can think of that the first one cost more was that it was during a peak period, whereas the one coming home was very late at night, and therefore, probably wasn't nearly as full. In any event, I got both reservations without a problem.
Today, I went to the train station to book my reservations so that I could get to and from the airport for my trip to Munich this weekend. I told the woman at the desk exactly which trains I wanted to take (from Nantes to the airport, and from the airport to Nantes), and was surprised when she told me that all the reservations were sold out. I asked her to check another train from Nantes that would leave about 30 minutes later and would take me to the city instead of directly to the airport, and that one was available, so I booked it. I'm not crunched for time on the way there, so that wasn't a big deal.
However, trying to get from the airport to Nantes was going to be an issue. There were three trains leaving the Paris (city) train station, at 8, 9 and 10 p.m. However, the trains at 9 and 10 p.m. are sold out of reservations too, which leaves 8 p.m. as my only option. My flight is supposed to land at 6:30. Ordinarily, 1.5 hours should be plenty to get to the train station from the airport, but now I'm wary because a)my delayed flight from Madrid had me running through CDG and barely catching my train, and b) the RER schedule from the airport to the city is a bit different on the weekends, and may not run as regularly. Given that I didn't have a lot of options, I took my chances and booked the reservation on the 8:00 train for 3 euros. Worst case scenario would be that I miss the 8:00 train, and have to pay full-fare for a seat on the 9:00 train (somewhere around 60 euros-- which is about US$90).
When I got home, I was just curious to see if the ticket agent at the train station had missed something. I checked online on raileurope.com to see if I could find a reservation from the airport to Nantes, and sure enough, I could have gotten one online for US$18, plus a US$12 fee to print my ticket at the train station. I almost did it, but then decided to run back to the train station, just to see if they would look again. I had a different ticket agent this time, and while she first told me the reservations were sold out, I must have said the magic word (or looked at her in a way that made her feel sorry for me), because she went to the back office, came back in 5 minutes, and told me that if I paid 12 euros instead of 3, I could get a reservation on the train directly from the airport to Nantes. YAY!! I'm not sure if I'm able to return the original reservation I bought, but I really don't care. It's certainly worth the 3 euros to avoid the hassle of trying to get from the airport to the city late at night.
I should note that using the railpass is very easy. The first day you want to use it, you take it to the train station from which you're departing and have it validated by a ticket agent (note, it takes a good 30-45 minutes of waiting in line if your first train station is Paris airport). After that, you just fill in the date that you're traveling, then find your seat marked on the reservation, and when the train manager comes through, you show him or her the pass and the reservation, and you're good to go.
It's simple enough, but when all is said and done, I'm going to see if I actually got a good deal cost-wise, after factoring in all the reservation costs. Will let you know.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Lazy Weekend
Not a whole lot to update today. Friday I stayed inside for most of the day since I still wasn't feeling great. I just ventured out briefly to go to Monoprix to get a few groceries, and then made my way to the chocolatier in Passage Pommayrie, as I knew chocolate would make me feel better... it did :) Antoinne went back to Paris for the weekend, and Leslie told me that she and Guillaume were going away for the weekend and they left around 5 p.m. The door opened again at 9:30, and Leslie, Guy and Guy's daughter walked in. Apparently they decided they wanted dinner before heading out for the weekend. This place seems more and more like a hotel every day with people coming and going all the time, but it really doesn't bother me. As long as I have my own set of keys, I'm good to go.
Saturday I walked around to see if I could get lost. I couldn't. Ivan wasn't kidding when he said this city is a lot smaller than it seems at first. I took the tram to Atlantis, which is sort of like Nantes' version of Easton. It has an IKEA, so I spent about an hour wandering the room displays there, and then walked around the rest of the mall. I don't get too excited about French fashion (sorry Margot and Sophie), but it's interesting to see the different types of clothes they have here. I almost stopped in a creperie, but I'm trying my best not to go out to eat unless it's with friends. More fun to eat in groups anyway. It's also helping me save money in these first few weeks, as I have a feeling I'm going to be spending quite a bit more on going out once school starts and I get to know more people.
When I got back into the center of town, I took a trip to the main park to read for a while. I found a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" when I was at the Madrid hostel, so I'm re-reading it. It's much more enjoyable now than it was when I had to read it in high school. Later, I ran into several more groups dressed up in costumes. I tried to ask one girl exactly what they were doing, but she spoke too quickly for me to understand her explanation. Apparently this group's theme was chickens.
There was also a band going through town, and they were quite good. It was just percussion instruments, but it had a great beat. I listened to them for about 5 minutes, then continued on my way home.
I've been watching a lot of American TV online, and I'm ashamed to say that I'm all caught up on "The Hills," as MTV is the only channel that would let me watch the shows from outside the USA. Luckily, Elias found another site that streams other channels shows to Europe, so I'm also caught up on Entourage and Project Runway. Thanks Elias! As usual, today (Sunday) is dead in Nantes. I was going to go to the farmers'/flea market this morning, but slept in too long and missed it. C'est la vie. I decided to see if I could actually understand anything on French TV, and was thrilled when I heard the theme song to "Happy Days" on one of the channels. It was dubbed in French, but I was able to follow along pretty well. After that, I watched American Gladiators, also dubbed in French, but still entertaining.
Tomorrow's my last day of freedom before classes start, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know my classmates. I'm even more excited for this weekend, though, when I head to Munich for Oktoberfest with about 10 of my MBA classmates. It's going to be a crazy weekend, but so much fun. Just have to get through orientation week at school first!
Saturday I walked around to see if I could get lost. I couldn't. Ivan wasn't kidding when he said this city is a lot smaller than it seems at first. I took the tram to Atlantis, which is sort of like Nantes' version of Easton. It has an IKEA, so I spent about an hour wandering the room displays there, and then walked around the rest of the mall. I don't get too excited about French fashion (sorry Margot and Sophie), but it's interesting to see the different types of clothes they have here. I almost stopped in a creperie, but I'm trying my best not to go out to eat unless it's with friends. More fun to eat in groups anyway. It's also helping me save money in these first few weeks, as I have a feeling I'm going to be spending quite a bit more on going out once school starts and I get to know more people.
When I got back into the center of town, I took a trip to the main park to read for a while. I found a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" when I was at the Madrid hostel, so I'm re-reading it. It's much more enjoyable now than it was when I had to read it in high school. Later, I ran into several more groups dressed up in costumes. I tried to ask one girl exactly what they were doing, but she spoke too quickly for me to understand her explanation. Apparently this group's theme was chickens.
There was also a band going through town, and they were quite good. It was just percussion instruments, but it had a great beat. I listened to them for about 5 minutes, then continued on my way home.
I've been watching a lot of American TV online, and I'm ashamed to say that I'm all caught up on "The Hills," as MTV is the only channel that would let me watch the shows from outside the USA. Luckily, Elias found another site that streams other channels shows to Europe, so I'm also caught up on Entourage and Project Runway. Thanks Elias! As usual, today (Sunday) is dead in Nantes. I was going to go to the farmers'/flea market this morning, but slept in too long and missed it. C'est la vie. I decided to see if I could actually understand anything on French TV, and was thrilled when I heard the theme song to "Happy Days" on one of the channels. It was dubbed in French, but I was able to follow along pretty well. After that, I watched American Gladiators, also dubbed in French, but still entertaining.
Tomorrow's my last day of freedom before classes start, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know my classmates. I'm even more excited for this weekend, though, when I head to Munich for Oktoberfest with about 10 of my MBA classmates. It's going to be a crazy weekend, but so much fun. Just have to get through orientation week at school first!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Feeling icky
So I started feeling pretty lousy after I got home last night. Feels like a head cold is coming on, but I'm pretty sure that it's mostly to do with all the cigarette smoke I've been exposed to over the past week. The bars were full of smoke in Madrid, and my roommate's boyfriend smokes everytime he comes over. He was here for several hours today and I'm pretty sure he went through an entire pack.
When I signed on to live with Leslie, her profile said that she was a non-smoker, which is true, but it didn't mention anything about her having a boyfriend who smokes. I'm not sure how to address the situation, because this is her home, and I'm just a tenant. However, I'm paying quite a bit to live here, and it was my understanding that I would be living in a smoke-free environment. Hopefully we're able to come to some sort of agreement, as I really can't handle my head feeling like it's going to explode like it does right now.
I really didn't do anything all that interesting today. I walked around Nantes again, and I'm getting a much better sense of direction. I essentially live at the main intersection of town, so as long as I can find a tramline, it's easy to navigate. They were having an end-of-summer carnival, so I walked through, and it was the same thing that every town in the US has with the rides that pop out of trailers and the annoying people who want you to play games that you can't possibly win.
I also discovered that the younger crowd in Nantes really likes to dress up in silly costumes. Ivan said that it's a bachelor/bachelorette party type of event, and if that's the case, there were a lot of engaged people going around today. A few girls were dressed up as smurfs and handing out candy, while another group was dressed up as pirates and playing in a fountain. Another group covered themselves in garbage bags and duct taped themselves to each other. So odd. Makes for good pictures though.
Went grocery shopping so I don't have to spend as much on going out to eat. I had a good breakfast, lunch and dinner, all for less than 15 euros.
I'm really looking forward to school starting up next week, as I want to meet my classmates so I have more people to do things with. Ivan has been great, but he just left for Germany and won't be back until the end of next week. Bummer.
Not sure what I'll do tomorrow. Maybe go to a couple museums or find a big shopping area called Atlantis. They have an IKEA, where I could easily kill an hour, as well as a lot of clothing stores (not that I'm planning to buy anything). Guess I'll just play it by ear.
When I signed on to live with Leslie, her profile said that she was a non-smoker, which is true, but it didn't mention anything about her having a boyfriend who smokes. I'm not sure how to address the situation, because this is her home, and I'm just a tenant. However, I'm paying quite a bit to live here, and it was my understanding that I would be living in a smoke-free environment. Hopefully we're able to come to some sort of agreement, as I really can't handle my head feeling like it's going to explode like it does right now.
I really didn't do anything all that interesting today. I walked around Nantes again, and I'm getting a much better sense of direction. I essentially live at the main intersection of town, so as long as I can find a tramline, it's easy to navigate. They were having an end-of-summer carnival, so I walked through, and it was the same thing that every town in the US has with the rides that pop out of trailers and the annoying people who want you to play games that you can't possibly win.
I also discovered that the younger crowd in Nantes really likes to dress up in silly costumes. Ivan said that it's a bachelor/bachelorette party type of event, and if that's the case, there were a lot of engaged people going around today. A few girls were dressed up as smurfs and handing out candy, while another group was dressed up as pirates and playing in a fountain. Another group covered themselves in garbage bags and duct taped themselves to each other. So odd. Makes for good pictures though.
Went grocery shopping so I don't have to spend as much on going out to eat. I had a good breakfast, lunch and dinner, all for less than 15 euros.
I'm really looking forward to school starting up next week, as I want to meet my classmates so I have more people to do things with. Ivan has been great, but he just left for Germany and won't be back until the end of next week. Bummer.
Not sure what I'll do tomorrow. Maybe go to a couple museums or find a big shopping area called Atlantis. They have an IKEA, where I could easily kill an hour, as well as a lot of clothing stores (not that I'm planning to buy anything). Guess I'll just play it by ear.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
My first work-out of the trip
This one's going to be fairly quick... I'm exhausted.
Left the hostel around 2 today and got on the metro to head to the airport. For whatever reason, after you've ridden the metro, you have to pay an extra euro to actually enter the airport from the metro station. So odd. Got there in plenty of time to check in for my flight though, so that was good.
Grabbed a sandwich from the little cafe at the airport-- not bad, not great. Our flight was originally scheduled to board at 5:10, and I got really excited when I saw that it had been moved up to 5:01, as I was scheduled to take the train home from the Paris airport, and I only had about 45 minutes between the scheduled arrival time and the time the train left. The paris airport is huge, so any extra time to get where I needed to would be much appreciated. 5:01 came and went. So did 5:10, and 5:30. When a gate agent arrived at 5:45, everyone scrambled to the gate. And we waited some more. Finally started boarding around 6:05, taxied for a good 20 minutes around the airport, and were in the air by 6:30. Originally we were scheduled to leave at 5:40. Awesome.
Quick side note: EasyJet should really consider a name change. There's nothing easy about flying that airline, and frankly, its prices aren't that great. They don't enforce the boarding system at all, and people just crowd and step on feet and roll suitcases over each other to get as close to the front of the line as they can. It's similar to what I sort of remember Southwest doing several years ago, but 100 times worse. Then once you're on the plane, people will start loading their luggage into the overhead compartments, and if there isn't room for theirs right above them, they move the luggage above them somewhere else for the owner to find after landing. Pain in the ass.
Anyway, my train was scheduled to leave Paris at 8:34 p.m. We were told that we'd arrive at 8:10. Still should have been plenty of time. But once again, we taxied for 15 minutes to get to the gate. As soon as we landed, I literally sprinted through Charles de Gaulle airport to get to the train station, and I got into my seat 30 seconds before the doors closed and the train left the station. Really need to get back into my workout routine after that pathetic performance, but on the plus side, I'm home!
A photo of me just as I got on the train. I sorta worked up a sweat.
Left the hostel around 2 today and got on the metro to head to the airport. For whatever reason, after you've ridden the metro, you have to pay an extra euro to actually enter the airport from the metro station. So odd. Got there in plenty of time to check in for my flight though, so that was good.
Grabbed a sandwich from the little cafe at the airport-- not bad, not great. Our flight was originally scheduled to board at 5:10, and I got really excited when I saw that it had been moved up to 5:01, as I was scheduled to take the train home from the Paris airport, and I only had about 45 minutes between the scheduled arrival time and the time the train left. The paris airport is huge, so any extra time to get where I needed to would be much appreciated. 5:01 came and went. So did 5:10, and 5:30. When a gate agent arrived at 5:45, everyone scrambled to the gate. And we waited some more. Finally started boarding around 6:05, taxied for a good 20 minutes around the airport, and were in the air by 6:30. Originally we were scheduled to leave at 5:40. Awesome.
Quick side note: EasyJet should really consider a name change. There's nothing easy about flying that airline, and frankly, its prices aren't that great. They don't enforce the boarding system at all, and people just crowd and step on feet and roll suitcases over each other to get as close to the front of the line as they can. It's similar to what I sort of remember Southwest doing several years ago, but 100 times worse. Then once you're on the plane, people will start loading their luggage into the overhead compartments, and if there isn't room for theirs right above them, they move the luggage above them somewhere else for the owner to find after landing. Pain in the ass.
Anyway, my train was scheduled to leave Paris at 8:34 p.m. We were told that we'd arrive at 8:10. Still should have been plenty of time. But once again, we taxied for 15 minutes to get to the gate. As soon as we landed, I literally sprinted through Charles de Gaulle airport to get to the train station, and I got into my seat 30 seconds before the doors closed and the train left the station. Really need to get back into my workout routine after that pathetic performance, but on the plus side, I'm home!
A photo of me just as I got on the train. I sorta worked up a sweat.
Madrid!
My time in Madrid is just about over, but it´s been a great couple of days. Left the apartment around 10:15 on Monday, got some pain au chocolat (like a chocolate-filled croissant), and went to the train station. Train left at 11 and got into Paris Montparnasse at 1:10. I considered exploring Paris a bit, but since I wasn´t entirely sure how long it would take me to get to the airport from the Paris train station, I just decided to head straight there. The metro/RER system in Paris really is great, and easy to navigate. It only took about 30 or 40 minutes to get to the airport, while the airport shuttle would have taken close to an hour.
Had about 3 hours to kill before my flight, so I sat down at a little cafe in the airport and had a nicoise salad. Pretty good, though overpriced (guess that´s what you expect from airport food though). The flight to Madrid was easy, though there was a baby in the seat in front of me who would not stop crying the entire flight. That was annoying as hell, but something that you just have to deal with. As soon as we landed at the airport, we were informed that something was wrong with our main cabin door, so we would have to leave out the back door and take a bus to the terminal. No big deal, and it actually worked out perfectly, as Dave was coming down the stairs from his flight just as I arrived. So I met up with him and Justin, and their friends Andy, Garth, Brian and Alyssa.
We took the metro to the hostel, which turned out to be really nice. About 18€ a night, but we had air conditioning, decent beds, our own bathroom, and free internet (which I am currently making use of). We met up with Dave´s little sister Deanna and went out for some tapas and drinks. The place had an interesting business model: order drinks, get free tapas. We had some beers and mojitos, and were served a few types of tapas including croquettas, chorizo, ham and bread, and frittatas. The croquettas were essentially deep-fried ham and cheese balls, and they were fantastic.
After that bar, Deanna wanted to take us to a park to have a few beers, but when we got there, the police were there as well, and seemed to be disciplining everyone with beers, so we ended up leaving. Went to another bar, had a couple drinks there, and then headed to what was supposed to be one of the more popular clubs in Madrid. Unfortunatley, it wasn´t open on Monday nights. We still took a picture, just to say we´d been there.
Yesterday we started off getting a traditional Spanish breakfast of cured ham, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato, croquettas and fries. The place was called Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham). Can you guess why?
I had already eaten at the hostel, so I didn´t eat much there, but what I had was ok. We explored the big park and botanical gardens, where we saw some nice waterfalls and a really cool house made of glass. Apparently it was a greenhouse at one time, but now it´s just something nice to look at. After walking for a while, we sat down in the park and had some sangria and relaxed. It was fantastic!!
The rest of the day was a little messy. Deanna really wanted us to experience traditional Spain, so she wanted us to have a menu del dia (menu of the day) for lunch, which inclued two main courses, a drink and dessert for a fixed price. Supposedly they go from 2 to 5 every day and you can find restaurants that offer them everywhere. Deanna also wanted us to see a flamenco show, which started at 6. We must have talked about how to plan out the rest of the afternoon for 45 minutes, while shopping for souveniers (an activity I really don´t like), and so at 4:00, we finally decided to do the menu and flamenco show. Unfortunately, we could only find one or two restaurants offering the menu del dia, and they didn´t look all that great. So we went to another part of town which Deanna was sure would have more options, and none of them had the menu. So we went back to our original area around 4:45, only to discover that they were no longer serving the menu del dia.
Ended up going to a little tapas place and got some mini sandwiches and sangria (delicious again) and then went to the flamenco show. I wasn´t too excited about the show, as I´d seen one in Barcelona a few years back, and it really didn´t impress me. But since it was everyone else´s first time in Madrid, I just went along with it. Turns out, almost everyone dozed off at some point during the show. The dancers are all very talented, but it just wasn´t the kind of entertainment we were looking for.
After the show, Justin and Alyssa and I headed out so Justin could find his name brand stores. We walked around for a while with no luck, Alyssa ended up going off on her own, and Justin and I found out from a nice man at a hotel that we were about 30 minutes from the street with all the big brands. We decided to get Paella to make ourselves feel better. We waited for a good 30 minutes before it arrived, but it was just as good as I remembered it. Far too much for us to eat, but still yummy.
Headed back to the hostel to change before going out again for the night. We met up with Deanna´s friend David at a tapas bar, had a few drinks there, and then proceeded to a few other bars to drink some wine. The last bar we ended up at was really nicely designed, with an African theme. We showed up and the tables were all for smaller groups, so the bartender suggested we go downstairs where we´d have more room. There were several big rooms on the lower level, including one decked out with a huge King sized bed. Odd. Drinks there were 10€, but tasted decent. When we were done, we went back upstairs, only to find the place was packed, and Deanna said they were trying to hide the Americans. Perhaps they were... it was still fun.
We went to one more bar, had a final farewell drink, and went back to the hostel for sleep.
I didn´t do much this morning. Everyone else left around 8:30 to go to the airport to head back to the states, so i just slept a bit more and went out to get a breakfast pastry. Now, I´m just waiting to head to the airport myself.
I´ve really enjoyed Madrid, but I´m looking forward to going back to a place where I can actually communicate with people around me. I know zero Spanish, and these past few days, it proved to be quite a challenge. Glad I had the experience though.
Had about 3 hours to kill before my flight, so I sat down at a little cafe in the airport and had a nicoise salad. Pretty good, though overpriced (guess that´s what you expect from airport food though). The flight to Madrid was easy, though there was a baby in the seat in front of me who would not stop crying the entire flight. That was annoying as hell, but something that you just have to deal with. As soon as we landed at the airport, we were informed that something was wrong with our main cabin door, so we would have to leave out the back door and take a bus to the terminal. No big deal, and it actually worked out perfectly, as Dave was coming down the stairs from his flight just as I arrived. So I met up with him and Justin, and their friends Andy, Garth, Brian and Alyssa.
We took the metro to the hostel, which turned out to be really nice. About 18€ a night, but we had air conditioning, decent beds, our own bathroom, and free internet (which I am currently making use of). We met up with Dave´s little sister Deanna and went out for some tapas and drinks. The place had an interesting business model: order drinks, get free tapas. We had some beers and mojitos, and were served a few types of tapas including croquettas, chorizo, ham and bread, and frittatas. The croquettas were essentially deep-fried ham and cheese balls, and they were fantastic.
After that bar, Deanna wanted to take us to a park to have a few beers, but when we got there, the police were there as well, and seemed to be disciplining everyone with beers, so we ended up leaving. Went to another bar, had a couple drinks there, and then headed to what was supposed to be one of the more popular clubs in Madrid. Unfortunatley, it wasn´t open on Monday nights. We still took a picture, just to say we´d been there.
Yesterday we started off getting a traditional Spanish breakfast of cured ham, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato, croquettas and fries. The place was called Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham). Can you guess why?
I had already eaten at the hostel, so I didn´t eat much there, but what I had was ok. We explored the big park and botanical gardens, where we saw some nice waterfalls and a really cool house made of glass. Apparently it was a greenhouse at one time, but now it´s just something nice to look at. After walking for a while, we sat down in the park and had some sangria and relaxed. It was fantastic!!
The rest of the day was a little messy. Deanna really wanted us to experience traditional Spain, so she wanted us to have a menu del dia (menu of the day) for lunch, which inclued two main courses, a drink and dessert for a fixed price. Supposedly they go from 2 to 5 every day and you can find restaurants that offer them everywhere. Deanna also wanted us to see a flamenco show, which started at 6. We must have talked about how to plan out the rest of the afternoon for 45 minutes, while shopping for souveniers (an activity I really don´t like), and so at 4:00, we finally decided to do the menu and flamenco show. Unfortunately, we could only find one or two restaurants offering the menu del dia, and they didn´t look all that great. So we went to another part of town which Deanna was sure would have more options, and none of them had the menu. So we went back to our original area around 4:45, only to discover that they were no longer serving the menu del dia.
Ended up going to a little tapas place and got some mini sandwiches and sangria (delicious again) and then went to the flamenco show. I wasn´t too excited about the show, as I´d seen one in Barcelona a few years back, and it really didn´t impress me. But since it was everyone else´s first time in Madrid, I just went along with it. Turns out, almost everyone dozed off at some point during the show. The dancers are all very talented, but it just wasn´t the kind of entertainment we were looking for.
After the show, Justin and Alyssa and I headed out so Justin could find his name brand stores. We walked around for a while with no luck, Alyssa ended up going off on her own, and Justin and I found out from a nice man at a hotel that we were about 30 minutes from the street with all the big brands. We decided to get Paella to make ourselves feel better. We waited for a good 30 minutes before it arrived, but it was just as good as I remembered it. Far too much for us to eat, but still yummy.
Headed back to the hostel to change before going out again for the night. We met up with Deanna´s friend David at a tapas bar, had a few drinks there, and then proceeded to a few other bars to drink some wine. The last bar we ended up at was really nicely designed, with an African theme. We showed up and the tables were all for smaller groups, so the bartender suggested we go downstairs where we´d have more room. There were several big rooms on the lower level, including one decked out with a huge King sized bed. Odd. Drinks there were 10€, but tasted decent. When we were done, we went back upstairs, only to find the place was packed, and Deanna said they were trying to hide the Americans. Perhaps they were... it was still fun.
We went to one more bar, had a final farewell drink, and went back to the hostel for sleep.
I didn´t do much this morning. Everyone else left around 8:30 to go to the airport to head back to the states, so i just slept a bit more and went out to get a breakfast pastry. Now, I´m just waiting to head to the airport myself.
I´ve really enjoyed Madrid, but I´m looking forward to going back to a place where I can actually communicate with people around me. I know zero Spanish, and these past few days, it proved to be quite a challenge. Glad I had the experience though.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Elephant!
Today was another relaxing day spent exploring the city. I'm still trying to get over my jet lag, so after waking up at 11 a.m., I slept again from about 1-3. Hopefully I'm pretty much caught up on sleep after that, because I'm sure I won't be getting much sleep at all in Madrid (I'm sure it'll be worth it though!)
Ivan picked me up around 4, and we walked along the river to a museum with all sorts of machines. We didn't actually go in, but we saw the merry-go-round and a gigantic mechanical elephant that takes people for rides around the area.
After that, we took a short boat ride to a very small island where a lot of fishermen live, according to Ivan. The houses were so cute, and just walking through the narrow alleys was quite enjoyable. We had a beautiful day, so we made the most of being outside.
We took the tram back to the main part of Nantes, and decided to get some food. I had my first gallette, which is similar to a crepe, but it's a buckwheat batter and typically has a savory filling instead of sweet. I got mine with ham, cheese and a fried egg. It was delicious, but I couldn't eat it all. I also tried demi-sec (semi-sweet) cider, which I liked, though I think I would have preferred full sweetness.
While we were eating, two guys came down the street carrying a futon. We didn't think much of it, until we saw two more people lower a rope out of a second-story window. Turns out, they were going to lift the futon up to the second story using the rope. It was comical to watch, especially when some patrons of the restaurant got up to lend a hand, as the futon was a bit too heavy for the owners to lift themselves. They finally got it up after about 5 minutes, and everyone at the restaurant cheered.
After dinner, I took the tram to the train station to get a reservation for my train coming back from the airport on Wednesday night, but they said I had to come back during normal business hours... apparently on Sundays they only sell tickets to people traveling on Sundays. Good to know.
Once I got home, I started getting packed for my trip to Madrid. I needed to dry a few towels, but had a really difficult time trying to figure out how to use the dryer. The buttons are labeled, but mostly with pictures (see photo below), so understanding which knob to turn and what buttons to push was a challenge. Luckily, I was able to put the washing machine number into google and found an instruction manual written in English. So my towels are drying as we speak, and it's time for me to go to sleep. Big travel day tomorrow!!
Ivan picked me up around 4, and we walked along the river to a museum with all sorts of machines. We didn't actually go in, but we saw the merry-go-round and a gigantic mechanical elephant that takes people for rides around the area.
After that, we took a short boat ride to a very small island where a lot of fishermen live, according to Ivan. The houses were so cute, and just walking through the narrow alleys was quite enjoyable. We had a beautiful day, so we made the most of being outside.
We took the tram back to the main part of Nantes, and decided to get some food. I had my first gallette, which is similar to a crepe, but it's a buckwheat batter and typically has a savory filling instead of sweet. I got mine with ham, cheese and a fried egg. It was delicious, but I couldn't eat it all. I also tried demi-sec (semi-sweet) cider, which I liked, though I think I would have preferred full sweetness.
While we were eating, two guys came down the street carrying a futon. We didn't think much of it, until we saw two more people lower a rope out of a second-story window. Turns out, they were going to lift the futon up to the second story using the rope. It was comical to watch, especially when some patrons of the restaurant got up to lend a hand, as the futon was a bit too heavy for the owners to lift themselves. They finally got it up after about 5 minutes, and everyone at the restaurant cheered.
After dinner, I took the tram to the train station to get a reservation for my train coming back from the airport on Wednesday night, but they said I had to come back during normal business hours... apparently on Sundays they only sell tickets to people traveling on Sundays. Good to know.
Once I got home, I started getting packed for my trip to Madrid. I needed to dry a few towels, but had a really difficult time trying to figure out how to use the dryer. The buttons are labeled, but mostly with pictures (see photo below), so understanding which knob to turn and what buttons to push was a challenge. Luckily, I was able to put the washing machine number into google and found an instruction manual written in English. So my towels are drying as we speak, and it's time for me to go to sleep. Big travel day tomorrow!!
Crashing Weddings, and other fun stuff to do in Nantes
Yesterday was another great day in Nantes. I got in touch with my friend Leslie's friend Ivan, who studied with her at Audencia and then came to Ohio State for a quarter last year, and asked if he'd be willing to show me around the city. We met at the tram stop right by my apartment, and wandered around for about 3 hours. We stopped at Le Chateau des ducs de Bretagne, a big castle that's just a few blocks from my apartment.
Then Ivan showed me all of the great little areas around Nantes. They all sort of blended together, but I'm sure I'll figure them out. We went to an amazing cathedral right by my apartment, and when we walked in, there was a wedding ceremony taking place. There were quite a few people just in back wandering around like we were, so it didn't seem to be a big deal, but it was a bit strange. So many cute little cafes, creperies and restaurants to choose from! We saw what is supposedly the oldest building in Nantes, which, of course, I had to take a photo of.
He also took me to Passage Pommeraye, which is a cool mall-type of building that connects one street to another, and has all sorts of shops inside, including an amazing chocolatier. I bought some dark chocolate covered nuts (chopped up pistachios and almonds I think), but had to take a picture of the little sculptures they made out of chocolate. Incredible! They also had a really cool chocolate fountain, made out of chocolate.
We sat at a bar/cafe and had a couple drinks and people watched for a while. I'm definitely enjoying the relaxed approach to life here. No need to rush anywhere, just enjoying time with friends. After the cafe, I was craving a crepe, so we found a creperie and I got one with Nutella. As much as I loved the crepes in Cincinnati, they're really nothing special compared to the ones in France (not that this should come as a surprise to anyone).
We took a break after our exploring, and then went out for dinner around 9. Found a cute restaurant not too far from my apartment where we both had a great meal. We ordered a half-carafe of Muscadet, (which is the Nantes specialty wine), I ordered duck with roasted apricots and a potato tart, while Ivan ordered steak with a mustard sauce and some type of veggies. Considering that neither of us speaks French as our native language, we seemed to fool the waitress pretty well until about halfway through the night, at which point, she asked me if I spoke French. I told her I speak a little, but not very well, but she continued to ask me questions in French. Interestingly, I was able to understand most of it and respond en francais. Madame Merchant and Madame Palmer would have been so proud :) I ordered chocolate mousse for dessert, but could only eat about half, as it was so rich. Absolutely delicious though.
.jpg)
.jpg)
After dinner we went to a gathering with Ivan and Leslie's friend Agathe. I met her friends Rico and Stephan, who seemed to enjoy my attempts at French, while they tried to speak to me in English. Quite a fun, if rather confusing, experience. We headed to an Irish pub after the wine at Rico's flat was gone, and stayed there until about 2 a.m. Rico and Stephan wanted to go out to a discotheque, but I was way too tired. Came home, went to bed, and woke up around noon. Not sure if it was the jet lag or just the fact that I was out until 2. Guess it doesn't matter.
.jpg)
Ivan and I are going to explore the city again this afternoon, and then I'm off to Madrid tomorrow to meet up with Dave and Justin! So excited!!
Then Ivan showed me all of the great little areas around Nantes. They all sort of blended together, but I'm sure I'll figure them out. We went to an amazing cathedral right by my apartment, and when we walked in, there was a wedding ceremony taking place. There were quite a few people just in back wandering around like we were, so it didn't seem to be a big deal, but it was a bit strange. So many cute little cafes, creperies and restaurants to choose from! We saw what is supposedly the oldest building in Nantes, which, of course, I had to take a photo of.
He also took me to Passage Pommeraye, which is a cool mall-type of building that connects one street to another, and has all sorts of shops inside, including an amazing chocolatier. I bought some dark chocolate covered nuts (chopped up pistachios and almonds I think), but had to take a picture of the little sculptures they made out of chocolate. Incredible! They also had a really cool chocolate fountain, made out of chocolate.
We sat at a bar/cafe and had a couple drinks and people watched for a while. I'm definitely enjoying the relaxed approach to life here. No need to rush anywhere, just enjoying time with friends. After the cafe, I was craving a crepe, so we found a creperie and I got one with Nutella. As much as I loved the crepes in Cincinnati, they're really nothing special compared to the ones in France (not that this should come as a surprise to anyone).
We took a break after our exploring, and then went out for dinner around 9. Found a cute restaurant not too far from my apartment where we both had a great meal. We ordered a half-carafe of Muscadet, (which is the Nantes specialty wine), I ordered duck with roasted apricots and a potato tart, while Ivan ordered steak with a mustard sauce and some type of veggies. Considering that neither of us speaks French as our native language, we seemed to fool the waitress pretty well until about halfway through the night, at which point, she asked me if I spoke French. I told her I speak a little, but not very well, but she continued to ask me questions in French. Interestingly, I was able to understand most of it and respond en francais. Madame Merchant and Madame Palmer would have been so proud :) I ordered chocolate mousse for dessert, but could only eat about half, as it was so rich. Absolutely delicious though.
.jpg)
.jpg)
After dinner we went to a gathering with Ivan and Leslie's friend Agathe. I met her friends Rico and Stephan, who seemed to enjoy my attempts at French, while they tried to speak to me in English. Quite a fun, if rather confusing, experience. We headed to an Irish pub after the wine at Rico's flat was gone, and stayed there until about 2 a.m. Rico and Stephan wanted to go out to a discotheque, but I was way too tired. Came home, went to bed, and woke up around noon. Not sure if it was the jet lag or just the fact that I was out until 2. Guess it doesn't matter.
.jpg)
Ivan and I are going to explore the city again this afternoon, and then I'm off to Madrid tomorrow to meet up with Dave and Justin! So excited!!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Day 2 begins...
My roommate Leslie and her boyfriend Guillaume went out around 6 p.m. so that Leslie could get her hair done. She said they'd be back in an hour. Knowing that "an hour" probably meant at least 2 or 3, I got myself unpacked and watched a bit of tv, in French. I picked up on some of the words, but my comprehension skills are really being put to the test, and I'm failing miserably most of the time.
Around 8:45, Leslie and Guy came back with their friend Cedric. Cedric est tres francais (he's very French). As I went to shake his hand, he did the whole bisou thing (kisses on the cheeks), which I had completely forgotten was part of French culture. Oops. Good thing to keep in mind though.
Cedric left shortly after meeting me, and after Leslie gave me a tour of the apartment outside of my room, she and Guy left for the weekend. She did mention that Cedric and his friends were going out later and wanted me to join them, so I told her that was fine and to have them buzz the apartment when they got here. Guy told me Cedric would be here in 20 minutes, so I was ready to go about an hour and 15 minutes later :) And Cedric showed up right on schedule (an hour and a half later).
I met his friend Nadja and her boyfriend (I think his name was Alex). Both from Germany and an absolutely adorable couple. I should probably note that it was an interesting bunch in terms of language barriers. Cedric speaks French and just a few words of English. Nadja speaks German (obviously) and French, and is working on her English, while Alex speaks German, French and English, all fluently. I'm very jealous of him. So as we walked around, Cedric talked a lot to Nadja in French, and I spoke to Alex a lot in English. Then Nadja and I decided that we should practice our other language skills with each other, so she spoke to me in English, and I spoke to her in French, and Alex translated just about every other sentence for us :) He was a good guy to have around.
We headed out to an area of Nantes called Hangar A Bananes. It's essentially a long line of bars with these huge colored rings next to them along the river (See picture below).
Cedric wanted to meet up with one of his friends at a particular bar, but the doorman said it was too crowded because of a concert taking place. Cedric managed to not only smooth-talk our way in, but also avoided the cover charge for us :) Once we got in though, it really was too crowded, so we said hi to his friends and walked down the way to another bar that had absolutely no one inside. We each had a beer, and his friends joined us shortly thereafter. I spoke to them in my broken French, and I have to say, I'm extremely impressed with how patient they are with me. Every person I've met so far just encourages me to speak to them as much as I can in French. If I screw something up, they correct me, and that seems to work really well.
We only stayed out until 1 a.m., which is pretty early from what I understand. But I was really happy to come home and get to sleep. Got a little confused as to where I actually lived (I'm on the third floor of an apartment building, but all of the doors look exactly the same, and it's a spiral staircase, so I forgot how many floors I'd come up. Finally found the right place though, and crashed until 11 a.m. I woke up to the sound of some really beautiful church bells and felt really happy.
Today I'm going to run a few errands, get a card for my cell phone so that I can actually use it, and then I'm going to explore the city with Ivan, a guy who was an exchange student at Ohio State last year. He's going to show me the places I need to know, as well as take me out to dinner with his classmates. I was afraid I'd be a little lonely until classes started, but so far, everyone has been great about making sure I get to meet people. So far, so good.
Around 8:45, Leslie and Guy came back with their friend Cedric. Cedric est tres francais (he's very French). As I went to shake his hand, he did the whole bisou thing (kisses on the cheeks), which I had completely forgotten was part of French culture. Oops. Good thing to keep in mind though.
Cedric left shortly after meeting me, and after Leslie gave me a tour of the apartment outside of my room, she and Guy left for the weekend. She did mention that Cedric and his friends were going out later and wanted me to join them, so I told her that was fine and to have them buzz the apartment when they got here. Guy told me Cedric would be here in 20 minutes, so I was ready to go about an hour and 15 minutes later :) And Cedric showed up right on schedule (an hour and a half later).
I met his friend Nadja and her boyfriend (I think his name was Alex). Both from Germany and an absolutely adorable couple. I should probably note that it was an interesting bunch in terms of language barriers. Cedric speaks French and just a few words of English. Nadja speaks German (obviously) and French, and is working on her English, while Alex speaks German, French and English, all fluently. I'm very jealous of him. So as we walked around, Cedric talked a lot to Nadja in French, and I spoke to Alex a lot in English. Then Nadja and I decided that we should practice our other language skills with each other, so she spoke to me in English, and I spoke to her in French, and Alex translated just about every other sentence for us :) He was a good guy to have around.
We headed out to an area of Nantes called Hangar A Bananes. It's essentially a long line of bars with these huge colored rings next to them along the river (See picture below).
Cedric wanted to meet up with one of his friends at a particular bar, but the doorman said it was too crowded because of a concert taking place. Cedric managed to not only smooth-talk our way in, but also avoided the cover charge for us :) Once we got in though, it really was too crowded, so we said hi to his friends and walked down the way to another bar that had absolutely no one inside. We each had a beer, and his friends joined us shortly thereafter. I spoke to them in my broken French, and I have to say, I'm extremely impressed with how patient they are with me. Every person I've met so far just encourages me to speak to them as much as I can in French. If I screw something up, they correct me, and that seems to work really well.
We only stayed out until 1 a.m., which is pretty early from what I understand. But I was really happy to come home and get to sleep. Got a little confused as to where I actually lived (I'm on the third floor of an apartment building, but all of the doors look exactly the same, and it's a spiral staircase, so I forgot how many floors I'd come up. Finally found the right place though, and crashed until 11 a.m. I woke up to the sound of some really beautiful church bells and felt really happy.
Today I'm going to run a few errands, get a card for my cell phone so that I can actually use it, and then I'm going to explore the city with Ivan, a guy who was an exchange student at Ohio State last year. He's going to show me the places I need to know, as well as take me out to dinner with his classmates. I was afraid I'd be a little lonely until classes started, but so far, everyone has been great about making sure I get to meet people. So far, so good.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Bienvenue a France!
Well I finally made it. It was a very long trip, but went very smoothly, and I'm finally getting settled into my apartment.
My flight to Detroit was uneventful. The flight attendant offered a first row seat to the first taker, and no one else seemed interested, so I took her up on it. I ended up talking a lot to her as she wanted to know everything there was to know about Europe. She was really sweet and it made the trip go really quickly (granted it was only an hour anyway).
Got to Detroit and started reading my book. It's about a girl who moves to Paris after suddenly getting dumped by her fiance. Silly chick lit, but its a quick, fun read.
The flight to Paris was a little rough, mainly because I was stuck in the very last row and couldn't recline my seat at all. I was also on the same flight as about 80 older folks going on a tour of Istanbul. They were driving the flight attendants nuts with all of their questions, so anytime I saw one of the flight attendants, I just shook my head and laughed. They seemed to appreciate that I felt for them.
Arrived in Paris around 10:50, about a half hour ahead of schedule. Turns out I needed that half hour too, as waiting for my luggage took about 30 minutes, and then waiting in line to get my railpass validated took another hour. I had just enough time to grab a ham and cheese baguette before boarding my train from the airport to Nantes.
Easy 3-hour ride, and my roommate Leslie was waiting for me when I got there. She's originally from Colombia, but she's lived in Nantes for the last 3 years. She seems great! She gave me the bigger of the two bedrooms in her place, so I have a nice queen size bed, a desk, and a really big closet with a shoe rack. I don't feel so guilty for packing so much now!
(Potential) Crisis averted
Written 4 p.m. Thursday, September 03, 2009
Got to the Akron/Canton airport at 2:55 today, two hours before my flight is set to depart. As I check in at the Northwest desk, they only have a reservation for me to Detroit. Nothing about Paris. The agent had to scan my passport twice before finding the flight to Paris in my reservations. Then he said that while the reservation was made, I didn’t have any tickets for the flight. He fixed that one pretty quickly, but then he said that I was going to be charged $50 to check a second bag. I had anticipated that problem, and quickly pulled out the e-mail from NWA saying that since I purchased my ticket before June 27 (when they lowered the free baggage limit), I would be able to check two pieces of luggage for free. My dad always has always told me to get documentation for everything, and it’s in situations like this I’m glad I follow his advice.
Problem was, the ticket he had just printed out said that I didn’t purchase the ticket until July 9. I argued with him for a bit, got frustrated, and asked him who to call to get it taken care of. I called the Northwest Customer service line, but of course it was all automated and apparently it was deaf today, as everything I said to them was met with “I’m sorry, I didn’t not understand your response.” So I hung up, prepared to pay the $50 just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the stress. I’d argue with NWA and StudentUniverse (where I found my tickets) later.
As I headed back to the ticket counter, the agent told me that he checked back into the system and saw that I did indeed purchase my ticket in March, and I would therefore not have to pay for my extra bag. I was very appreciative of his efforts, and as he continued to get me all checked in, he mentioned that his son was born in the same month and year as I was (he noticed my birthday on my passport I guess). I asked if his son went to my high school, and he did. As it turns out, his son is one of my friends who I usually only see at Lindsay’s holiday parties, but just the same, it was good to make the connection.
So after everything was all squared away, I sat with my parents in the little dining area and just settled down a bit. Got through security very quickly, and now I’m just waiting to board my flight to Detroit. From there I have a 3 hour layover, which Sam suggested I fill by getting a mani-pedi. Actually sounds kinda nice right now. Probably won’t have internet access until I get to Paris, and maybe not even until Nantes, but I will update as often as I can.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Two days and counting...
It's a little after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, which means I have less than 48 hours until my Blonde Abroad adventure officially begins. At 5 p.m. on Thursday, I'm flying out of Akron/Canton to Detroit, where I have a three-hour layover before getting on my flight to Paris. From Paris, I'll be taking a train to Nantes, which will be my home until around Christmas (still haven't booked my flight back to the States yet).
I've been to Europe a few times, most recently backpacking with one of my best friends last summer. We were only there for three weeks, but ironically, I feel like I put a lot more effort into planning for that trip. My friend and I sent each other e-mails almost daily about which clothes we were planning on taking, what activities we wanted to do in each city, and plenty of "OMG, I can't believe we leave in [a month, a week, a day]" types of notes.
This time, I've found an apartment to live in, booked a couple flights for some "vacation" time with my MBA classmates (Madrid and Munich are both coming up in the first few weeks of my stay), and bought a railpass that will get me around France while I'm there. I haven't even started packing or thinking about what I'll need to buy when I get there, but for whatever reason, I'm not too concerned about it. I'm sure the stress will hit me tomorrow, but right now, I'm just trying to stay relaxed while enjoying some quality time with my parents.
I've been to Europe a few times, most recently backpacking with one of my best friends last summer. We were only there for three weeks, but ironically, I feel like I put a lot more effort into planning for that trip. My friend and I sent each other e-mails almost daily about which clothes we were planning on taking, what activities we wanted to do in each city, and plenty of "OMG, I can't believe we leave in [a month, a week, a day]" types of notes.
This time, I've found an apartment to live in, booked a couple flights for some "vacation" time with my MBA classmates (Madrid and Munich are both coming up in the first few weeks of my stay), and bought a railpass that will get me around France while I'm there. I haven't even started packing or thinking about what I'll need to buy when I get there, but for whatever reason, I'm not too concerned about it. I'm sure the stress will hit me tomorrow, but right now, I'm just trying to stay relaxed while enjoying some quality time with my parents.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
