Mon Stage: La fille qui travaille a Paris

BU sets each student up with internships for the last 7 1/2 weeks of the semester. I interviewed and got a position with Martine Leherpeur Conseil, a marketing consulting firm. The internship position requires me to search through our library of magazines to find images, scan, and photoshop them for powerpoints. First off, we have EVERY major fashion, architect, and style magazine (in most languages) in the basement of the office. It's a very impressive collection. At the start of each week, my boss has been giving me a theme and direction to search for images. As I mark them, she reviews them and gives me more direction from there. This is technically my first 9-5 job (actually 9:30-6:30) and it's taken a while to get into the flow and the french.
Here's some examples of my typical week:
My first day, she sent me out with a list of "hard to find" magazines and list of address in the area so that I could explore. I found myself in a crazy boutique to pick up Surface and Numbero. Then two quaint bookstores (all languages stocked) next to the Tuileries.
Next step- I have to learn the concept and theme of the project. My first project was for Seiko and their lukia brand of watches. It was almost complete, but needed a few more images. She gave me three themes to look for: Parisian sailors, glamour gazebo, and tropical lagoon. It was finished and sent off my the end of my first week.

Week 2- I received an on going project for September which combines the Body and architechure. I'm still in research stage, so I haven't started pulling images. This week I also learned photoshop, in French! However, I will be using the English version on my computer, so I guess that makes me bilingual in Photoshop.
Week 3- I sat in on a conference call with the Variance representative (French lingerie brand). Martine Leherpeur Conseil (MLC) is helping them reposition their brand so they are looking for a modern romantic lifestyle look for their presentation. Finding images for this presentation is more difficult because it's so broad and new, but I really like understanding the project, client, and objective from start to finish.

Since I'm in such a hopping and fashionable quartier for my internship, I have managed to find 4 major chocolate boutiques, amazing clothing boutiques, a cute jewelry stand, some good boulangeries, and an adorable park for lunch. I sit in the sun at the empty chess tables for my lunch hour. Also, I managed to sneak into a Haute Couture expose at the Bourse de Commerce. The exterior of the room had designs from current Fashion students and the interior was a marketplace for couture designs! I also had lunch with another intern at a cafe and helped one of the executives with her presentation in English.

We will see where Weeks 4-7 take me!

Napolean

Napoleon the conqueror and Napoleon the dessert. This entry is about France’s love of both.

First we visited Napoleon’s tomb in the Musee de Armee. He has a giant stone and marble tomb built in his honor with a golden dome ceiling that can be seen from half way across Paris. Inside there are four hallways that lead to the center of the tomb. Each one has stained glass windows and a monument inside. If you head downstairs, there is his actual tomb- which to me seems a little short. I’m just kidding; the French love Napoleon because he was a great conqueror.

Apartments in the Louvre

Since the Louvre is just a few steps away from work, I have vowed to go once a week to the late openings (Friday & Wednesday nights until 10pm). On my first visit, I stopped over to see Napoleon’s apartment on the first floor. Now Napoleon and I have been bumping into each other a lot at all of these chateaux and his permanent
residence, Napoleon’s Tomb (above), but this apartment is really the most magnificent. Napoleon liked to ornately decorate his homes, major stress on the plural. The apartment in the Louvre is no exception, except that he might have used more gold than any of his other homes. Overall, it’s a neat part of the Louvre- but where is Mona Lisa? I heard that she was staying here too…

Goal: To find and try a Napoleon dessert

Chocolat: Jean-Paul Hevin

L’amour. This is my favorite chocolate shop so far. It was love at first site when I saw the chocolate high heel shoe in the window and it’s been a wild affair ever since. Our first night, I bought a bag of assorted chocolat noir bon bons and started walking to the metro. It was too beautiful out to go underground so I decided to continue walking though the Tuileries to the next stop. It was about tusk so I had to sneak in to the Tuileries since it closes early before April. I walked to the reflecting pond at the Concorde. Outside of the park was the crazy circling of cars and headlights, but around the calm reflecting pond was chairs and a few people resting. I climbed up the stairs to overlook Concorde and it was literally the most beautiful view of Paris that I could imagine. All of the buildings were lit up, the sky was dark, and the headlights were creating a flow of lights. I sat and enjoyed my chocolats, which were DELICIOUS and watched Paris. I saw the Champs Elyese, Arc de Triomphe, Grand Palais, Le Seine, Tuiliers, and the Louvre. I finished my chocolats and headed across the Seine to the metro. I even caught a glimpse of Notre Dame at night, Musee d’Orsay, National Assemblee, Invalides, and Le Tour Eiffel. It was such a lovely evening that I think Jean-Paul and I will make it a regular event, alas he has some pastries that looked delicious!

Paris, Je t'aime!

Printemps du Cinema

Parisians really love the Spring and they are very encouraging to get out and celebrate it! For example, from March 21-23 all movies and all theatres are 3.50. So we set out to see a bunch. The first, L’Arnacoeur, was a French romantic comedy starring (two big French actors). It was cute and the storyline was easy to understand, the language was a little more difficult. Falling in love, passion, and cheesy romantic comedy flirting are universal themes. The next movie was, The Single Man, Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. It was much more artsy and I had a fun time reading the subtitles. The translations aren’t always the best though and I feel like some of the Parisians might have left the cinema a little confused. It was also strange because everyone’s emotional reaction to the film was off. There is a difference to when an American laughs, gasps, and chokes up than a Parisian. I can understand now why the French are so protective of their cinematic culture.

Strasbourg

It’s early in the morning and I’ve just seen Matt off to the United States. I’m on my way back to Paris, but I decided to stop in Strasbourg (on the border of Germany and France) on my way back. I get off the train and store my luggage. The town is
still asleep but I decide to walk around before breakfast. Strasbourg is broken up into Petite France (French Quarter) and the Centre Ville. I started by walking through the canals of the French Quarter and into the Historic district. I saw some boat tours and small houses and restaurants lining the canals. Tourists were packing up and heading to the airports in little cars. It wasn’t too cold but I headed inside for chocolat chaud . In the center of Strasbourg is a giant cathedral. It tours over every other building in the town. Honestly, I’ve seen my fill of cathedrals in Europe but I stopped by the farmers market and picked up a hot pretzels. Strasbourg was one of my favorite places because you can get a hot pretzel and crepe within 3 feet of one another. I also stumbled upon Leonidas, a chocolatiers name that I recognized. I picked up a bag for the train ride home.

I had only killed about half the day so I decided to walk to the northern edge of town to the park. If I had continued north, I would have crossed into Germany again. Instead I found an interesting site in the park—a zoo. An actual zoo, filled with flamingos, small animals, and a flamingo. I think Strasbourg is the only place where I could see flamingos standing in the snow.

As I headed back to the train station, I stopped at a canal-side café for lunch before heading home to dinner in Paris. I would miss the hot pretzels and Matt but I was glad to get out of the cold weather and strange language. Au Revior Germany, Bienvenue a Paris!

Frankfurt am Main (II)

We also ended Spring Break in Frankfurt so that Matt could get back to the airport. This time we left Prague in the morning and checked into our hostel, Frankfurt Hostel, in the afternoon. This was the kind of hostel experience that I was expecting. It was loud and people were hanging out in the common area, drinking beer, playing games and music, and watching sports. The room was set up like a dorm and I had flashbacks to Warren Towers. We walked to the two main squares in Frankfurt; one was Romerberg with Fachwerkhauser (half-timbered houses) and the other was the main commercial square. We souvenir shopped, ate dinner, and saw a few cool buildings, like the old Opera house. We headed back early since we both had to catch really early trains; me to Strasbourg, Matt to the airport.This picture basically sums up me navigating Spring Break, I'm always lost.

Manifestation

The French like to strike (un greve) or hold demonstrations (manifestions)- A LOT! But in actuality they are more like parties- like this one, blasting Rihanna and everyone is picnicking in the street. Ironically they were playing “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys, the New York Song. Luckily I haven’t witnessed any riot-like manifestations since the police just seem to enjoy standing nearby and hanging out with manifestors.

Downside: The trains in France were on strike throughout the entire volcano mess and travel in France basically came to a screeching halt- and no one in the world was too happy about that.

Prague

Apparently, the Czech Republic consumes more beer per person than Germany and they are very proud of it. Our journey to Prague was quite a headache, as most of these European excursions have turned out to be. We took the train from Berlin to the edge of Germany and then they abruptly made us switch to a bus, which took us to another local Czech train. Of course all of these trains were late or something or other was holding them up and it didn’t help that we speak neither German nor Czech. Again we arrived late but our hotel, Hotel Chopin, was directly in front of the train station. For dinner we had to be creative because all of the restaurants had stopped serving food.
The next morning we got up and prepared for a full day exploring Old Town, the Jewish quarter (Josefov), and New Town. First and foremost, we stopped at a chocolate Museum and watched them make chocolate and hard candies. We saw the Old Town Square and astronomical clock, then all of the synagogues and Jewish cemetery, and finally Wenceslas Square, a commercial boulevard. Most of what we saw in the morning was quiet, but then when we turned on to Wenceslas Square, it was mobbed. It is really just a long street with Mr. Wenceslas statue on one end and stores and restaurants galore,a tourists dream.

On Day two we explored the other side of the river, starting at Charles Bridge. We walked through little quarter up to Prague castle (Prazsky Hard). We had to climb the giant ramp to get up to the castle, it was exhausting. We took the “short tour” of the castle and saw the changing of the guards. The short tour includes the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, old dungeon tower, and Golden Lane. The shops on Golden Lane are so petite that I just fit inside the door frame; needless to say, but Matt didn't try. We stopped to eat in the little quarter before we walked back to the hotel. The food was a little bizarre and I’m not quite sure of what I was eating. A “potato dumpling” is actually butter soaked potato bread, and “grog” is rum mixed with hot water. I ate a lot of hearty soups, which were very good. Oh and giant beers!
We both really liked Prague and the buildings. As we walked to the Old Town Square, we would pass a The Powder Tower and the Opera. All of the architecture was really impressive and colorful. The currency is cool too because it’s $0.05 to 1 CZK, or the “krowne”. So we were rich for three days. Also, I was able to find Garrett an awesome wooden chess board!
We were reluctant to leave and Prague was reluctant to let us go, since we had a terrible time finding our train to Frankfurt, considering it wasn’t a train but a bus to Nuremburg and a train from there. European travel! At least the trains are nice.

Berlin

We checked in late to the Wombat City Hostel, which was a short bus ride from the train station. The room was really nice and the staff helped us with all of the maps. One the first day we walked to the Jewish cemetery in search of the Missing House, an outdoor Christian Boltanski exhibit. We didn’t have any luck finding it and wondered if that was part of the exhibit. We walked over to West Berlin to see Unter Den Linden, main entrance street to West Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz (“site of most architectural failures”), Tiergarden, and Museum Island.
At Tiergarden we went to the top of The Reichstag and saw a panoramic of Berlin. We also got our first glimpse of the Berlin Wall. There is a Memorial for Murdered Jews in Europe that opened in 2005. It is blocks of concrete at varying heights; from the top. They all look about the same height but the ground dips under them creating a huge tall concrete block maze. I thought it would be funny to disappear into the blocks and have Matt find me, but that ended up being a mistake because we actually lost each other and I had to call him to finally find him. We were freezing by the time that we got back. We braved the cold again for dinner at Schwarwaldstuben , a very German restaurant with giant armchairs, stuffed boar ends on the walls, and lots of beer. We also walked on Oranienstrasse, a strip of bars and cafes.
On day two we took the metro to the East Side Gallery, a decorated piece of the Berlin Wall and over to Checkpoint Charlie, border crossing from East to West. We also toured the Berliner Dom, a giant cathedral. Then we packed up and headed to Prague.

Frankfurt am Main

Spring Break started in a little German town called Frankfurt. Matt was flying into Frankfurt International Airport, so I decided to take the train over there to meet him and we would head over to Berlin together. I left Paris early in the morning and arrived at Frankfurt around lunch time. I was so excited to see Matt and he was the best boyfriend ever and bought me an amazing hot German soft pretzel. We walked around the city because we had a 2 hour layover. We found our hostel (see Part II), centrally located across from the train station and a block over from the red light district. Ah! Then we walked over a really cool bridge to the University section of the city. We both crashed as soon as we got on the train and woke up a few hours later to German announcements and the train was stopped. A very nice woman translated for us and told us that there was a problem with the train and everyone needed to get off and move onto the next train to Berlin. Oh great, there go our seats. She said that it happens often because the railways aren’t up kept. We stood for a while and then snagged seats on our new train headed to Berlin. We got to our hostel late, after the restaurants had closed (which is between 10 and 11pm) and ended up having falafels!

Le Premier Jour des Printemps!

It’s the first day of Spring (Printemps) and the Parisian tourists are celebrating with Free Macarons! Hundreds of study abroad students, foreign tourists, and well disguised French natives line up outside a dozen Pierre Herme shops scattered along Paris to pick up 3 amazing macarons…for FREE! We got a group of 5 and planted ourselves around the block at the end of the line. As we snaked our way up, we discussed the crazy flavor combos that we wanted to try:

Eden (pêche/peach, abricot & safran)
Magnifique (fraise/strawberry & wasabi)
Arabesque (abricot & pistache)
Huile d'olive & Vanille (olive oil & vanilla)

I ordered a Chocolat Chocolat, Arabesque, and a favorite of my Macaroniere (servers choice). It ended up to be a chocolate and nut combination. Perfect! I enjoyed my Macarons and headed off to the subway—I had big plans for the first day of Spring—while others continued on the Pierre Herme challenge. Pierre offers you a map of his stores and challenges Macaron lovers to visit every one, wait on line, take 3 macarons, and collect a stamp for your map. Macaron lovers that can visit all of the stores during the first day of spring will get a box of 58 free macarons at the last stop! This is obviously sugar crazed madness, but 3 BUers completed the challenge.

Not me though—I headed over to Pere Lachaise, the famous cemetery. It’s a huge cemetery with winding cobblestone pathways and giant headstones jumbled among the graves. Even with 2 maps, it was impossible to navigate but I was able to find some of the biggest celebrities of the 20th Arrondisement.

Classic French Finds: Seurat, Colette, Rossini, Delacroix
Highly decorated graves of: Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf

That night we met up at a bar called Footsie. The name is a play on words on FTSE, the London Stock Exchange. Above the bar, there are screens that display the current drink prices, but every 240 seconds the drink prices change based on demand. Wine goes up, beer goes down; should you wait to order your drink until the next round or demand an aperitif now? It really depends on what the person next to you is ordering!

Footsie
10 Rue Daunou
75002 Paris, France

Les Deux Plateaux

Each art student was assigned an artist for their expo. I was matched up the Daniel Buren, a conceptual artist who started during the avant garde movement and continues to display his works today. The two main things to know about Daniel are: Outil Visuel and In Situ. Outil Visuel is his pattern of work. He always uses vertical stripes measuring 8.7 cm in white and another color. They model the fabric on French style awnings. Next, In Situ means that he paints/sculpts/designs each work in an certain place. He uses the surrounding architecture to inspire his work. He had a piece up, Peinture-Sculpture in the Guggenheim in 1971. He also chooses his places very careful, most of the time to either make a political statement or just a French statement slightly mocking the place. One of his only permanent pieces is at the Palais Royal in Paris. It’s a courtyard behind the Comdie Francais and Ministre du Culture. It consists of 260 black and white striped columns of different heights. I’ve visited a few times and there are always children playing on the pillars. It’s a nice place to sit and enjoy some sunshine or pastries. One time I went and it was closed because of fear of black ice. Check out the pictures and google Daniel Buren, he has some amazing artworks in Belgium and around Europe.

*Daniel Buren was also the artist that we had to write about for our final exam. Yes!

Grand Palais:Christian Boltanski

The Grand Palais is a huge art exposition hall, with amazing architecture. It has a glass ceiling with green steel holding all of the glass together. (Check out pictures because I really can’t explain it). I was visiting the exposition of Christian Boltanski for my art history class. It was called Personne, in French meaning No One. He is a conceptual artist and he studied his influence during Nouveau Realisme. His works bring attention to what is NOT there, or the absence of something. The exposition was piles of empty winter coats thrown on the floor of the hall. The hall was completely bear and very cold inside. The piles of coats were arranged in flat squares and lined up like a checkerboard. He had strange clanking, dripping, sewer sounds playing as you walked around the clothes. In the center, there was a enormous pile of clothes was a crane at the top. The crane would drop the clothes on the top of the pile and then pick them back up, like a carnival game. The exposition was really interesting but a little creepy. I visited weeks before we learned about him in class, so I didn’t really understand it until after. He was Jewish, growing up during WWII in France. The coats are thought to represent the missing Jews, but he doesn’t reveal much about his works. Now, there is a new exhibit in the Grand Palais and I might stop back because I want to see the building used in a different context.

Vacances

As you know, I am finished with classes and headed off around Europe for spring break. Just to let you in on my travel plans:

Matt is meeting me in Frankfurt and we are going to Berlin. After a few nights in Berlin, popping over to Prague and finally back to Frankfurt. I will spend a day in Strasbourg as well, since I need to stop at the Germany/France boarder. I will return to Paris a week later, hopefully not looking like a sausage!

We will be taking trains to each destination and staying in hostels/hotels near to the train stations. Any questions more specific than that, contact me directly and I'll ease your woes about the trip. I'll have my computer and I will be in touch!

Bon voyage!

Caitlin

Panethon & Rue de la Mouffetard

A friend recommended that I sit on the steps of the Pantheon in Paris. I was a little skeptical because the only Pantheon that I've known has been in Rome, but I headed over to see it anyway. It sits next to the Luxembourg gardens (Jardin de Luxembourg) and the University de Sarbonne (premier French university). The building looks extremely similar to the Pantheon in Rome, except that it is a little bigger. Inside, it is decorated like a church, with stained glass and large painted murals. Underneath the Pantheon is the crypts of famous French writers, war heroes, etc. This was my favorite part because the tunnels in the crypt were a little spooky. After I visited the inside, I sat on the front steps and watched drivers speed by and Parisians enjoy the sun. It was a lovely place for a...crepe!

As it was time for lunch, I headed behind the Pantheon to Rue de la Mouffetard, which ironically used to lead directly from Paris to Rome. I stopped at a famous crepe stand (Chez Nicos, I think- recommended by Lonely Planet! travel guide). I was supposed to order, according to Lonely Planet!, a eggplant, feta, spinach crepe. But instead, I stuck with cheese, chicken, mushroom, and tomato. Then I continued down the winding road towards the market shops. Most of the food shops extend there shops into the street and stand and sell products from there. La Mouff' (french slang) is known for it's cheese shops (les fromageries) so I stopped and picked up chevre and a specialty bleu cheese. Then I continued down to the chocolate shop for 3 ganaches; citron, cannelle (cinnamon), and poire (pear). I also picked up a baguette and brioche croisse (imagine a brioche sugar pretzel) and pears for dinner with my 2 friends. La Mouff' has a ton of restaurants and bars so I am sure that I will be back there again, and possibly off to Rome!

Librairie Americaine

So I just finished finals and I will be train bound for Germany and Czech soon. Let me repeat: my classes are OVER (until September 2010), I am going on Spring Break to Germany and Czech Republic!

Having classes for only the first 6 weeks was insanely fast, but I really progressed a lot in French. It was mostly the immersion and communication class that helped me progress, but being able to carry on a conversation about modern art while using the subjunctive- always makes for a crowd pleaser. Classes culminated in three back-to-back finals on Friday and then I received a package of cookies from my Nana. Perfect ending! I did a little spring shopping and some friends and I went to "The Princess and the Frog", classic Parisian bar, to celebrate.

Saturday after I was packed, I realized that I needed some entertainment for my hours of travel via train, so I went in search of American Bookstores in Paris. I have a book of short children's stories, Le Petit Nicholas, in French but I needed some American authors support.


First I went to Shakespear & Co. (near Notre Dame), which is probably the most well known American bookstore. It's a tiny little shop with more used books than the Boston Public Library. They are slammed in bookshelves, stacked on stools, and hidden in every crease of the store. They also literally have every genre available, from French History and Politics to Cooking. The best part is climbing the sliding ladders to reach the books on the top shelves. I picked up 2 used books there for 7 Euro!

Next I stopped at Berkeley Books, a 5 minute walk from Shakespeare & Co. This store was neatly packed with books of various genres and a lot more international/cultural focused. I picked up one trashy novel here, Weekend in Paris, about a 21 year old girl that goes to Paris on a whim and falls in love with the city.

My book excursion ended up taking me almost 2 hours, as I wound through the little streets and looked at all the bookseller stands. The quarter that I was in is known for it's cafes, libraries (la bibliotheque in French), librairies (bookstores), and a past hang out of some amazing Parisian writers. I still need to explore the book sellers along the Seine. They sell used books out of blue stands that line the river, it's supposed to be a lot of fun!

Franklin & Marshall

Although Sarbonne is the premier university in Paris, you will never catch students lounging in their Sarbonne sweatshirt and matching sweatpants- or heaven forbid the “college tshirt”. No, French college students hang out and smoke and eat on the steps of the Pantheon or at cafes nearby and there is nothing to distinguish a college Parisian from any other young Parisian in the neighborhood. This being said- when you visit Paris, you’ll probably wonder why half of their young adults are wearing Franklin & Marshall sweat shirts, caps, and t-shirts. Is there a really strong exchange program with the small PA Liberal Arts College and Paris? Nope. Franklin & Marshall is a clothing brand- a very popular clothing brand. So I guess if college-wear isn’t fashionable enough for Parisian universities to sell- they’ll knock off American universities and make a clothing line out of it. Sometimes the irony just makes me laugh.

(http://www.franklinandmarshall.com/site/#app=6098&fdab-stateName=home&fdab-menuid=0)

“NOTICE: FRANKLIN & MARSHALL Clothing Company is an Italian company that creates and produces clothing and accessories inspired by the American Vintage College spirit, as exemplified by Franklin & Marshall College, a liberal arts college established in 1787 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania named by Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin & Marshall Clothing Company is the owner of the brand in all countries excluding the usa where a license of the College’s name but is not in any other way affiliated with or endorsed by Franklin & Marshall College.”

Palais Toyoko

Danielle and I went to see a contemporary art exhibit at the Palais Toyoko, ironically on Avenue du New York. The building opens up to a courtyard facing the Seine and has a restaurant on top with an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. In the courtyard was a group of guys break dancing in front of a huge Michael Jackson poster, which was cool to watch. Also, there are a ton of old statues covered in graffiti, which I thought was bizarre until we went inside the Musee. It's very contemporary,very modern, very ...bizarre. We didn't like the cardboard boxes nor the "diagonal paper" and "spray paint". So we left and walked across the courtyard to Musee d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. (The bonus of student art card, courtesy of BU, is that most museums are free or under 2 Euro, so we can go whenever for however long we feel like it.) We played "Guess the artist" because we had studied most of the movements in Art History class. Cubisme, Surrealiste, Nouveau Realisme, Minimaliste, L'art conceptuel, etc. Amazingly, we were correct almost every time!! I guess we'll both do well on our Art History final on Friday!

Macarons: Dalloyau

Macaron success! Our professor gave us a list of the best bakeries and macaron shops in Paris and my friend and I happened to pass one on our Sunday adventure. I ordered brioche sucre and un macaron pistache. It was so yummy! Macarons are definately no pain au chocolat or chocolat bon bon, but they are a delicious snack to curb a sweet tooth.

Dalloyau
http://www.dalloyau.com/