Week 1

This week was full of lots of new things and accomplishments! I am taking 4 classes here at ESSEC (International Luxury Distribution, Alliances and Partnerships, Consumer Behavior and Luxury Brand Management). Needless to say, I (happily) found out that the classes are nothing like what I'm used to and should therefor, not infringe on my plans to explore the city and the continent :)

I was thoroughly amused that our orientation on Monday meant that I had to miss one of my classes, and on top of this, I learned that classes are canceled this coming Monday. So in other words, I won't have the first meeting for one of my classes for another week and a half. Actually, when we learned this, we all debated taking a last minute flight to Lisbon or Morocco, but alas, decided to get settled in Paris first (there are worse things afterall, than having to put off a trip and staying in Paris).

I do have, quite, the lovely schedule, with classes on Mondays and Tuesdays, only. Thus, while, I'm worn out on those days (since I have to wake up at 6:30am to get to Cergy by 9am, and return home around 5:30/6pm on these days), it does mean that I have a 5 day weekend. I swear, it's not really supposed to work like this. Not that I'm complaining. I have always wished that the work week were 2 days ;)

At this point I've seen Notre Dame (which was just as beautiful as I remember), checked out the crazy sales (and managed to refrain from buying yet another Dior bag), and trekked out to Versailles where I finally got to see the Hall of Mirrors. The last time I was in Paris, 5 years ago, the Hall of Mirrors was undergoing renovations and I was sorely disappointed by this fact. But there was a trade off, as this time the grounds were covered in snow and exploring the gardens was out of the question in the freezing cold! I will say that after having seen Peterhoff (St. Petersburg), maybe I'm insane, but I wasn't as amazed! Yes, I know that Versailles was the original and the Russians "stole" the idea in creating Versailles, but in this case, Peterhoff surpasses it by a mile (afterall, it is a palace, so the grander the better, right?). Usually, I prefer the original, but somehow, all I kept thinking was that it was beautiful with all the frescos and the gold, but the Russians did it better! I guess imitation is the highest form of flattery... (Or maybe I'm still bitter that I didn't get to see the Hall of Mirrors 5 years ago).

Anyways, as for my greatest accomplishment of the week... Yesterday I went to the store and bought a terribly expensive, yet tiny, bottle of nail polish. After climbing 5 flights of stairs and unpacking my bag, I realized that, though I had paid for the nail polish, I managed to leave it at the store. Today, I went back and actually managed, in mangled French, to explain what had happened. The lady at the desk actually took pity on me and allowed me to grab another bottle. Yay! My French is still super rusty, but maybe this shows that there is some hope?