Back to Colorado!

I have been back in Colorado now for about 2 weeks. I was actually starting to miss the hot sun and dry weather here in Colorado! I think that 4 weeks in Paris was the perfect amount of time to spend studying abroad. I have so many great stories and memories of this trip that I will remember forever.

The teaching style in Europe is a little different in comparison to US schools. The European style focuses more on group projects and personal learning experiences. In US, we are used to lectures and tests to show our knowledge. Our teachers in Paris tried lecturing with their powerpoints, but since they aren't used to teaching that way the lectures tended to drag on. Monday- Thursday we had class frow 10-5 with a 1 hour lunch break. It was difficult for all of us to sit in a hot classroom and listen for such a long time. I would have liked to do more projects rather than lectures. Our French teacher taught us a few French survival classes and also took us on field trips. I wish we could have gone on more field trips as our contact hours and did case studies outside of class and then discuss them in class.

Even after being home for 2 weeks, I still enjoy telling people stories about Europe. The European lifestyle is very different from the US lifestyle. I don't think either one is better than the other because they fit with each culture. For example, Europeans eat dinner from 7:30-10 pm. Restaurants aren't even open for dinner until 7pm! It took me a couple weeks before I finally got used to eating dinner later. Yesterday, my parents and I went to dinner around 5:30 and I thought it was way too early to go out to dinner! In the US, we eat dinner before 7pm. Now I am getting adjusted to the American dinner time again!

I would definately reccommend this trip to anyone thinking about studying abroad. I think it is important for business majors to understand first hand what it is like living in a different country and adjusting to another culture. I have learned so much and am so thankful I got this opportunity.

T-minus 2 days

Today is our last day of class, we have class from 10-5 and our final presentations are tomorrow morning from 9-1. In class, we have time to work on our project and get everything ready for the presentation. Chelsea and I worked on our paper and presentation all day.

Now it is time for our presentation! I think Chelsea and I did really well on our project. It is about Victoria's Secret, which we both worked at a while back! Although we worked in different stores we were able to share some experiences with the company and personalize our project. We get out of class today at 1 pm. At 2 we are meeting at the school again for fill out evaluations and then at 2:30 we are all meeting for 'one last drink' together. This trip flew by! It feels like I just got here! Though the trip went by fast, I have lots of great memories and I really enjoyed living over here for 4 weeks. I am also ready to go back to Colorado and get back to work and my regular schedule of television shows and workout routine! I am so excited to see the Colorado sun!! A few things I will miss are the great wine prices and the crepes! The crepes are so good here! We are going to go back to Notre Dame tonight for one last crepe and maybe a dessert crepe as well! The shopping here is amazing as well. The mall we live right next to is huge! There are about 4 floors and every store you can think of is there(if your thinking French brands)!

Less than 24 hours until I'm on my flight home!!

Eiffel Tower

The UNC group planned to go to the Eiffel Tower together on Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, everyone made their reservations online for the day before! Chelsea and I had reservations for half an hour later, but one of the employees let Chelsea buy a new ticket and we were able go up on our scheduled time. The rest of the group rescheduled for another day. It was so fun to go all the way to the top! The elevator was a little scary, but it was worht it because we could see the whole city!

Chelsea and I took some really good pictures and we are going to try to go back if the weather gets nicer before we leave! There is so much to see here and not enought time to do it in 1 month! We are frantically trying to plan out this last week to get the most out of our trip!

Meeting people from all around the world!

Chelsea and I met a foreign exchange student from London at the laundry mat last week and we met up with him and his friends last night for dinner. He took us to Bastille. It is right off of metro line 1. Bastille is known for its night life and it attracts a younger crowd. We went to a classic French restaurant to try out some French cuisine. The server recommended the duck or chicken plate. I ordered the duck and Chelsea ordered the chicken. Both were really good, I was impressed because I haven't had much luck ordering meals here! There were 6 of us total, 2 Americans, 1 English, 1 Canadian, and 2 Spanish. The 4 guys have been stuying in Paris at a university in La Defense for 2 semesters and just finished finals. Surprisingly, none of us knew much French! The guys said their classes were also taught in English so they didn't need to know French for class. It was fun to go out with people who were studying abroad like us.

After dinner, we walked around the city of Bastille. There was a protest going on at a building near the metro, the protesters were even camping out through the night! There were police parked around the street to make sure nothing got out of hand. However, when we went to the metro to go home, it was closed and security was in the metro. I think they were more concerned about the protest getting out of control, but we ended up having to take a taxi back to our hotel.

T-minus 5 days

It's already my last week in Paris! four weeks went by so fast! We have our final presentations this week, one for marketing and one for management. For marketing, we are in groups of 4 and each group is assigned a case study with questions to answer and put into a powerpoint. My group has a case study about Chrysler and its internationaliztion/globalization strategies. The management project is groups of 2. Each group chose a US company to export to a country in the European Union. We chose Victoria's Secret because they aren't international yet. We present this project on our last day of class, which is on Friday.
Studying in Paris for a month has been a great experience. The school took us on field trips about once a week. I enjoyed this because the places we went to would be hard to find without a French tourguide. Next year, our teacher was talking about getting tickets to a tennis game for the students. Tennis is really popular here and it would have been fun to see. I would have liked to go on more field trips because after class gets out I am usually ready to go back and eat dinner. It took a little while to get used to waking up earlier to catch the metro for school every morning, but after we found a Starbucks nearby the mornings instantly got better! Our teachers are pretty relaxed about the time class starts and normally waited until 10. This is nice because the metro is pretty crowded earlier in the morning when everyone is rushing to get to work!

Apart-Hotel

Apart-Hotel...what does that mean? I'll tell you, it's extended living, not quite an apartment and not exactly a hotel. I guess thats where the name was originated. The way things work here are a bit different. I think an Apart-Hotel can make up their own rules! I really don't mind that the maids don't come very often because I am pretty good about cleaning up after myself. But, something happened the other day and now I wish the maids were here!! We ran out of toilet paper! Oh, and Chelsea and I clogged the sink trying to make cous-cous! (Note this, it is very hard to cook trying to translate French directions to English!) Don't try to do laundry on the weekend because you need special coins for the washer/dryer and the manager with the key isn't on duty to open the machine for more coins. I didn't understand this yesterday and the language barrier is tough. Today, the guy at the front desk explained it to me. Most of the time, the guys working the front desk will tell you to "come back tomorrow." They can be very entertaining!

That's all until "tomorrow!"

Restaurant-Chartier

My mom recommended this restaurant called "Chartier." While the rest of our group was at Disneyland, Chelsea and I decided to go on our own adventure. Chartier is located off Grande Boulevard and it was pretty easy to find. We took metro line 1 to metro 8 and got off on Grande Boulevard, then we walked a few blocks and it was to the right down a small road. We got there at around 6:30 pm, which is really early for dinner here. Normally restaurants don't even open until 7 pm. Luckily, Chartier was open and the host greeted us and led us down a path to get inside, then another host greeted us at the door and directed us to an area to sit. We sat near the back and not many people were there yet.
I was impressed with the size of the restaurant because from the outside it seems like it would be quite small. Chelsea and I were getting pretty comfortable at our table for 4. After about 20 minutes, more and more people began coming in to eat. A few minutes later, our server sat 2 guys down at our table! Chelsea and I were caught off guard and had no idea what was going on! No thing was certain, we had ordered wine just in time for this awkward situation! The 2 men turned out to be really nice. One was 20 and the other 22. They spoke english really well and we were able to have a good conversation with them. One of the guys is actually training for the French Military. The guys invited us to a coffee place after dinner. We got on the metro and went to Saint Michael, which is near Notre Dame. We had coffee right next to one of the prestigious universities for literature. The French architecture is beautiful, I will definately miss it when I go back to Greeley!

School in Paris

It's now the third week of school. We have had a few French classes and taken several field trips. The 'Survival French' classes are very difficult for me because I have never spoken French! Some letters are not pronounced and the accent is hard to replicate. Anyway, the field trips have been very successful. Yesterday, we went to about ten different places and walked all around Paris. It was such nice day minus the humidity. I didn't bring any shorts so I had to wear jeans. It poured last night and today is a bit cooler, though still very humid from the rain. I would recommend bringing jeans, capris, and linen capris/pants. People don't really wear shorts here, so I don't think I would have been comforable wearing them anyway. Especially when people here don't care about your 'personal space!!'

The Places we went include:

La Conciergeie

Ile St.Louis

Hotel d' Au mont XVII

Hotel de Sully XVI

Village St.Paul

Fortifications Charles V

Place des Vosger 1612

Maison de Victor Itugo

Hotel Carnavalet

Rue des Rosiers

Our French teacher took us to a Cafe/Bakery for lunch and helped me order a chicken salad. It was the best salad I have had here! The food here isn't too bad once you learn a few words on the menu and I don't venture out too much anymore! I tried to venture out and try something new last week and my crepe turned out to be boiled in brick of cheese!

We don't have marketing class this week, but our final case study is due next week. We are in groups of four and the cases are similar to the ones in global marketing strategies at UNC. We have to answer 5-7 questions and be able to present the case in front of class and answer questions.

We have a full week of management this week. We have a final project in this class also, it is similar to the final project we did in global marketing and consumer behavior. We are in groups of two. For the project, we must chose an American product/service and import it to a country in the European Union. The project will take some time due to researching a country and figuring out the best way to penetrate the market. In class we go over the criteria for the project. There is also a powerpoint presentation to demonstrate a sample project.

Weekend in Italy

We had another four day weekend and five of us decided to go to Italy together. Our flight to Milan left on Friday morning. We had to take a train to the airport, which took about an hour. The airline was called Easyjet, it reminded me of Southwest. There are no assigned seats and the carryons must be small! One nice thing about this airline was their leniency about carrying liquids on the plane! Once we landed in Milan, the bus ride to our hotel took another hour! We made it to the hotel with out any problems and then went to walk around the area. We found a restaurant nearby and ordered some Italian pizza.

The next morning we ventured out to Duomo, which is the center of Milan. Duomo was so crowded! There were a ton of shops and restaurants everywhere! We saw a few scultures around the area and took some pictures, then went back to the hotel to get ready to go out. This was also the day Milan played Munich in Barcelona for the Soccer Championships. There were people wearing Milan jerseys everywhere. The metro started getting really crowded when we got to the hotel and when we left to get back on the metro, the Duomo exit was closed! I think it was because of all the people who were soccer fans. We went down a few more stops to find an Italian restaurant. We found one right by the river and the pasta was delicious! After dinner we headed downtown to check out Milan's night life. We didn't stay at the clubs for long, but we had a good time!

Our flight back to Paris was delayed four hours! We weren't able to check the status of our plane so we had no idea until we went to check in for our flight. So, we sat at the airport for four hours! I am pretty happy to be back in Paris rather than Milan, but I am starting to miss Colorado! It's so humid here and people pack onto the metro no matter how much space is left!

Adventures of the week:

1. The Louvre
2. Lunch at Notre Dame
3. Marketing class
4. Sushi
5. More shopping!

A few lessons I learned this week about the French: The French do not work out! I went to the gym in the hotel for about 4 days straight and no one ever came in! A lady working the front desk and even told me that no one goes in the gym! I am shocked because, alothough it is very small, it is still important to workout and have good health. The French are healthy for the most part because they walk everywhere and nothing seems to have added sugars. Except, they all smoke so I don't understand how they are able to walk so much! I also understand why no one here wheres flip flops. The metro is the dirtiest place I have ever seen! I wore flip flops today and my feet were very dirty by the time I got home!! I also have been wearing heels out at night, which is also a very bad idea because we still have to walk everywhere to get to where we are going! My heels are worn and my feet hurt! I don't know how the French do it! Maybe I'll learn before I leave.
The days here are getting alot warmer and there is more sun! I have to pack for Italy, I'll keep you all posted on my adventures :)

Second Week of School

We had a full week of classes this week! It went by fast though. Monday, we had class from 9:30-12:30, lunch and more class from 2-4. The teacher said we could start class at 10 the rest of the week, which was great news for us because it takes an hour to get to the metro! Tuesday, we found another Starbucks around the corner which is closer than the one we have been going to. It is a ritual to go there every morning for an "Americano" coffee. We had another long day of classes this day too, so the coffee was much needed! Wedesday, we had morning class, survival French class in the afternoon and then we went to the Louvre for a class field trip. The Louvre is the biggest museum I have ever seen! We could have spent the whole day there! It was nice to go with our teacher because she explained the important historical points to us. Thursday, we had morning class only! Lis, Brittani, Chelsea and I went shopping in the afternoon and then went back to the school to meet the French students who will be attending UNC next year. I think we all enjoyed going down to meet the students, but the metro is very long and we are all tired from such a long week and not enough sleep! Tommorow we are off to Italy! I have to go pack :) Ciao!

Notre Dame

Our first field trip, we went to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was really pretty! I remember it from several years ago when I went there with my parents. We also went in this cave underneath the cathedral, called the Crypts. It was found by accident. Architects were going to build a parking lot, but they found an old city where people used to live. We could see reminisces of the city that dates centuries before us.

A few blocks from the Notre Dame, we went into the oldest church in Paris. It was a lot smaller than the Notre Dame, but still really pretty. We were not allowed to take any pictures in this one though. Near the church there were several fondue restaurants, we went into one and had some cheese fondue served with bread and potatoes. It was very good, a lot of calories I’m sure! It is still pretty damp and rainy here, I am hoping for sunshine soon!

P.S.- I will add more pictures soon!

My First Week!

I am still recovering from jet lag, but I think everyone is adapting well...especially because we have so much to do every day and absolutely no time for sleep! The French walk everywhere! It is about a 15 minute walk to the Metro, then a 30 minute ride to our school. The first day to school Chelsea and I were stuck on the Metro for about 20 minutes. I think they were on strike…the intercom kept saying something in French, but we couldn’t understand it! First day of class we learned about our management project, which is more like a marketing project. We have to pick an American product or service to penetrate the European market. Any ideas?

Grocery shopping is quite the adventure. There is a small store right around the corner of our hotel, called “Monoprix.” It is pronounced, “mono-pree.” Chelsea and I went to grab a few things one night and we practically were pushed out because they were closing so early! It is hard to find anything here quickly. We have to rely on pictures and assume it is what we are looking for. Last night Chelsea and I made pasta. The pasta was very good! Oh, and we had to try some wine, too. Five EURO, and we bought a bottle of white wine!

Our first day off! I didn’t wake up until 3:30 in the afternoon today! It was so nice to finally sleep in! I could have slept all day. It is never really sunny here, which equals no motivation to get out of bed! I did work out in the gym downstairs. I brought a workout video to keep me in shape for the Hooters Bikini Contest. It is hard to do with all the bread and wine J We are going to the Eiffel Tower now, Ciao!

P.S. Everyone was worried that my Chi and blow dryer would break if I used a converter on them. I want to clarify that they holding strong! No problem with the outlet situation yet. And my router works great!

Planning

I am making a list of things to do before I leave for Paris. (9 days left)

1. Move out of my house in Greeley

2. Finish finals

3. Last day of work May 7th

4. Buy a few more things for the trip

5. Pack, Pack, Pack!

I definitely do not have enough time to fully prepare for this trip since I am leaving 2 days after my last final. Chelsea and I are planning out a few meal ideas. The kitchen area in our room is very small so we have to make it work. Breakfast will most likely be the only meal we are able to eat in our room, that will consist of cereal or eggs and toast. I think that we will be able to pack a lunch to eat in between classes. I read several blogs from students who went to Paris last summer and I learned things to do and not to do. Paris is a very expensive country, I want to spent my money traveling and shopping, not on pastries and croissants! Sex and the City 2 comes out in May and I am hoping to be able to see it in Paris! I love Sex and the City, if you couldn't tell by my blog title!

I am taking 2 large suitcases and I still have to buy a carry-on bag. Things I know I will need include an umbrella and rain boots. I will not be using my iPhone because there isn't a good international plan with AT&T (no surprise). Luckily, I also have a Sprint phone (long story) so I will try to get an international plan through this phone. I am bringing my laptop so I am sure I will be using SKYPE to connect with family and friends at home! Now, I have to go find time to do everything I just mentioned!

Getting Ready for Paris!

This blog is going to be a journal of my experience in Paris, France. I'm studying abroad in Paris for 4 weeks. I am 1 of 6 UNC students who are going on this trip. The countdown is 11 more days! I still have to move out of my house and finish my finals before I can start packing! I go to school at University of Northern Colorado at the Monfort College of Business with an emphasis in Marketing. I knew I wanted to study marketing after a few years of DECA in high school. I am an Air Force brat, so I had the opportunity of living in many different states and even Germany for 2 years! I was in 6th and 7th grade in Germany, so I remember our several trips around the country and crazy adventures, but I definately wasn't as appreciative as I should have been!

Since I have lived overseas, I feel that I am well prepared for this trip. Although, I am more prepared than some students, I am a little anxious to travel so far from home by myself. I think it is a great opportunity to be able to go back to Paris and experience it again now that I am older. My 2 future roomates will be accompanying me in Paris and I can't wait to share this exeperience with them! This is an experience of a lifetime, to be able to go to Europe with my friends and take 6 credits! I have a lot of expectations for this trip: First, I want to learn the difference, if any, in marketing overseas. Second, I want to travel and learn more about the European culture. Third, I am hoping this trip will allow me to have a larger range of creativity when I come back and start my last year of college. Follow me on this adventure and let me know if you have any tips for me! To be continued..