5.11.10

I got back from my very interesting, incredible trip to Marrakech, Morocco

I went with a group of girls - kelsey, ali, patricia and natanya (kelseys friend). 

We flew out of CDG and our flight was delayed a little bit because of a terrorist threat (of course). We took easy jet there and everything worked out. That night we got to our hotel - Hotel Oudaya (which was amazing and so cheap!) For dinner, we met up with my friend Kelsey and had authentic Moroccan food. By then it was late and we decided to get up early to see the city!

The next day we walked down to the Medina and saw the great Mosque. We ended up in the square and saw the snake charmers, monkey people, etc. The best part of the square: ORANGE JUICE! The orange juice was AMAZING! Kelsey joined up with us and we walked through the souks and she told us how to negotiate, etc. I loved putting my negotiating/ arabic skills to work in the souks! We also spent time going around and seeing historical landmarks like the old islamic center and a couple of palaces. I loved soaking in the culture - despite it being very, very different. Later that night we went to a festival outside of Marrakech. We also had a traditional moroccan food (like couscous) and saw a famous horse show that night!

Thursday we got up early and walked down to the olive fields and then the area (jardin) to ride CAMELS! I absolutely loved my camel and took tons of pictures! We then took a cab back to the medina to go to the Morocco museum and other landmarks. We had to go back and get some more of that orange juice and hit the souks a little bit with kelsey. We had dinner at a place outside of the city - in the nouvelle area of Marrakech - very businesses like and new.

The next morning we went to a Hammam! Which is a turkish spa where they legitimately bathe you and scrub you down. You will never feel as clean, refreshed and good as after going to a Hammam! We also got a short massage! I felt like an arabian princess! There, we went back to the main square - did a last minute walk around and officially said goodbye to Marrakech (or so I thought)

We ended up having to switch our flight to Friday night and cancel our trip to Casablanca because of flooding! When we got to the airport, all flights were delayed and eventually canceled because of strikes in Spain! We had to switch our flight to a morning flight via air morac and had to stay AT THE AIRPORT OF A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY FOR A NIGHT! It was probably the worst experience of my life. Although our last flight was late, we luckily were able to get out of Marrakech and headed home for Paris!!

Although the ending of the trip was a nightmare, the trip as a whole was an incredible experience. I have learned so so much about culture and would, inshallah, go back to Morocco in the future!

26.11.10

I know many Americans now are frantically running to shopping stores, digesting their turkey and thinking of Christmas. Not I - on this black Friday I went to Merrill Lynch, walked up le tour d'effile and am getting ready for a French night out on the town - starting with Abby Schachter's recommendation of a French Wine  Bar.

Thanksgiving night was one for the books. Obviously, I would have rather been home but it still was a Thanksgiving to remember and I still got to eat "French" turkey. I also discovered that I do indeed have a domestic bone in my body since I made pumpkin bread, helped make mashed potatoes and apple pie!

The rush to squeeze in the last minute Parisian touristy things is on. My group is struggling to study for our last Finance test when all we want to do is go to the Christmas market and sip Marie Antoinette tea at Laudree. Oh wait. Those are tomorrow's festivities!

My House Mother Florence!

Us with our finance teacher! 

The whole group is Florence's House!

22.11.10

This is my last full week in Paris :(

Just got back from a fun weekend in Brussels/ Amsterdam! The group went to Brussels for a "site visit" and the European Union. We did that in the morning (took an early train), went to a LONG 3 hour Belgian lunch, had a walking tour of Brussels and then ended the day walking around. We took a late train to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is a pretty interesting place...we stayed in the "red light district", which is full of coffee houses, bars, etc so there were a lot of people out and about. Our first night we just ended up walking around and seeing the city.

The next day was the big site seeing day! We started at Anne Frank's house (VERY informative for all those history buffs out there). From there we went to the Heinken museum where we spent most of the day. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! They have rides there, interactive videos, history lessons, picture places etc. I guess these two spots are really the only touristy things to do in Amsterdam.

From there we got authentic Indonesian food (colony of the netherlands) for dinner. We all ended up doing a bar crawl at night. All in all, pretty fun.

The hostels were also surprisingly not too bad!

Only one more trip left (MOROCCO!)

15.11.10

The end is almost here!

Only three more weeks, two more trips and nine more days of school and I'll be flying back to aux etats unis!

Last weekend was one of our last remaining weekends in Paris. Last week, the group started Finance and celebrated the long weekend by sight-seeing and touristy things! I went to the Centre de Pompido, Moulan Rouge, Sacre Coeur, etc. Thursday night I saw my third and final opera - le nozzi de figaro at the Bastille with Thomas, great (but very long) opera! Thomas enjoyed the 3 out of 4 acts when we was awake! Saturday night we all went to a restaurant where you drink wine from baby bottles and eat fondu - amazing! Thank you Abby for the suggestion! On Friday night we went to a cave club and danced the night away to 80s music. All in all - great weekend. I studied a lot for my finance test I had today and EU project - and now I'm just crossing things off my list. Tonight we went a very modern ballet at the Garnier and spent the whole time trying to follow along to this very interesting ballet. Oh modern art. What's on the agenda for the week? I'm going to Angelinas for hot chocolate and the Louvre (again) on Thursday and off to Brussels and Amsterdam for the weekend!

J'adore ma vie!

A night around the Moulan Rouge

At the Baby Bottle Wine Place for Dinner

In Front of the Great Mosque of Paris!

8.11.10

BERLIN AND PRAGUE TRIP!

This past week has been one of the most fun/ exciting times of my life!

Berlin:

I traveled Wednesday night with Kelsey and Ali in Berlin. We got there late at night and decided to walk around a bit. Great hostel, Wombat Hostel of Berlin! Clean, nice, had everything! Thursday we spent the day exploring Berlin. We saw all the sights including my favorite which was walking on top of the Parliament Building. We had traditional German food, curryworst and blackforrest cake as well as Beer, of course! Walking around East Berlin, you can literally smell the communism taking place. West Berlin was very, very modern and great! We spent the night at a club on the major river which when you danced, felt like you were dancing on water. Amazing. On Friday morning, we walked along the Berlin wall - its an amazing experience that everyone needs to try.

Us at the top of the Parliament Building 

Curryworst!! Our favorite Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Meal!

At the Berlin Wall!

Prague:

Friday afternoon we were off on our 2:30 train and got into Praha (Prague in French) around 7:30. Again, another great hostel! Homeless, Grandma and Dumpy LOVED PRAHA! That night kelsey and I accidently bought 3 pizzas when we thought we were buying three slices, got lost in the city, and made it out to a really fun club that we danced the night away at. The next morning, Kelsey and I took a free 3.5 hour tour of the city and saw everything! We all had lunch at an authentic czech resturant and walked around a little more. The group met up with us in the afternnoon. We all ate dinner at a czech resturant and went bar hopping in old town square. The next day, the three of us walked around the castle, did last minute shopping and off we went (although we had to wait a while because of our delayed flight)!

In Old Town Square

Looking at the Castle

Czech Diner!

Clock Tower

Loving Praha!

2.11.10

Human Resources came and went - time is flying! Only one more month left! Human Resource Management (surprise, surprise) was great! I learned a lot and now am interested in Human Resources! Just finished my final today.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Normandy with the group. It was a really great and fun experience. I saw the beaches of Normandy, the American Cemetery and the Normandy museum. In addition, we went to Saint Michelle and stayed there overnight. Saint Michelle is breathtaking and I would go back there in a heart beat! Dean Singleton came with us to Normandy as well as our HR professor. In Normandy, I found out I was going to play Monica in the music department's performance of The Medium. All in all, great weekend!!

Last weekend was one of my last weekends in Paris! I went to Versailles and a Chocolate Festival to celebrate Halloween. I was a wolf for Halloween and went out with our group! It was great!

Off to Germany and Prague tomorrow - so excited!

12/10/10

So much has happened in the past week!

Last Wednesday, I worked at the Ellie Saab fashion show. What an incredible experience! I hung around starving models and got yelled at by Elie Saab himself (not really me, but in my general direction). How many people can say that they got yelled at by one of the world's leading fashion designers? Exactly. He is also Lebanese, meaning people were speaking Arabic around me. It was a match made in heaven. The set up for the show lasted HOURS and the show was even running late because everyone was in a tizzy. With all that said, the actual fashion show only lasted 20 minutes. I was a "dresser" for the models and had one model I focused on and another model I helped. Both models had two different looks that they pulled of splendidly.

Elie Saab himself!

Kelsey and I backstage working our modeling skills

With one of the models I helped dress. If only I could be 6 ft and that thin....

I LOVE the spotlight (especially at the Elie Saab fastion show)

After the fashion show I headed off to Spain - Madrid then Barcelona! Madrid was a fun time exploring the night life and seeing the sites. I had some INCREDIBLE Tapas! Many of the GW students went, which made it that much more fun!

So excited to have finally made it to Madrid!

The castle, right near the hotel

Spanish people at Starbucks have trouble saying our name. For instance, I was "Dianna" instead of Jenna, or Blake was "Blade" instead of Blade. We're all imitating the names the Spanish woman gave us. 

We rented a boat to see the sites in the park!

Last night at the "Mason de onions"

6:00 am train and we were off to Barcelona! We had one full day there and it consisted of going to the beach, walking around and seeing the night life. Not a bad way to spend a day...

Kelsey and I going to the beach!

Some of the gang at the beach!

Hola Barcelona!

Cool Cathedral thing! 

SUCH A GREAT WEEK!

5/10/10

Well, marketing is finally over. Just submitted my final paper! I have been very busy with my marketing project. My group did "Picard" and I think we did pretty well. Marketing was a great course - learned a lot. Our two last site visits were at TBWA, I was able to meet Mr. Bordas, the President and CEO of TWBA - a major international advertising agency. Our last site visit was to Ferrero in Luxembourg. Only a two hour quick ride to Luxembourg which is a very beautiful country! When each of us walked in the board room, there was a huge red box full of chocolates waiting for us!! Besides the amazing chocolate, we got to taste the strong Italian coffee- it was fabulous! Guess the whole goal of loosing weight abroad isn't going to happen. We heard from various marketing leaders for the major corporation - those who market tick tacks others for the different type of chocolates! Overall, great course - had great experiences and now I have a background in Marketing!

Meryl and Mom visited this Past week. It was great to finally have an excuse to go out and see the city, despite all of the high terror alerts! Just to name a few adventures - went to the Louve, Arab Institute for Museum/ lunch, Shakespeare and Company Book store, Laudree tea, Monet Exhibit, THE OPERA I'italienne a alger, dinners every night and much more! Sont fontastique! Thanks Mom and Meryl for a great trip!

On the schedule this week - working at the Ellie Saab Fashion show and flying to SPAIN (Madrid and Barcelona) before my first Human Resource Class. Could life get any better? I think not.

18.9.10

My life as a Parisian is starting to get pretty hectic! I really enjoyed the end of my orientation. The night Cruise on the Seine was breathing taking and hilarious. Thomas got spit on by people on top of the bridge as our boat went under it. We did a bus tour of the city - so I feel in some sense that I have seen Paris. My Aunt was here this week, which was nice and a great break from this crazy, crazy week.

My marketing class finished up and my mandatory french classes stopped. I absolutely LOVE my marketing professor and marketing in general. I got an incredible group and an incredible product- Picard food. Our marketing project is starting to take off and my group is investing a lot of time into the product. Our first presentation is on Monday!

Kelsey and I went to a Sciences Po party last Wednesday night. It was absolutely CRAZY. I got some great material and really had to experience French culture in the middle of a crowded dance floor. We mastered the art of French dancing/ facial expressions- meaning, don't smile, don't look in the same direction, don't make any big hand gestures and when possible, play with your hair. Another great event this week was our Alumni Reception which was at this fancy hotel in Paris. All the GW kids took full advantage of the open bar, despite teachers/ deans, etc being there. I got to meet the dean of the Elliot School. He and his wife are polar opposites and have different views of Europe. 

Friday we spend the day at Moet and Chandon. We had a tour, great lunch and a meeting with their marketing guy. Scarlett Johanson was there the week before, but wasn't there when we were there unfortunately. We took a lot of pictures showing off our new "French faces" and definitely enjoyed the Champagne! 

The group is really getting along well, I'm loving getting to know these students. 

08/09/10

I feel like the character Salt right now trying to disguise myself as a French person. It seems to be working since now people don't automatically switch to English once I start speaking in French. It also helps that I am pulling together some pretty french looking outfits and show my Sciences Po ID every chance I get.

Lets see. The other kids in the program are already starting to get sick of the French culture as each night they want to go somewhere that doesn't serve french food. Last night, Italian tonight, Japanese. No matter where you go, it is still very, very french. We concluded the night last night at a Jazz Club right near our apartments. It was interesting to hear French jazz and the people there were really good! Everyone wanted me to sing, but I didn't. Next time I suppose.

Today was the first day of French Classes. We spent the day at Sciences Po getting used to the environment, having lunch at the cafeteria, meeting our professors and people who organize the trip, etc. The group was divided up between beginner speakers and intermediate/ advanced. I was in the second group and LOVED my french teacher. She looked like a stereotypical 50 year old french woman, tiny, dressed all in black with a bright red belt and matching blazer and had an air about her like you didn't want to mess with her. She is one of the directors of the International Affairs program at Sciences Po (teaches master classes in international conflict and security). I spoke with her after class and she invited me to her class and to take part in a graduate, only french speaking class. I singled her out the second I heard her background.

A French lesson for the day - French students aren't go getters as much as American students (or at least, me). During our mingling session of the day with our professors, I took it upon myself to meet my Paris History Professor (who speaks Arabic). Sciences Po students came up to me afterwards amazed saying that French students would never approach a teacher and introduce themselves/ have a conversation with them. Teachers, they said, were above them. I don't think my personality would fit well in France for an extended period of time, c'est la vie.

Tired, sore and thirsty, we walked to the Musee D'Orsay and had a guided tour with a French woman. Loved the museum, hated the boring French woman who obviously despises American students. I am definitely going back to the museum and will try to sneak in for free as Europeans (Sciences Po students) under the age of 25 can do so. I'll see how well my disguise as a French person is working ...

Everyone was tired today, lots of walking, lots of things to process. We got Japanese and headed home! Waking up early for my second 3 hour French Class. Looking like a good weekend ahead, biensur!

9/6/10

Well... after 13 or so hours of traveling, getting lost in Heathrow, networking with a British businessman, hitting a French baby with my suitcase and getting car sickness on my van from the airport, I MADE IT TO FRANCE. I am currently writing this blog in my beautiful french apartment. Unlike other European apartments, I have a fairly large set up here. A kitchen with a table, a big bathroom and a large common space - this apartment is really really nice! Plus, I get to look out to a little French garden/ other apartments every day. The challenging part is finding a place to store all of the 100 lbs of stuff I brought.

Tonight we had dinner together with the Sciences Po students and our housemother, Florence. Thomas (a science po student) had the difficult task of translating the menu. Me, thinking I didn't need his guidance wanted to get a vegetable plate and ended up with duck... All in all, great meal. We sat there for 3 hours drinking wine, eating french food and attempting to speak french.

For now, I look forward to what tomorrow will bring.

First

Brooke!

This is my first post. Getting ready to leave for Paris in a couple of weeks! I'll miss you Brooke!