Not All Crêpes and Croissants

I have been having the time of my life during study abroad so far.  However, there have been a few downsides:

First of all, every single class has been assigning group projects at the same time.  Group projects are great for splitting up the work and all, but scheduling and communication (especially when there are language barriers) make them a lot more work than anticipated.

For my Strategic Management class my group can't seem to do better than our OK grades on the case studies.  We worked even harder on the last one than the first.  But it appears our professor doesn't like critical thinking or anything that isn't explicitly in the text.  What little feedback he gives is in handwriting so atrocious I wouldn't understand it even if it were in English.

My Mergers&Acquisitions and Private Equity class is the most uncertain I've ever felt about an upcoming final (a week from Thursday).  We've been doing the same two things all semester (company valuations and leveraged buy-outs) and yet every time we review the homework in class she tells us "the correct way" to find the answer that either completely contradicts what she told us the previous week or is based on corporate finance and accounting concepts that are not covered in those previous classes (all the students from the Western Hemisphere in this class are as lost as I am so the learning gap is not just with USC).  When we ask her why her response is usually, "You must revise accounting and finance!"  I did revise.  I've gotten A's in all my accounting and finance classes so far.  It hasn't helped.  At least this class is taught in English and almost over.

A downside of not school, but living here in France is Sundays and public holidays.  Nothing is open.  I've lost track of the number of times I've realized I was out of food in my apartment and the grocery store was closed.  Plenty of cafes in Paris are open on Sundays (they're technically categorized as tourist attractions) but those are an hour away and I need to save money.  And if you need to get something printed, work something out with your French bank, or go to the cell phone boutique to up or downgrade your plan on a day that just happens to be one of the many, many, MANY public holidays, may whatever deity to which you pray have mercy on your soul.

This past Sunday, my friend and I wanted to go to Giverny to see Monet's gardens.  My train ticket was just under fifteen euros because I had the fifty euro Carte Jeune discount card...or so I thought.  I bought the card online from the railway company's website, but it turns out I have to have it printed from the boutique to show to the train conductors when they check tickets.  AND there's only a two month window to get them printed.  No one told me this and I couldn't find it in any of the fine print.  Therefore, on the train to Giverny I got charged an extra 35 euros for not having my card with me.  When we got back to Paris I went to the information desk and they were able to refund the fee for me.  However, since it was past the two month window by like a week, it cost me 10 euros to print a duplicate card and another 15 in random fees.  To quote the woman helping me, "It's ridiculous how they take money from people like this and they shouldn't be allowed to do it.  I'm really sorry.  Welcome to France."  THANKFULLY, the desk was open in this particular Sunday.

Monet's gardens were beautiful, at least I think they were.  Cameron and I didn't really get to see them.  The line to get in was about a quarter mile long and there was only one ticket window.  Consequently, it took two hours to get into the gardens.  Once in the gardens, the paths were narrow and there were people in every bit of walk-able space.  We eventually shoved our way to the water garden where the crowd was even worse.  Instead of still trying to see things, we sat down on the first bench we could find and ate our picnic of cheese, baguette, duck pâté, and dried fruit.  The endless line of tourists were amused and jealous at our spread.

A fair warning to anything looking into studying abroad at ESSEC or France in general:

Don't take Mergers&Acquisitions and Private Equity.
Don't go to Monet's gardens on a weekend or holiday unless it's raining.
Don't even bother trying to run errands on Sundays.
And finally, don't buy your discount rail cards online.  Buy them at an official desk or store (anywhere with the SNCF logo) so they can print them for you and tell you all the little rules that aren't listed anywhere but apparently can cost you lots of money for not following.

My whole life converges on Paris

One of my French friends from my high school exchange has a house at La Baule in Bretagne, essentially the Hilton Head of France.  He was going to take me there this weekend but he and his family decided to go to the South to visit his girlfriend's family instead.  That means I HAD to stay here in Paris for the weekend.  Aw shucks!  (I really hope my sarcastic tone is clear enough in those last two sentences.)

Sitting in my room at 5 pm on a Sunday afternoon I've realized my entire life converges on Paris.

First, Shannon came to visit me from Rome.  She and I have been friends since sophomore year a USC. 

This past summer I went up to Philly for my cousin's bar mitzvah.  My friend, Rachel, happens to live outside Philly so I invited her to crash the party.  She wound up meeting more of my family than I ever have at one time.  Fast forward 10 months and I get a message from saying that she and her mom are in Paris for one day and want to see me.  I get up at 11 am after getting home at 7 (the trains stop at 1:30 am so if you go out clubbing in Paris you're essentially committing to staying out until the first train at 5:30) to meet them in Paris as their tour guide for the day.

Just a couple days ago I got a snapchat that my friend, Erin, who I cheered with freshman year at USC, is spending a week in Paris with her mother.  The next day I see on instagram that my friend, Lauren, another cheerleader, is on her way to Paris too.

Late March some ESSEC friends and I were out clubbing in Paris.  Standing outside one of the clubs a guy came up and asked us if he could borrow a lighter (Mom, I promise I didn't have one and I don't smoke).  We're speaking French but I recognize his American accent.  It turns out he's from Delaware and graduated from the performing arts school, where my only cousin on my mom's side went to middle school, that shares a building with the nationally ranked charter school, where my cousin went for high school.

Earlier in March my good friend Deborah was in Belgium visiting her boyfriend who did an exchange at her school outside Boston.  He had class for a couple days and wanted to let him study so she hopped on a bus to Paris to come visit me.  

This past Friday I saw on Facebook that one of my 22+ cousins, on my dad's side, who I've never met before was in Paris for a couple days; so on Friday we met up to have lunch and actually meet for the first time.  At the end of June my aunt (the youngest of my dad's two younger sisters) is coming to Paris with one of her best friends for 6 days.

One of my other really good friends, also friends with Deborah, is studying abroad in Prague for the summer.  She's coming to Paris the weekend of June 12 to visit.

Tomorrow, Monday, my best friend since kindergarten is moving to Paris for a month to do an internship at the Paris Astronomical Institute.  He goes to Columbia University in New York so I don't get to see him often.  Once he told me when he was landing I emailed my professor for my Monday classes (I have the same prof for both classes) and told her that I wouldn't be in class since my best friend needed help moving into his apartment.  We, just a couple days ago, had an long conversation about existentialism and experiencing your life so I'm sure she understands.  Regardless, I'm allowed two absences in all my classes; this will be my second absence in French and my first in French Civilization.  After all, your best friend only moves to Paris once.

This Wednesday is my 22nd birthday (cue Taylor Swift in the background) and it just so happens that a lot of USC people will be in Paris.  The only logical thing to do is to have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower on my birthday to celebrate and have a Gamecock reunion.  That will be a really chill (for lack of a better word), fun way to celebrate my birthday and old and new friends.

Finally, since I'm abroad, my family has taken the opportunity to make a vacation out of things.  On July 11 I'm taking the train to London to meet up with my immediate family and my aunt and uncle (mom's side) as well as my aunt's son from her first marriage and his girlfriend.  We're staying in London for 5 days then flying to the Loire Valley or 2 days before staying in Paris for another 5.  They leave on July 26 and I'll have another 4 days back here in Cergy to pack my stuff up and move out.

It's serendipitous just how significant Paris has been in my life and relationships.  I'm still here for another two and half months and I can't wait to see what else comes my way.