First Day of the GW Business Program

So the story begins…

Today I moved into the apartment. It is small, sweet and gorgeous. But first… how I got there. This morning I woke up at 10:15 with the wails of an infant downstairs. It is incredible what a loud noise can emerge from such a small mouth.

So the day started off slowly, breakfast, shower, packing… it all seemed to go at snail pace. But finally Nassim and I left the house, as I waved goodbye to his mother and the little kids she takes care of. Since we didn't have the car we had to go by train. The rest of the luggage was saved for the car... because dragging it all on the train would have been impossible.

We took the bus to the train, changed tracks three times and emerged from the metro to the sunny streets of Paris. One thing must be made clear… and should be a warning to all visitors of Paris : The weather is bipolar. Plain and simple. In fact, I’m not sure what weathermen do when they “predict” the weather in Paris because it is s

imply a guessing game. “Today we have random busts of sun and rain… bonne chance!” Two days ago it was cold and chilly and now, hot and sunny and humid… and I bet you tomorrow it will be sunny and then suddenly rain as if old women were dumping buckets from their balconies.

We walked down the streets until we reached the Paris American Academy office that is providing the housing for our stay. We were greeted by two friendly men (one seemed very quiet and shy) and then shown to the room.

The entrance to the building is simple, the lobby floor is covered in a ceramic mosaic and the stair case spirals up to the seventh floor. We took the small four-person elevator up to the fifth floor. The man guiding us unlocked the door. Then he turned the circular handle that was smack in the middle of the door (just like a hobbit hole door).

The door opened up to a small hallway, with a closet door on the left and the kitchen and bathroom doors on the right. The main room has two soft beds, bed tables, a phone, drawers, a table, desk and two armchairs. Everything is made of hardwood and doesn’t look like dorm-furniture. Instead it is decent looking furniture that one would place in a home. The windows are large and have two layers of curtains, white see-though knitting and then two heavier blue fabrics. But never mind the windows, the view outside the windows is what counts. Wow! …French rooftops, buildings, flowery gardens down below, and the windows face west allowing for a peaceful view of the sun’s departure each day.

The bathroom is like a zebra with spots. It is entirely covered with black and while checkered tiles. Its funny and a bit shocking at first glance but interesting in a pleasant way (not the “interesting” in an unpleasant, sarcastic way). The kitchen has a cute small café sized table with two chairs and enough space to twirl, in case one ever has the sudden urge to twirl. Utensils, glasses, pots and all that jazz have been provided and I am extremely grateful… and the fridge is a nice size, so Jana’s stomach is not disappointed. Tomorrows task will be to play Tetris with the fridge, and chunks of cheese. Speaking of Tetris… after unpacking the bag I had, I went with Nassim in search of food and a cell phone… and the cell phone has TETRIS!!!! I didn’t know it when I bought it, but it was a good way to win over my heart in place of the old phone.

We got the phone at the post office. Yes… le poste. The post office sells stuff, including postcards, boxes, cell phones, phone cards…. And is a bank. Talk about multitasking. But unfortunately, it seems like that more they take on, the more chaotic the environment so it took almost an hour to get the phone.

But before the phone adventure, we went in the hunt for food… we were quite quite hungry. To the point were we couldn’t find anything fast enough and we thus settled for a panini. I’ve had better (Summer 2005, Ohrid, Macedonia) but it filled the stomach and allowed us to enjoy the day. With a panini in one hand, and Nassim’s hand in the other, we went to the Luxemburg gardens, sat on the benches and enjoyed the afternoon.

He also showed me the Sorbonne… his gorgeous school with carvings, painted ceilings, sculptures and marble stairs…. Old fashion wooden desks and benches, small green chalk boards and large frescos painted in the lecture halls. Quite breathtaking. Bravo Nassim : )

Around six, we headed back to the dorm in time to meet my roommate Colleen, who seemed very nice and pleasant and a bit tired from her long travels. Nassim left for home but promised to be back later... and with the new phone, it made it much easier to plan everything so there were no worries.

I went on skype for a bit and then headed to dinner down the street at 7:30.

Le Vin Sobre was half full with the students from our group. I sat between two

Sciences-Po students and across from three GW students. I really enjoyed the dinner and the company. We talked about the US, France, healthcare, pharmacies, commercials, schooling, sports and so on… it was lovely. As for dinner, I had a tomato-zebra salad, a juicy streak with French fries and salad, and a pear-cookie-cake-like-thing-covered-in-crème.

After dinner (10:00) we all went our separate ways… one of the other tables left earlier for the Eiffel tower, and my group split in order to get some sleep.

In the mean time I got to meet with Nassim and enjoy a walk in front of the Eiffel tower. : )

By one, I had to say goodbye and went back to my dorm… wrote a bit… and then awaited the soothing caress of sleep… bonne nuit