Tuesday, February 19, 2008

French Lessons

Le Bristol, 5 star palace hotel one block away from l'Elysées where monsieur le president lives, is where I had an interview this morning. I attained this interview through meeting a women in the countryside who was a friend of a friend. She spoke with her friend in Tokyo, who contacted his friend at the Bristol, but she was in New York, and she contacted her associate in Paris and that is who I met with! Crazy! They had no job positions open, but wanted to interview me for a paid internship (stage) possibility. The lady asked me the normal interview questions and had one of her associates join us as well and was all ready to hire me when they realized that I needed a convention de stage to be able to work there. Now, this is typically French that I would be prevented from doing something because I am missing some piece of paper. Convention de stage is something you attain while in school to allow you to go do an internship and get credit for it towards your diploma. Problem is, I am not in any school and even if I was I'd have to somehow link the studies to the hotel work. And this whole thing would take a long time to organize as well, since France is all about paperwork, paperwork, paperwork and it all takes eons! Argh!
They had offered that I work in the direction commerciale part which consists of marketing, websites, brochures, reservations...the image of Le Bristol. This is not the receptionist/front desk job I had anticipated, but working behind the scenes at Le Bristol is nothing to complain about! But, none of it is happening anyway. I am going to look into some schools and see if they would just give me the paper I need, per chance.
C'est la vie!
Can you guess what the contraption is on the Pyramide du Louvre?
It's a glass pyramid cleaner! It moves up and down cleaning the glass. I'd never seen it before.
Today, as I crossed over the Seine on le pont des Arts, I heard the seagulls' cry and saw them soaring just above the water. I closed my eyes, felt the sun on my face, and the sound of the water below. How I miss the ocean. It's incredible.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Cheers!

Now that's what I call a Guiness! Yum. This was my Valentine's Day beverage of choice.
One of my dearest friends, Kelly, came to Paris for the weekend, with her fiance David. They both enjoy wandering around Paris and eating delicious food as much as I do, so we have been having such a wonderful time together. They are staying in a family friends' apartment and have many people to see here since David's family is French and he lived here several times, but we have been able to fit in time to see one another. Last night we found a charming restaurant on rue Montorgueil and enjoyed oysters there. The weather has been sunny, sunny, sunny, but the temperature has dropped. Below is a photo of Le Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. The City of Light is alive and well!!