The Final Stretch

Over the past week, I've experienced a wide range of French Culture streaming from Galarie Lafayette to even the graves of some of the greats like Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrisson. Living in the suburbs of New York for the majority of my life, with constant trips to New York City, the juxtaposition between these two substantial places is interesting. The streets are extremely crowded in both places, however, in Paris, even with a lack of guide lines in the streets, I have not even heard of a huge accident. Meanwhile, in New York, with all of the street signs in the world and there are multiple accidents per day. Luckily for me, in both places the McDonalds and Starbucks are on every street corner, but everyone seems to think a café glacé (iced coffee, as verified by my host sister) is a frappaccino, which certainly doesn't help the calorie count, but delicious nonetheless.

Last night, the group went to Le Louvre, which used to be a palace. We joked about having to plan departures between rooms, because God forbid you forgot something in one room and had to take a 30 minute one-way trip to retrieve said object. Everything seemed to live up to my standards, except the Mona Lisa. What I have a hard time understanding is why that small painting recieves an enormous amount of attention, when it is surrounded by paintings many times more magnificent. It's unfathomable, but something I guess I just have to accept.

One of the most beautiful sights I've seen in my time here is the grave of Oscar Wilde. It's a tradition to put on lipstick and kiss his beautifully sculpted grave, which is covered in engravings and, of course, kisses. It was also awesome to see the grave of Edith Piaf, because last year in French Class we watched La Vie en Rose, the both fabulous and tragic story of Edith Piaf. It's really great to be able to see the things which we have learned in past French classes. We even plan to make a trip to a Holocaust memorial -- Le Mémorial des Martyres de la Déportation Musée, just behind Notre Dame, and eventually watch or read various items on that subject in Independent French Study next year.

Last night, the group went to both L'Arc de Triomphe and La Tour Eiffel, which gave us a phenomenal view of the city. We could see everything from Le Sacré Coeur to La Défense. We even got to see the Eiffel Tower in lights as we departed at around 10 pm.

Today is the last day of internship and I've been learning so much about marketing and business, specifically in the makeup industry. I even got to attend a Bobbi Brown launching of her new makeup line which is open to the public this fall. Today, I organized a wide range of perfumes by Jo Malone, and unpacked loads of Crème de La Mer product. Additionally, I made my final translation on a Q and A with Bobbi Brown herself.

I look forward to this week to see Notre Dame and potentially Sacré Coeur, and do some final exploration of the city until we head home this Tuesday.