Sophie will intern at the Curie Institute. She'll be in the Biology of Centrosomes and Cilia Unit under the direction of Group Leader Renata Basto. If you'd like to read more about this unit, you can find the link at the end of this entry. Last night I had dinner with our Curie contacts, Jacqueline Legras and Graça Raposo. They are happy to welcome Sophie to the Institute this summer! We are also working on some future collaborations with the Curie and St. George's. More on that when I have some details in place!
Olivia will be interning at NLB Conseil Executive Search. NLB Conseil is one of our internship partners and was founded by my good friend Nathalie Lambert. We met when she came to live with my family on an exchange some 30+ years ago! Olivia will be working with Nathalie and some other NLB colleagues on a number of interesting projects. One of them will be a recruitment "mission" for a well-known French luxury company known for its handbags. Next week Olivia will also go to a breakfast at Bain and Co. Bain and Co.'s Senior Director of EMEA Consumer Products, Retail and Luxury Practice, Joelle de Montgolfier, will discuss the state of the luxury sector. This is sponsored by l'ESSEC Business School Alumni Association and will expose Olivia to a relevant topic for her work as well as a number of top executives from other luxury companies.
This week is our time to explore Paris, visit the sites and different quartiers, learn the métro system and become acclimated to the city so that they can get themselves to their respective internships next week. Sophie and Olivia are also settling in with their host family, the de Varax family. They have four boys and live in the 17th arrondissement, not too far from the Arc de Triomphe.
Day 1 (Tuesday) was focused on the Latin Quarter. We went to the Mémorial des Martyres de la Déportation which is behind Notre Dame. This is a moving memorial to the French Jews who were deported and killed in concentration camps during WWII. We also visited the Crypte Archéologique located at Notre Dame. This museum traces the evolution of the city of Paris and is fascinating. After a lunch of crêpes on the Île Saint-Louis, we headed to a favorite book shop across from Notre Dame - Shakespeare and Company - where I bought Sophie and Olivia copies of Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. This classic was written during Hemingway's time in Paris and references a number of landmarks that we'll visit in the next few weeks.
Next we wended our way to la rue Mouffetard, a lively street in the 5th arrondissement with shops and markets. We took a gastronomic tour with Paris by Mouth. I did this last year with Jake Westermann and Susie Keller (a former student of theirs was our tour guide) and it was fabulous! It's a great way to learn about the gastronomic history behind cheese, charcuterie, pasteries, and chocolate. Our guide, Meg Zimbeck, took us to some highly acclaimed shops and explained what terms like Maître Ouvrier, Affineur and AOC mean. We learned about the art of producing high quality food, the strict rules that apply in order to be considered high-quality and about the different regions as well. After visiting the shops the tour ends at a wine shop that is set up for the group. Wines are paired with the different foods that were collected during the walking portion of the tour, and further explanation of each cheese, charcuterie and pâtisserie is explained. We do not partake in the wine tasting but instead, Meg served us a grape juice that was made with Sauvignon Blanc grapes, just like the Sancerre the others were drinking. It's a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves good food and would like to learn more about the gastronomic history of French food! I have added the Paris by Mouth link below so you can take a look - it's a great site and is full of excellent food and restaurant information. Another note : when we were on our tour, Meg knew that we had been to Shakespeare and Company and had bought A Moveable Feast. It just so happened that we passed Hemingway's apartment that he describes in the book! If you look closely at the photo of Sophie and Olivia above, you'll see that the sign says Under Hemingway's!
More later from all of us!
Links :
Centrosomes and Cilia Unit : http://umr144.curie.fr/en/research-groups/biology-centrosomes-and-cilia-renata-basto/biology-centrosomes-and-cilia-00180
NLB Conseil Executive Search : http://www.nlbconseil.com/
Paris by Mouth : http://parisbymouth.com/
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