No time for sleep Dr. Jones

Well, another week has gone by. This week has been filled with Understanding Organizations. We have looked at mainly organizations/groups gone wrong. For example, we've examined the Corcoran prison abuse cases, Abu Ghreib, and the Challenger disaster. I don't want to bore you, but I thought I would enlighten you as to the fact that we actually do work here. However, is it still work, if it's fun?

Thursday night we went on a Seine boat trip. It was nice and I saw some more of Paris. Some highlights were the mini statue of liberty and the Eiffel tower. After this trip, a smaller group of us went out for Lebanese food. The food was good and I ate purple (lavender) for dessert.

Friday afternoon my philly/NY friends came (class ended early). This started a weekend of full tourist Dan.

Friday evening we went to the Louvre. That's right, I actually set foot inside the place. I gotta say, there is a lot of stuff in there. I was a little shocked that we were allowed to take pictures inside, but we were and you can see my adventures to the left (My Pics).

After seeing all the obligatory sites inside and more, we left for dinner... french style. We found a bistro and started dinner around 9:30.

On Saturday, we went to the Arc de Triumph and walked around champs elysees. My American friends bought some European clothing and made me buy some as well. Apparently they felt that I did not have any style. But, that simply cannot be true. I ended up getting a new pair of Euro Jeans, and a sweet white sweater. Euro Dan is in full effect.

That night (sat) we went to dinner at 10 and did not start eating until 11... very Euro of us. We ate some Alcacian food (German/French), and drank some high class wine.

On Sunday we went to the Eifel Tower and got up the the 2nd level (there are 3 levels), because the 3rd level was closed. It was pretty neat to see the the city from there. Just in case you get to Paris, and decide to go to the Eifel Tower, know that the 2nd level is good enough. You know, in case you want to save 4 euros ($50).

After this, we went walked from near the Lourve all the way to my place. We walked through the Marais (Lovely, Midevil, Quaint, Gay, Jewish), and bought a hot baguette. I also found a store called Thanksgiving where I bought Mexican food... go figure. Apparently, as JD told me, they have a thanksgiving feast there every year (eat in or take away).

After this 2 hour walk, it was my friends time to leave. They left for Brusells, and are probably on a plane now for the US.

This morning I awoke at 6 am to watch the Eagles play like crap and lose to the lowly Giants. Truly awful and depressing.

Today and tomorrow we are doing some career counseling stuff. This upcoming Friday we have our 1st Test and it is in Financial Accounting. Sounds delicious right?

Here is the New Dan.

Ok, off to class.

The past week

Sorry for the delay in posts. The combination of Financial Accounting and Yom Kipper took a bit out of me. But here I am ready to write and psyched for the Eagles game that will commence in a few hours!

OK, the game is over and it was fantastic. Being able to watch the game on my computer is great.

Over the past week I have been to the Rodin Museaum, the Army Museaum, Napolean's Tomb, learned about Financial Accounting, "celebrated" Yom Kipper (Jewish Day of atonement), and saw the eifell tower at night. (Pics)

For the record, Financial Accounting, as bad as it sounds, was not too bad. I learned a thing or two and the professor made it bearable.

As for Yom Kipper, this was by far the easiest year of all. Staying in bed all day and not standing/sitting in synagogue makes it a lot easier. I am sure the big guy will take a few years from me for not entering a temple, but in all fairness, I walked by a Synagogue multiple times. I actually watched when all the Jews left the service, and they were certainly the French version of twice a year Jews. I think the temple is an orthodox one, but the people walking out were wearing jeans, not the all black outfits. So not fair.

On another note, I found an open market near my house... very exciting.

Alright, I must do some work.

Fall is Here

There are three things that let me know that the fall season in here. One of course is the the beginning of the Eagles season (Awesomeness). Of course I could bore you with history, stats and how losing personally affects me, but I will not. I will tell you the other two reasons.

#2 is Sam Adams Oktoberfest.
And the best indication.... drum roll.... is when Honey Crisp Apples come out.

I'm sure most of you have not heard of these, but they are awesome. You will know when you have found this when, well when you have found heaven or a party in your mouth after the 1st bite.

After walking around today for a bit (The Picasso Museum was closed for renovations, thus leaving me in wandering mode), I found a fruit stand. And to my amazement, they had an apple (pomme) called Honey Crunch (the French Name). You should know that I was sincerely worried before I left for Paris, that I would not taste this apple until next year. Therefore, if there had been any bit of homesickness, it was quickly washed away with the sweet taste of the Honey Crisp. I encourage you all to try these apples. Now you may be in for a bit of a test, since all stores do not have them, and when you find them, they will be a tad more expensive then other apples, but I assure you that they will be worth it.

For more info... Honey Crisp

Class Picture

I have nothing to say, but I wanted to share our class photo with you.

New Additions

No real updated here, just wanted to let you know that I added Paris weather and my school schedule for the next 3 weeks. Both of these can be found to the left.

You know that place with the best art in the world...

I'm on my way to getting my masters

Hello again - please visit Pascal's pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/PascalIMBA08

So currently we are in our 1st MBA class(hesitant yay!). This class meets for a total of 16 hours (in 2.5 days) i think. The class is called Team Building & Leadership. Pretty interesting I might add. The professor hails all the way from... wait for it... Boston. He is really engaging and the class is loving him and the topic at this point. Like I said earlier, it is fun to use my brain again in a different way than from corporate America.

For those of you who don't know, ENPC (the school in Paris I am in) uses a an ultimate block scheduling system. So far it is very effective. In most american institutions, the student takes a course once or twice a week over a semester. However, in this block scheduling system, we are taking the full credits within a week. This is great for a couple of reasons, one, our brains are bombarded with information for only one course at a time, thus making us sponges (I hope). And two, this give the teacher the ability to make the class more interactive, and trust me, that makes everyone happier.

And now for some random stuff.

The Louvre is down the street from our school.

And yes, I may go the whole time without going inside.

Yes I've seen a double decker bus (in Thailand), but a double decker train... come on America, catch up!

Someone has a case of the Mondays

Before I begin, please view these other blogs.

Tandoori Temple Owl - Ben is the tall good looking guy in most of the pictures and he is in the Temple program. However, for some reason, he decided to spend a lot less money in India. He's writing about our counterparts in India.

Alex's IMBA Tour - Another tri-continent MBA student here in Paris, writing about his experiences.

Now on to the good stuff.

Ok - so as you may know, last week was pre-orientation. Pretty good way to get back into the groove of being in a classroom setting. After all, being in a corporate environment over the past four years is a little different.

This past Saturday, I spent looking around Paris. JD, Alex (the guy from the above blog) and myself walked around Paris for a few hours. We found ourselves in this over crowded 6-story department store called BHV with everything that one could ever want (minus the people). Before we left, I had to snap a picture of this below. If you know what movie this word is from, you are alright on my list.
Anyway, on Saturday, JD and I made our way to Versailles. This may sound familiar to you because this is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed (to end The Great War). It was a lived-in palace back in the day, when the French Monarch still existed. Today it is mainly used for special events. If you want to find out more, click here. I must apologize, as I cannot give you a proper history lesson. After all, JD and I did not make it inside the Palace as we could not possibly handle the outrageous line. However, we did walk around the gardens which are acres and acres long/wide. Even that is an understatement. I would venture to say that the property is how do you say... VERY LARGE. I even started to complain to JD how I was not enjoying the walking. He presumably judged me as a bad travel buddy. I guess that explains why he has not spoken to me since.

Here are some pictures from Versailles.
Picture from the garden of the back of the Palace.

This is a fountain, but without the fountain on. I thought this was the best picture I had of the artwork done there.Today we had orientation in the morning and then we had our first class in the afternoon. I wish I could expound on it now, but I am ready for bed. In short, the class was interactively fun. I will get into this topic more either tomorrow or later this week.

It's been five years

This is my 3rd day in Paris. 1st and foremost, on my run this morning, I found an Aussie (Australian) bar! Let's just say that I've been searching for real Aussie beer for the better part of 5 years. America only imports Fosters (which is probably made in the states). So, hopefully today, after a little bit of pre-orientation accounting - I hope to take a walk over there.

So, I just returned from accounting... and it was as fun... as accounting can be. Plus, we (JD and I) got our internet fixed so that we can both be on at once (using different macs).

Let me back up to yesterday... our class had a case study. We dicussed the Italian motercycle company Ducati. If you are really interested in them, you may see more on their website (http://www.ducati.com/heritage/anni00/storia.jhtml). We discussed the top part and then some. In short, the company did an online only sale at midnight on new years 2000 of a limited addition bike. That was a bold move at that point. Think about it... AOL... modem screeching! Just thinking about 56K modems aggravates me. The class had a lecture in the morning, then group work and then presentations in the afternoon. I hope all classes are like that, I had a great time presenting. Although a little nervous at first, it was fun to use some energy in class.

Quote of the day: "Stupid motor bike" - Neeraj (in responce to Italians going home by midnight to buy the aforementioned bikes.)

This is where the pre-orientation magic happens.

A shot from my bedroom. Notice the Visit Palestine poster (published 1936).

Alright, I'm off to the Aussie bar to eat a meat pie.
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Here's the story, I just returned from the Australian bar and NO VB (aussie beer) and no one was eating dinner. Talk about false advertising! Plus, so much for that meat pie. Although, they had Tooheys New, that was a pleasure. While we're on the food and beverage topic, I had a crepe with nutella(chocolate sauce) and bananas tonight. That was a good after dinner event.

Alright, off to do some prep work for tomorrow.

Click Me

The long wait is over

After 7 hours in the air, 30 minutes waiting for my luggage, 30 minutes standing in a taxi line, and then 50 minutes in a cab, I finally made it to my new Paris Apartment. For some reason my phone was not working, thus making my first contact with JD, my new roommate impossible (until further notice I will refer to my roommate as JD, my favorite character from Scrubs... NOT the beverage) . Thankfully, when I arrive (an hour late), he had not stranded me, and was waiting outside.

After some unpacking, I did some exploring of my area. And after some careful business school like research, I am truly excited about my location. Here is what I've learned today... I like baguette sandwiches, supermarkets are fun in any country, and it is really hard to get a cell phone unlocked (something I should had done in the US). And one more thing, why is it necessary for little kids to run to the front of the baggage claim and take up valuable real estate when it is clearly obvious that they can not lift up their own bag.

Alright, I think that is just the jet lag talking. But seriously, if anyone knows where I can get my phone unlocked in Paris, please let me know.