15 Americans and a Wolfgang in Paris

For the record...

O.k. so if you have facebook you know that this isn't the first place I've used this title. But it's too good to pass up. I know it's been a while since the previous post, but of course there were the 3 nights in Paris and the 2 days it's taken to recover from a weekend running on 10 hours of sleep for 3 nights...(aka what I ideally get in one night.) But, after a 12 hour snooze on Sunday night, the fun times that were had proved to be worth it.

So let's start at the beginning...we took the Eurostar via the chunnel to Paris (much more original than flying) on Thursday evening. Who knew it only took 20 minutes to go underneath the English Channel? And plus, who isn't a little sick of airports at this point? (Although I am really looking forward to Venice this weekend...free food and hotel! And...it'll be nice to see Dad.)

So that night we got a complimentary drink on Syracuse University and listened to a Wolfgang speech/recitation of the itinerary, and then set off in search of food. Half of a margherita pizza later, we headed back to the hotel to go to bed and prepare for a very special wakeup call from the Prof. 5 hours of sleep later...there came a sharp rapping at the door, alerting us that it was time to get up, grab a croissant and head to the OECD and the World Bank to ask our questions.

We bussed it over and had three rounds of questions for people at the OECD. It was surprisingly interesting for the most part, considering that the vast majority of us hadn't heard of the international think-tank-esque organization much before the visit. Then we had an amazing and cheap lunch in the cafeteria there (white fish with shellfish sauce and fresh green beans...steak--not had by we vegetarians of course, and some sort of espresso mouse concoction) before trekking over to the World Bank for another round of questions. After waiting in the lobby on some comfy leather couches and admiring the defensive thick windows, we headed down to a padded room in the basement for an awkward hour where we interrogated a French woman who seemed to know little about the organization she worked for. The Prof made a habit of essentially saying to our four speakers 'I disagree with everything you just said but I think it is important for us because...' which contributed to further awkwardness.

Afterwards, we hit up some touristy attractions, like the Arc de Triomph and the Eiffel Tower, chased Red Bull cars, fended off gypsies and watched the cops break up the apparently illegal vendors of Eiffel Tower key chains under the statue itself. Then it was over for dinner at a restaurant nearby the tower (FYI: une crepe avec champignons et du fromage, aka a crepe with mushrooms and cheese, is not a good idea even if you're trying to be an economical vegetarian.)

Finally, we found a metro station with the help of a Frenchman who told the boys in the group to take the girls over to the Eiffel Tower to "smooch in the moonlight," we washed up at the hotel and met up to go out as a group. We headed over to a lounge in a neighborhood called 'Odeon' (made with real bits of panther...so you know it's good) where we stayed for a bit. Then, the majority of us went to another lounge in another neighborhood to avoid spending 25 euro for the cover charge at a club. We were navigated back to the hotel, where we all got about 3.5 hours of sleep for another Prof. door knock early the next morning.

I don't really know what exactly we got up for. It was pouring, and we went on a tour with this crazy french guide named Jean-Miguel or some crap, who wouldn't leave me alone the whole time because I 'looked mad at breakfast' and the Prof. told him my name. (Which he proceeded to pronounce 'Janie' for the remainder of the tour.) I had seen the majority of the sights in Paris, but the one thing I really enjoyed was going to the Pere-Lachese cemetery to see Jim Morrison's grave. Unfortunately, we also heard the nasty things kids do in the cemetery from the psychotic tour guide. And, we unfortunately missed the grave of Oscar Wilde, that homosexual. (Refer to the list of Professor Serb quotes.)

So then we spent a rainy afternoon scrounging up crepes and hanging out around Notre Dame. Then after a long, wet walk back to the hotel, a shower and a nap that lasted several hours, we were ready to meet up with the group for dinner and a night out on the town all together. We headed down the street for an extravagant dinner, which lasted until around 1 am, and the bill came to 425 euro for 15 people. (They gave us our own room upstairs.) P.s. pesto-stuffed gnocci (which is apparently pronounced 'nochi' is amazing.) Finally, we headed out to find a club to dance the night away in Paris. We succeeded, just a bit down the road, where we all went in and partied for the next few hours together. It was great--who knew you could have so much fun with a class? Maybe when I get more time (aka when I get home...since the end of the semester workload has begun to set in) I can put up pictures to illustrate the experience. The only thing that would have made the night better is if the Prof had been there himself. After another night of 3 hours of sleep, a group of us got up early and walked around the Louvre like zombies for a little bit. Then we headed back to meet up with the group to grab the Eurostar home. We passed the class quote list around and shared pictures and videos. We emerged from the chunnel to a snowy England.

The only thing I needed to cap off the weekend was a nice nap in the afternoon and then 12 hours of sleep into Monday afternoon to avenge the lost sleep over the weekend. I hope this hasn't been a 'you had to be there post'...and I will be sure to include quotes from the weekend later on!

Thanks for listening.

~Jamie