Day Twenty Nine: "Bittersweet Ending"

I apologize in advance, but I have a feeling this post is going to be a little long. But here it goes.

Remember the first day? I said my goal was to be sad to leave Paris.

The verdict: ACHIEVED.

I really did not think it was possible. From day one I was counting down the days until I would be home. But today, driving away from the city, my heart sank. This trip has been the BEST experience of my life. Before this, I felt as though my life was boring. Great but a little dull. I found myself to be stuck in a rut. Challenges would come and go, but nothing too life changing. My routine was what I lived by. And I’m realizing now how much I revolved my life around that routine and habits—so much so that I was afraid to immerse myself in anything but that.

My experience abroad forced me out of that comfort zone and routine. My initial reaction was that I hated it. I hated not being able to work out everyday. I hated not being able to eat the food I normally eat. I hated not being able to communicate with the French people or express myself. I hated how small the apartment was. I hated that the bathroom was freezing. I hated that my bed still seemed dirty. I hated taking public transportation. I hated the psychotic pigeons. Okay still hate those.

But after a couple weeks I began to see parts of the city that I loved. I loved that my clothes still fit even though I didn’t go to the gym. I loved being able to pick up a baguette at any time of day. I loved that I could still use mannerisms and hand motions to understand what someone was saying to me. I loved that my apartment was a 10 minutes walk to the Notre Dame and shopping on Rivoli. I loved how cozy my bed was. I loved that the metro could get me anywhere I wanted to go and FAST. I also loved that it was perfectly acceptable to just order a coffee and bread at a restaurant. I loved that nutella was a staple food. I loved that everything in the city was so accessable. I loved that the architecture was perfectly preserved. I loved that I could find any piece of clothing, accessory, or shoe I ever dreamed up in my head. I loved that history was everywhere and art appreciation was encouraged. I loved that creativity was flowing and that people were driven.

Versaille. The Lourve. Arc de Triomphe. Champs D’Elyssee, The Eiffel Tower. Boulangeries, Patisseries, and Brasseries. The Pompadou. Luxembourg Gardens. Fashion Week. Rick Owens.

So many memories from this trip. It was unbelievable.

All he bad moments—my stomach issues, ripping the model’s pants, a mental breakdown at Rick Owens—all of these things have taught me a lot and made me stronger.

It may sound cliché, but I now know I am capable of living on my own. I can navigate a new place on my own. I can survive away from my family and best friends for at least a month.

Still, I am more than excited to be going home to America.

I am so happy to see my mom and dad. I’m excited to catch up on life with Tiff. I’m excited to curl up on the couch with Melly. I’m looking forward to my giant bed. I’m looking forward to going for a run.

I realize its not a bad thing to want to go home. After talking with some of the girls I met here, the reason they aren’t looking forward to going home is because there isn’t all that much they miss.

I guess I have just been really blessed with amazing friends and family. My friends from high school have been there for me through the most and shared some of the most fun times with me. My friends from college have seen me at my worst and have encouraged me through the rough times. My mom is the only person I can tell anything to. My dad supports me constantly and makes me feel worthy. My sister, though younger, gives me some of the best advice but also allows me to be big sister to her—which I love. The friends who I have grown up with since the moment I entered the world…you know who you are…have been the most genuine to me. They have challenged me through their own actions to be a better person.

As you can see—I have MANY reasons to miss home and America.

So as I’m sitting here, preparing to board the plane—I have a bittersweet feeling of leaving something behind that I have loved but returning to ones who have loved me.

Thanks to everyone who has read about my experience and followed my travels here. It means so much to know people take the time to read about it.

Oh yeah, and thanks to my roommates here—for putting up with my weirdness. Coaching me through my first experience at a bar and ordering a drink, dealing with my stomach problems, and just accepting me for who I am!

Time has passed way too fast. But every moment has been worthwhile.

Au revoir Paris.

HELLO USA!

Day Twenty Eight: "The List"

I had a thorough relaxing and enjoyable last day here in Paris.

I woke up around 10:30 but decided to stay in bed until 11. Just because I could.

Then, I made “The List”. I made a list of all the places I wanted to go one last time or for the first time. It went a little something like this.

1. Take the M10 to Sevres-Babylon. Buy some edible souvenirs for the family at the Bon Marche.

            Check.

 

2. Take the M12 to Concorde. Walk down to the Champe D’Elysse to the Arc de Triomphe. Climb the Arc de Triomph.

            Check.

Kinda. I decided a picture of the Arc de Triomphe was sufficient. I may have gotten distracted by the stores....of course had to stop here...

P.S. Pigeons were extra vicious today. Dive bombing me left and right. I was freaking out. Look how evil it is.

 Louis Vuitton or Mercedes Benz? Mercedes. 

I may have also checked out the Peugeot, Citroen, and Toyota showrooms. What can I say? I REALLY like cars.

 

 

 

pretty!  

3. Walk back down Champs D’Elysse. Get on the M9 at Franklin Roosevelt to Chaussee d’Antin Lafayette. Check out the gourmet food floor of Galleries Lafayette.

            Check.

I also accidentally bought a 5 Euro Pain Noix. Oh well.

4. Walk back to the apartment. Check out the lock wall behind the Notre Dame.

            Check.

It was adorable. I don’t know how many people have done it but I love the concept.

5. See Lindsay Mill.

            Check.

Okay so this wasn’t planned but on my way back to the apartment I just happened to run into her! What are the chances? I was so surprised!! Definitely a nice and unexpected addition to the day:)

6. Take the M10 to Sevres Babylon. Transfer to the M12. Take M12 to Assemblie National. Pick up my $$$ from Rick Owens.

7. See Katelyn on the way to Rick Owens and go to Bon Marche with her again.

 It didn’t take much convincing. We checked out the Ready to Wear section. Wished we had more room and our suitcases. And hit the food of course.

8. Meet up with our other two roommates at Bon Marche.

9. Take the M10 back to the apartment.

10. Go to dinner. We were HUNGRY.

Fortunately, it was a great ending to an amazing trip. The service was probably the best we have had so far and the waiter was so accommodating. The meal came to 14 euros for an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Oh and delicious bread.

I had vegetable soup.

Grilled chicken breast with baked potato.

And fruit salad to round it off. I really wanted apple pie. But my stomach could not fit any more.

 

11. Walk through the FREEZING COLD! And try to finish off this bottle of wine I bought! Just kidding. At least drink a little more. I feel bad wasting it.

Now I must get to packing. This is so depressing. I want to go home. But I really am going to miss this city and this experience.

More tomorrow on that but I’m in a time crunch to get this cleaning and packing done. It’s already midnight. And we JUST got back from dinner. AHH.

Day Twenty Seven: "It's Like Senioritis"

So quote of the night from someone who may or may not be one of my professors “Let’s get drunk!”

 

(You must understand. She worked at Rick Owens all day. Enough said.) 

This certainly put our Farewell Dinner off to a fun start.

 

 

Peter and his chocolate tie. What would we do without him!?  

Some of the girls at dinner. Sorry for the action shot

Sadly the food was slightly below mediocre. It looked good, but taste was lacking. I had about two bites of chicken and a few spoonfuls of mushroom soup. 

 

 

Did not eat that. 

The green beans and grilled mushrooms were good at least. Dessert was chocolate cake. It was amazing, however it was chocolate. I knew my stomach could only tolerate about half.

 

I also had a glass of champagne. Oh shoot. I did not realize champagne makes me giggly. I was talking a mile a minute.

Fortunately on the way back I stopped and got some nuts and cookies. Dinner round two. Much better. Also helped me metabolize the bubbly. I am now back to my “normal” self.

Anyways…today I honestly wandered. Just walked around Paris again. Bought some souvenirs for my family, went to the Le Bon Marche. Went to the Tuileries. Those were nice.

  

 

I will definitely miss this view though. 100%.

But really. If I could be totally truthful. I feel like I have "study abroad-itis". It’s like senioritis when you’re essentially checked out of school and you don’t want to do anymore. That’s sorta how I feel right now with this trip. I feel bad saying that but I’m just waiting to go home. I keep praying time speeds up so I can see my parents and my sister and Melody faster. I love Paris. It is wonderful. But I’m ready to be in America.

Oh well…only one more day.

And sine I do have 35 hours left...I might as well enjoy it. Therefore, I'm heading out with the girls to celebrate our last real night here!!

Day Twenty Six Point Five: "My Favorite Sweater"

So you know the sweater I gave away a couple days ago...the one that is one of my favorites...well obviously someone else liked it too.


At first I wasn't positive when my roommate found this picture on style.com.

Then I found this, and I felt a little more assured.

 

Then I found this. 100% confirmed my observation. Oh well, at least it's getting used.

 

Bye bye sweater. We had good memories together.

Day Twenty Six: "Hat Heaven"

Okay so today wasn’t exactly the most exciting day here, but seriously…it was heaven to be anywhere besides Rick Owens.

Ah such a good feeling.

As for the hats, well really did spend the whole morning on hats.

Future milliner? Probably not. As you can see this mess=Amanda's attempt at stitching. Oh no.

 

But I enjoyed myself. . .

 

After class I walked over to meet my friend at a prototype store called Collette.

It is very pricey but a must see shopper’s dream. The visual merchandising and styling is very innovative.

 

On the way…I may have stopped in this little gem. 

Unfortunately I am down to 3 Lactaid. I could not afford to waste any. I stopped in anyway and may have picked up an edible souvenir for some special girls I live with.

THEN my friend convinced me to go check out the Michal Batory exhibit at one of the museums. I told her I was pretty “museumed-out” but since she insisted more than a couple times I decided to take a look. AND WOW. I am so happy she did! It was a perfect combination of what I love. It was creative, practical, technological, and beautiful. He basically used photoshop, original photography, and

I loved it! It was very inspiring.

 

When we got back, I fell asleep. My roommates asked me if I wanted to go get crepes for dinner but I was still half asleep. I couldn’t really comprehend what they were doing so I declined. When I woke up again and realized what I had missed out on I was a little disappointed with myself! What was I thinking?! So I was stuck eating trail mix and an apple for dinner. Yum. Not.

Oh well, tomorrow we have presentations in the morning about our magazine articles. Mine is about the Selling and merchandising luxury goods online. I bet everyone is so excited to hear about that.

Countdown: 3 days. WHAT!?

PS, Also want to say HAPPY 21^st BIRTHDAY to one of my best friends in the entire world—Claire!

Remember your not-so-surprise 18^th birthday? Where has time gone?

 

I hope you have so much fun tonight! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

Day Twenty Five: "It feels good to be out of Hell"

I hate to be a downer…and a complainer…and the one with a bad attitude. But the past two days have been HELL. At least to me.

Let’s just say my Rick Owen’s internship was anything but fun. They worked us to the bone both yesterday and today. I was there from 8:30am to 9pm. That’s a long day let me tell you.

While it was a worthwhile experience, I would have been 100% happy NOT going back after yesterday’s experience. I really learned a lot just form watching interactions between buyer and seller and viewing different methods of merchandising. I also learned that I have to be strong in my ways and not be afraid to say what I'm thinking. Yesterday I was in a much better mood so my ability to not take things personally was at an all time high. But my day overall consisted of being the sellers’ slave.

Tuesday, as I mentioned, I had to run around Paris to try and find 10 bottles of soymilk and 4 kg butter. Thanks again to my Dad for being patient with me at 3 am as I begged him to convert grams to kilograms. It's has been a while since I had chem! In any case, I had no idea where anything was located in this area of the city and no one gave me any direction as to where to find a grocery store. When I asked where the nearest market was, their response was “Ask someone on the way.” Wow.

I also made over 1000 copies, separated them into about 100 booklets, dressed models, watched everyone go out for 20 minute smoking breaks (which were totally acceptable) yet me stopping to eat lunch which consisted of an apple for 5 minutes was totally not acceptable.

I was blamed for everyone else’s mistakes. I was asked to do 5 different things at once, and by doing each thing I was getting someone else mad at me. I was yelled at on a number of occassions and called a B**** when I didn’t inform the seller immediately that there was not an extra iPhone charger available for her client.

I survived yesterday. But today, around noon, the tears began to flow. Multiple workers in the showroom gathered around me comdmening ME, just me, because the models were changing some of their clothes in the showroom instead of the back room. I totally agreed that was not right but the sellers were the one’s giving it to them and telling them not to leave! I’m at the bottom of the food chain and the sellers are the, well humans. What was I supposed to do?

By the end of the today I was totally checked out. My brain was dead. Of course, my face was beaming as I walked down the steps to leave. NEVER again do I want to go there. NEVER!

The woman in charge asked if I would come Friday since she knew I  didn’t have anything scheduled. I just stared at her, not sure how to respond and finally said: “I don’t think I’m going to do that. Sorry. It’s been a good experience but my parents are paying a lot for this trip and I want to enojy my last few days here.”

Her respone to me: “Yeah well, it is actually hard work. Some people can’t do it.”

I know she meant that offensively and at first I took it personally. But then I thought...

You’re right. I could not work here. So many people in there are miserable. I can see it in their faces. Majority are mean (not all, I did in fact meet some really friendly people too). I know that there are mean people everywhere—I’m not naive—I’ve dealt with a lot of different types working in retail. But the overall demeanor was standoffish. There was a dark feel. And she's right, I can’t do it. I am honestly too caring and nice. I mean that in the humblest way too. I can give orders and manage, but 99% of the time I at least try to do it loving way. Everyone is human. I want  people to feel happy and welcomed and comfortable. Not like a piece of trash. Maybe that’s living in a fairytale world. But that’s who I am. I’m nice. I want others to be happy BEFORE myself. That’s the place where I would work. Where others are put before oneself. And you know what? I don’t know if many people at my internship could do that.

I’m not saying being one way is better than the other—just that we are all different. And I would not fit in well at Rcik Owens. Lesson learned.

AHHH! SO excited that is over. Now enjoying Paris.

PS. I don’t want to condemn Rick Owens as a brand and designer. He is a fabulous designer with quality pieces that are absolutely beautiful and edgy all at the same time. I would love to own one of his jackets one day. They are amazing!

Day Twenty Four: "...."

Yep. I have no words for today. My brain is fried and I'm sitting here with a glass of wine and chocolate. That's how you know something is not right.

Just a little spoiler alert for tomorrow: I spent the morning literally running up and down the streets of Paris for 10 bottles of soy milk and 4 kg of butter. Then proceeded to get yelled at for stopping to eat lunch, which consisted of an apple. I also just got home and went in at 8:30 a.m.

Love my life sometimes.

Day Twenty Three: "Oh S***"

Sometimes, my life is total joke. Well I really hope it is at least. Today I experienced one of those moments when you just want someone to come out from the curtain and yell, “Just Kidding!”

Man I wish that would have happened.

Here’s the story…

This afternoon my professor called and asked if I would mind dressing for one of the shows today. Naturally I accepted the offer. So we headed off to Georges Hobeika’s couture show. I was in awe the moment I got there.

The dresses were absolutely gorgeous, and my style. They were classy, elegant, feminine, with an subtle edge. 

 

 

This was my favorite. Every couture show ends in a wedding gown. It was absolutely stunning! 

I approved...

After waiting around for 2 hours yet again my model showed up ready for dressing. She was very bubbly and gorgeous of course—as was every other girl in the room. There is definitely a model gene. They all have such dainty features, are thin, tall, and blessed with glowing skin.

  

All so beautiful!

Anyway Barbara was cute but we didn’t have much time to chat. After making a slight ordeal of trying to get her shoes to fit properly and me running around to find tape and foam-we had success. The second change was also a success.

Then she came back to change quickly to head off to the Etam show. She had warned me she had to rush off before the Georges show was even over.

She then asked me zip up her leather pants, which was placed in the back. I went to touch the zipper pull and it literally just slipped off between my fingers. It was for sure a gonner. Now I don't like to curse but I won't lie...my first thought: Oh Sh--. Then I stood there for a moment, wondering in my head how I was going to break the news to her. Finally I just looked at her and said “It just fell off.”

Panic spread across her face, I though for sure she was going to cry. I was with her—I kinda thought I may vomit too. She looked at me, waiting for ME to figure out a solution. I tried to see if I could get back on. No hope. I asked my friend Stacey to recruit some help. She gave us a pin. That was not going to work. The zipper was located precisely over her butt crack. Fabulous. Finally one of the head dressers offered to sew them up for her. So he literally sewed them sewn onto her body.

I tried to help by running around to find all her belongings so she could easily get out the door. Then of course the show ended, crowds of people swarmed and interviewers and paparazzi were lined up to talk with her and take pictures. One of the assistants of the production told them she could not talk and had another show to be at. I could see the sad look in her eyes. I also knew she was getting on a mo-ped to hit the next show. Finally I decided to sneak through the swarm of people and said to her…"Do you want my sweater?”
She looked at me slightly surprised “To keep?” 
“Yes, please do! Really!” 
“Thank you soo much. I’m sorry!”She smiled.
“No I’m sorry!”

And she was off. It was the least I could do. My sweater covered it perfectly. Regardless, I just prayed that one she would make it in time to the Etam show and the pants would hold up!

I still cannot believe that actually happened.

I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal but to me it was. I just felt so responsible! I wish I could buy her a new pair of pants. But I have a feeling that tracking her down will be slightly difficult...

On the Louis Vuitton runway...

 

Photo shoots...

 

Posing for Vogue...

 

Working on her portfolio...

 

Doing ad campaigns for VS Pink...

   

Oh well, I guess it makes for a good laugh later. I feel like those of you who know me well will get a good laugh out of the situation too…typical me right?

Tomorrow I start my two-day internship with Rick Owens! My roommate started today and said it’s insane. So I better rest up!