AIR CONDITIONING, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT

The thing I miss the most about America (other than real cheeseburgers and french fries), AIR CONDITIONING. It has been in the high 80s and low 90s this entire week in Paris, and it is not excepted to let up until Saturday at the earliest. Almost nowhere in Paris is air conditioned indoors, and the few places that are have too many people inside to be enjoyable. Starting on June 30, Paris also descended into a crazy period of time known as the "Soldes" or sales. Almost every store slashes prices from 20-70% on almost every item. Imagine walking into a store or a mall with this kind of craziness...without climatisation (A/C). The next three week days, we have back-to-back classes from 10am-4:30pm, and the lack of air conditioning in the classrooms is sure to force a few students to faint.


In other news, yesterday our class took a field trip to the Louvre finally! It is an incredible building, which was converted to a museum from the royal palace during the French Revolution. There really is too much to see in one day, but we did our best to cover some ground during the evening from 6:30-9:30pm. We saw famous works of art such as the Venus de Milo, Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, and, of course, da Vinci's La Jaconde. The Mona Lisa is just as small and disappointing as everyone says it is, have no fear.

After the trip to the museum, we went to a café in the 1er (first) arrondissement, which is close to the Louve and the center of Paris. An authentic french onion soup and 10 euros later, we went to the Fête de Tuileries. This carnival in the large gardens adjacent to the Louvre lasts for two months in the summer, and it is very similar to an American fair. Plenty of little rides, ice cream stands, food carts, and boardwalk games. It was like a little piece of Americana in Paris.


Today, we had the morning off before our cultural visit to OECD. Out of exhaustion, I slept in instead of getting up, but I am certain that my body needed the rest after these last few busy days and all the sun/heat. OECD is an international organization that seeks to create fewer trade barriers and more economic cooperation among its 31 member states. It is located in a very posh neighborhood in the 16th, and its international headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris. The headquarters were very modern, and we heard three different presenters on different international economic subjects. You can read more about the organization here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Development

Tomorrow, its double classes and then a long weekend to catch up on all my work! Also, we will be sure to remember to celebrate the Fourth of July on Sunday!