Nipple Caps!

As I believe I mentioned earlier, one of my tasks thus far has been to fill an order for one of J's most popular little items - nipple caps! I actually can't remember if that's their official name, but it's what I've been referring to them as...Anyway, here are a few pictures of the process and the completed product. They're a bit tedious to make, but also kind of fun because they're made out of crystals and glitter - what more could a girl want? Anna accidentally told me to dip an emerald pair in the wrong color glitter (there are multiple greens, of course!) so I'm hoping that I'll get to take them home as a little souvenir :) I made about 12 pairs over two days (Friday and Monday) and have now moved on to some other detail work to get the prototypes ready for her next men's wear collection.

Other than working almost 9 hours a day, I've managed to explore the area around my current residence a bit and on the recommendation of the woman from whom I'm renting, I found a wonderful market (Marche de Aligre). Apparently, the area on which it sits was purchased from a church hundreds of years ago on the condition that the merchants sell their goods as cheaply as possible. This seems to be the case, for everything is about half the price it is at other markets around Paris and the quality is just as good! I've been able to buy enough for both breakfast and lunch for about 5 euros a day - not too shabby.

This evening I also met with the same group with whom I pic-niced last Saturday and made a few new aquaintances, and likely another language partner (score!). Some of the group members are a good 20-30 years older than me, but it's still nice to have some people to chat in French with, and several of them have provided some good insider tips about places to visit and eat.

That's it for now. Nothing too spectacular to report thus far this week, but I'm getting excited for the weekend and a good deal of shopping! Les Soldes have commenced (I will explain the meaning more fully later) and I'm eager to find some deals.

Conincidences!

Well I've decided that Paris is the city of random conincidences, as I've experienced three very unlikely ones during my time in Paris. All have been quite pleasant, so I'm hoping they keep coming!

Number one: Last year, my friend Aisha and I were supposed to meet at a metro stop near the Eiffel Tower to drop off our large bags at an aquaintance's apartment before we travelled through Italy. We were both coming from completely different parts of Paris, both experienced trains that broke down while en route, and both were running extremely late. Yet somehow we ended up on the exact same car! I was already on the train and when the doors of my car opened at a stop along the way, who should be standing there but Aisha with her boyfriend and her giant suitcase! We both screamed in surprise and hugged immediately - it was a miracle.

Number two: In the last posting I mentioned meeting the British woman with whom I'm currently lodging at the Picnic for French and Foreigners. Very random, yet also very nice.

Number three: Now that I have a kitchen available to me, I decided to go down the street to the local supermarket (Monoprix) to pick up some food for dinner. As I was strolling the aisle with my basket, I made eye contact with two girls walking towards me. As we passed, I realized they looked vaguely familiar, but being that I was in Paris, I quickly discounted the resemblance. Yet when we passed again 5 minutes later, I realized that the two girls had gone to my high school and graduated a year after me. When I saw them look back at me again, we both asked simultaneously, "Did you go to Garfield?!?" We then had a nice little conversation and parted ways, both amazed at the odds of running into someone from 3 years and more than 5,000 miles away!

This place is nuts!

My First Week

Welcome to my first endeavour into blogging! This seems like the optimal way to keep you all apprised of my doings with the least effort on my part, haha. Of course, I still want to hear from all of you individually, but this will be a nice compliment to normal emails.

Sooooo, that said, I am finally enjoying being in Paris. The first week was pretty stressful and there were one or two minor breakdowns, but I am beginning to feel more settled and with that comes the ability to appreciate my environment. I guess I'll just update you day by day with what I can remember and hopefully it won't be to rambling...

Saturday:
I arrived in Paris last Saturday the 16th of June after a pretty nice flight on Air France. Although we remained on the ground for two hours in NYC, they made up for it with a solid selection of free movies and good food - including my own little bottle of red wine (of course). After landing at Charles de Gaulle though, things went down hill a bit. First they landed a good 30 minute bus ride from the actual terminal, and then we had to all go through the hell of passport checks. Of course there was little signage to direct people in the right direction and they were severely understaffed, so getting through took about an hour of shuffling along with other annoyed Americans. I remember wanting to kiss the ground when I zipped through the line at Logan last year and was back in efficient, organized America.

After I got through customs though, things went pretty smoothly getting into Paris. Paris does have an excellent metro system, so aside from having to endure the worst smelling man (who did not appear to be homeless or crazy) that I've ever encountered, I arrived 6 blocks from my hostel in about 35 minutes. The first hostel I stayed at was located in the Latin Quarter of Paris on the Left Bank across from Notre Dame. Although well located and clean, it was propably the worst hostel I've stayed in. From the very beginning, the place seemed a bit questionable, but over the next few days I realized how poorly and rudely it was run . They repeatedly denied that they had received people's reservations, almost lost someone's passport, and were just plain hostile at some points. I did meet some wonderful girls during that time though, including ones from Singapore, South Korea, Argentina, Mexico, and Ohio, so I wasn't too lonely.

Sunday:
I was able to relax a bit and made a b-line to my favorite boulangerie/patisserie and bought two chocolate croissants. You know they're good when they immediately grease through the bag they come in! I then walked through the Marais district and read a magazine for a couple of hours lying on the grass in the Place de Voges, a very classy area. I also did a little window shopping, as the Marais has a great concentration of boutiques.

Monday:
After another day of rudeness and incompetence at the Hostel in the Latin quarter, I moved to a hostel near the Louvre on and was glad to find a much better experience. The only downside with the second hostel was that they did not guarantee that anyone would remain in the same room for more than one night, so I repeatedly had to move rooms. I became quite good at it, but it was still a huge pain.

I also started my internship on Monday afternoon and finally met the designer for whom I will be working. Her workshop is part of a relatively large apartment in the 20th and overall I very nice place to work. J. apparently stands for Jeanette, but we still call her J. She was born in Hong Kong but is half British and lived in London for the previous 15 years. She and her long term boyfriend (a photographer and business partner) decided to move their workshop to Paris to be closer to the center of the fashion world and hopefully to expand her line, as right now she sells primarily in London and Hong Kong. She's a pretty spunky woman, but she seems like she'll be a decent boss, although definitely demanding. There is another intern who has already been working for J for a month, so she has been helping me to get into the swing of things and we've become friends quite quickly. J really respects her opinion regarding design issues though and gives her a lot of freedom, so I'm hoping it will be the same with me eventually. Another bonus is that I get to try all sorts of things on and give my opinion because (as you may know) I happen to be tall and thin. As soon as she met me, she said, "Ooooh, I have another intern and a fit model!" We'll see what comes of that, but trying clothes on is a nice break from the at times tedious design work.

Monday evening I splurged a bit and went out to dinner with a nice girl from Singapore whom I had met at the hostel. I decided to go very French and order Steak Tartare with frites and salad, and although that was delicious, the true event was the dessert. I decided to try the chocolate mousse made in house, but was both shocked and delighted by the presentation. Rather than some fancy shmancy little champagne flute with a sprig of mint, they brought out an entire mixing bowl (about 9 inches in diameter) and told me to serve myself however much I wanted. I can't tell you what a battle of will that was! My heart said, "Pile it on! Whe are you going to get this opportunity again!?" while my brain said, "Don't be disgusting and greedy - you know you can't finish all that." In the end we compromised and I just barely managed to finish the amount of mousse I'd taken!


Tuesday - Wednesday:
My life pretty much consisted of going to work from 10-6:30, taking the metro back to the hostel, stealing internet, looking for apartments, and finding something to eat. My tasks at work included primarily making flat surface motifs. Essentially, J (and Anna, the other intern) come up with a design/picture and then figure out how they want to make it out of swarovski crystals. Once the placement is figured out, we have to make several versions, and that is what I helped with mostly. It took me 9 hours to complete one Eagle for a hoodie!

J. is best known for her body jewelry ( see jmaskrey.com) which was primairly composed of crystals, and she eventually decided to start putting the designs on clothing as well and thus began her fashion line. She began as a make up artist as well and still works for U2 whenever they go on tour or to a large public even - kind of cool!

Thursday:
By Thursday I had befriended one of the women that worked at the hostel, as I got back at the same time almost every day. Thursday she informed me that there was a group of three attractive American boys my age and insisted that I meet them. So, we all awkwardly said hello, but it ended up being a very nice, well-timed connection. Thursday was the summer solstice and in Paris (and throughout France) they celebrate by having TONS of outdoor music and the call it the Fete de la Musique. So basically, every major street corner or park was filled with all types of bands and musicians and tons of dancing Parisians (who by the way seem to be fantastic dancers, at least classically). The three boys invited me out to dinner with them and we ended up having a great evening just walking around, drinking a bit of cheap wine and enjoying the beautiful Parisian atmosphere. One of the boys also had a French relative with whom we met up, and I had a nice conversation (in French!) with her and she gave me some great tips for finding an apartment. So, it turned out to be both fun and useful.

Friday:
After making nipple caps all day (think pasties with rhinestones and glitter - apparently a big seller) I went out with the boys again and met up with some other random Americans and walked through the city towards the Bastille. It wasn't quite as exhilirating as the previous night and I got a bit sick of some of the girls (lots of make up and bad highlights, haha), but it was still nice to have some company and the three guys were pretty amusing.

Saturday:
I woke around 10, walked about a mile to the Marais area and bought two chocolate croissants again. This time however, I also brought my computer in hopes of finding a cafe with wifi somewhere, and lucky for me, a nice one was right down the street. I bought a cafe au lait for 4 euros (the really gauge you when you sit down) but used their free internet for 2 hours, so I thought it was pretty well worth it. During that time, I confirmed my lodging for the following week in a room in a small apartment near the Bastille and also made some good connections with the two apartments I'm considering (and hoping for). I then walked back toward the hostel (a nice 45 minute walk or so), dropped off my computer and decided to check out the area where one of the apartments is located. It is near the Palais Royal, a beautiful garden area enclosed by a former palace of some sort across from the Louvre, and also very near to the Opera Garnier (think Phantom of the Opera). The other three girls are juniors at Harvard, so although I would be settling a bit - being so used to the intellectual capabilities of my Dartmouth friends - I think it could be fun. It is definitely in a wonderful area.

I then checked out the schedule at the Opera and walked around for about two hours. I got back to the hostel around 6 and rested for about an hour before heading out to meet with a group of Parisians and foreigners I had discovered on the internet while searching for an apartment. Although that sounds a bit shady, they were all very nice and had organized a small pic nice of about 5 Parisians and 3 English speakers (including myself) near the Eiffel Tower. It was absoutely delightful and very bilingual as we were all switching back and forth between English and French. We are meeting again for drinks on Wednesday and I'm quite looking forward to it. I also set up a language exchange partnership with a 19 year old Parisian girl so I'll help her with English and she'll help me with French! I also met a nice British boy who is doing an internship with BNP Paribas, so overall it was very productive and enjoyable picnic. Oh! and the most amazing thing happened as well! I was telling the group what my living situation was for the next couple of weeks and it turned out that the woman from whom I am renting a room was also in the group!

And one other little anecdote that I found amusing: Although I can speak well enough to converse with people and generally understand anything said to me, I have a much, much more difficult time understanding when French people are talking to each other (a farily common situation in France, surprisingly). Anyway, when I was on the metro on the way to the Eiffel Tower, I hopped on right after a group of three young French men. As the doors closed, one of the young men pointed out a group of about 6 girls who were dressed up and talking loudly in English. He said he thought they were Americans, but one of his friends quickly said, "Oh no, they are too thin to be Americans. Americans need two seats for each person." For some reason I actually understood this exchange and immediately said "Ce pas vrais, je suis Americaine aussi!" He was immediately embarassed, but his other two friends thought it was hilarious, and I was quite proud of myself, haha.

Sunday:
I met with the current residents of the Harvard girls' apartment in the morning and was thus able to see the actual room I would be living in. It's a nice, rather large apartment and the two roommates that were home at the time were very kind - and once again I got to practice my French a bit! I am visiting the French apartment on the Ile Saint Louis in a couple of hours, but it's nice to know there is a good option with the Harvard girls.

I also moved into the room of the British woman I met at the picnic and finally have a bit of privacy and a washing machine to do some laundry! I also have consistent free internet access now, so hence the first blog entry. As my living situation has improved, so have my spirits, so I'm doing pretty well right now. I might try to score some cheap student tickets to La Traviata tonight, but if that doesn't work out I'll be happy just to spend some time in my own room!

That's all for now! I love and miss you all so don't hesitate to shoot me a message!