This morning for the first time…

The alarm clock worked! While it has been nice to know what time it is, sadly the alarm has not gone off the last two days. This morning, the final of the conference, it finally went off. But in order to turn it off I had to reset the entire clock. It no longer shows the correct time. Tomorrow I am asking for a wakeup call. In terms of work, things have gotten better. I will send back about half as much stuff as I came with. Yesterday the congress took a break for the afternoon so I had time to go take a nap, visit Notre Dame, a cemetery south of the city, and have a lovely dinner. Still having plenty of time to get some good reading and journal writing in, do my laundry, and take a walk after dinner.







Yesterday I was finally able to enroll in the last course I have to take for my Master’s program. It is strange to think this will be my final class. Even stranger because I already have taken the class – with the same instructor even. Unfortunately that semester was when my boss P quit and I was working 15 hours a week in Sacramento while working 30 hours a week at UCD, and taking three classes. Plus this instructor and I did not get along – hopefully we can overcome that this time. Because I have already taken the course I had to wait until after classes started to enroll with the instructor’s permission. I got the last spot. She did make me panic a little when I emailed her and she indicated she had given the permission number for the last spot to someone else. I would only be able to have it if this student decided not to attend, and none of the other professors would let me into their sections because they were full. Thankfully the professor frightened the other student off by mentioning how difficult her class would be – something I know from experience and I got the spot.

The only remaining element of the program is my thesis. I submitted my proposal almost two weeks ago and still have not heard anything from my committee, not even a “Thanks Kristen, we received your proposal and will get back to you”. I am going to guess they are busy rather than fear that they hate it. Though knowing the three professors I have asked they will tear it apart even if they like it.

My hotel room is located on the 4th floor of the hotel (which in France is actually the 5th floor). Thankfully they have a miniature elevator (so small in fact that I missed it the first day and walked up two flights of stairs with my luggage before they stopped me to point it out). The elevator is quite interesting, it probably has not been examined for safety in years and though it says it holds 3 people you would have a difficult time squeezing two people in. The fourth floor happens to abut someone’s apartment and this someone is a fantastic opera singer. Amazing. The first night I arrived he was singing Broadway melodies and I assumed it was a CD. Then two nights ago he was singing Opera until 2am. I realized at about 1:30 that it was a live performance. Last night he was trying to sing a song where he just couldn’t seem to hit the correct note because he kept singing the same notes and stopping then repeating, over and over again. I'd liken it to a broken record, though not painful.

Today is my last day in Paris! I must say I am quite excited about heading to Atlanta to visit L and B. What will I do to enjoy my final day in Paris? I would like to simply walk around – but after this week I already have some rather nasty blisters. Perhaps I will just go sit in the Park and relax, after I sit here at the conference for a few more hours and do my homework once the participants have all left at 1:00.

Case of the nonexistent alarm clock

The only recent excitement of my trip is the fact that I have not had a clock or alarm. This morning (the first for which I had to be at the conference at 8:00) I neglected to ask for a wake-up call. Which had more to do with my trepidation concerning the people at the front desk than forgetting to ask for one.

The conference is interesting, though the sponsor room has not been terribly busy, which is bad for business. I initially thought it was going to be great but traffic died down substantially. I am so paranoid nothing will come of this it almost makes me sick. If the rest of the days continue like this I will be bored out of my mind by the time the conference ends Saturday.

Of the problems I am facing one thankfully has been solved. One of the other sponsors was handing out travel clocks with alarms – so my punctuality is saved and I am quite relieved.

The Saga Continues

Day 2 saw the continuation of my foul luck. Monday morning was a disaster. I woke up and headed to the hotel for the set-up, turns out set-up actually IS on Tuesday. I was grateful for the extra time but it was chaos and confusion at the hotel. I decided to use the extra time to iron the logo table cloth. Horrifically the moment the iron touched the fabric it melted the cloth away. This would not have been too bad except the hole is right in front next to the logo. It took everything to keep from falling apart. I was so distraught I actually prayed the table cloth would be restored, or that I could go back in time 1 minute. It was so surreal. Since the table cloth was not going to be miraculously made whole I simply had to find a way to hide the hole. I ironed some cleverly placed folds to hide the hole. It also took quite a bit of time to remove the melted plastic from the iron so that I could iron my suit, thankfully when I removed it from the closet there were no longer any wrinkles.

By the time it was 11:00. I was so emotionally exhausted I just crawled back into bed. L de G, who I lived with when I was here on study abroad chose this opportune moment to call the hotel to set up a time for us to go to dinner that evening. This woke me up a bit and I was able to get some work done after that.

I was feeling slightly better and decided to take advantage of the rest of the day and venture out into the city. I visited a few places and then got on the metro. I was not certain where I was going to go at this point so I simply changed trains a few times. I realized I was hungry and decided to head over to the Louvre for lunch and then visit the museum. However, I got off one stop to late and as I was standing up top trying to get my bearings this person I had seen several metro stops previously walked up and started talking to me in French. Disturbingly he had been following me for several metro and had only just been able to catch me – I should have kept walking. I pretended like I did not understand a word he said, which was not very difficult because he was Moroccan and had a terrible French accent. In about 5 min he explained that he had been in France for 6 years and was still looking for a job. By this time I was incredibly annoyed that he was bothering me and indicated that I needed to go to the Louvre, I started to walk away and he followed me. I spent the next hour trying to get rid of him. Finally I bought my ticket into the museum and when he tried to buy one I told him no. It was all horrific, and now I am terrified of running into him again.

After that experience the solitude of the Louvre was wonderful. It is an amazing place. You can be in an area full of people and turn a corner and suddenly find yourself in an almost empty corridor full of treasures. So much has changed. I was there at least once a week when I was here before and I found tons of new exhibits, along with many old favorites. It was off to the garden after that and then back to the hotel where I rested my feet while waiting for Laurence. We had dinner at this charming little café where I ate what was probably one of the best desserts of my life. She then took me around Paris in her car which was great fun, especially when we were pulled over by a French Policeman. By the time I got back to the hotel at midnight I was more than ready for bed.

Journey

This trip has been something else. Friday I finished work around 10:30pm and went home to pack. I had barely started and still needed to do laundry. At 1am I discovered the information I had been sent by the conference was incorrect and most of my materials for the conference would be arriving a day late. Luckily, I had the foresight to mail my table cloth and sign along with a few brochures to my hotel. By 2:40am I could barely keep my eyes open. I took a nap until 3:30am which gave me enough time to leave around 4:14am. When my dad came in at 4:10 to tell me it was time to go I was still asleep and rushed to shower and finished getting everything packed. We made it to the airport where I met one of my students who was on the same flight to Atlanta. He works for an LDS lawyer in Brazil and the church is one of their biggest clients. We talked about how they are helping the church purchase land for another temple in Brazil.
The flight to Atlanta was cramped and seemed much longer than 4 hours. I was not able to sleep so I was especially grumpy when I arrived in Atlanta. It was nice to see the student (R) at the food court and have lunch together. After he left to take the metro to go see Atlanta - since his layover was over 6 hours, I went to go and buy some Euros. Unfortunately the clerk at the exchange told me my corporate creditcard had been declined. Panic. So I had to get 200 Euros. At this point I am freaking out because I don’t want to have to pay for the trip and I still had the hotel bill to pay. I phoned home in a panic and got the number for the credit card company. When I called they said that nothing was wrong, I am just not authorized to get a cash advance on the card. I was breathing much easier at that point. Soon after I boarded the plane to Paris. When we were rolling out onto the tarmac I opened my large shoulder bag and the purse I had placed inside of it was gone. At this point I am so tired I can’t remember if I took it out and put it down somewhere or if it could have been taken out by someone else. The last time I remembered seeing it was when I put my iPod into it on the flight to Atlanta.

The only things I can remember being in the bag are my chapstick and iPod, other than that I think it was empty. I think. I have not noticed anything else missing. I am sad to experience Paris without a soundtrack. I hope whoever ends up with it enjoys the MoTab. By then I was wishing I had stayed home in bed.

For the flight I requested a window seat because I can't sleep on a plane if I have to sit straight up, I have to curl up against the wall. There was a kid sitting next to me and I heard his mother from a couple rows away telling the stewardess to make me move so that two of the four members of her family could sit together. As the stewardess approached I resolved to be generous until she said that the seat they wanted me to move to was a isle seat. Then I could just picture myself sitting there totally frustrated and tired for the entire 9 hour flight. The plane was ancient, with no personal movie screens so I knew the big screen at the front would keep me up the entire flight if I relinquished my seat in the very back row to move forward. On top of that the last thing I wanted to do in my exhausted state was get all my stuff out of the overhead bins and move across the plane when everyone else besides this family was already seated. I could just picture how sick and tired I would be upon arrival if I gave up that window and I told the stewardess so. After the news was broken to the family the kid left and was replaced by his obviously upset father who (as a large man) helped make my flight quite unpleasant.

I was not the most energetic of individuals when the plane landed. And to fit my mood it was raining – I neglected to grab the coat I had intended to bring with me when I left the house Saturday morning. After getting off the plane it took almost an hour to get to the metro station at the airport. When I tried to buy tickets for the ride to Paris and for the rest of the week all three of my cards were declined by the automated station. After my experience Saturday in Atlanta this made me incredibly anxious. Luckily I had cash so I went into the ticket office and was able to purchase what I needed. I was so tired the poor girl at the desk could hardly understand my French.

Travel to the hotel was filled with more lovely delays. I did manage to come to the rescue of a very confused Australian family who needed directions. When I finally emerged from the underground I was wishing I had printed out the directions to my hotel so I did not have to keep pulling out my map. I was looking forward to a long nap! After a sleepless Friday night and at most seven hours of sleep since I woke up Friday morning I felt a nap well deserved. Imagine my chagrin when I arrived at the hotel at 10:30am and discovered under no means could I check in before 2 pm. Ah, the French. The gentleman at the desk was kind enough to let me deposit my bags in the breakfast room. By the look of all the bags already there I could tell I was not the first to arrive that day.

I left my bags and went to read in the Tuileries garden. Though wonderful to be here - I enjoyed the trip little. And usually the traveling part is one of my favorite parts of travel. After a while it grew cold so I decided to get up and walk around. Halfway through the walk it started to rain, then pour. My goal was to get to Notre Dame and sit inside the cathedral and read. Unfortunately there were several hundred people in line waiting to enter, I had never seen a line before. But then, the last time I was here it was winter, and though the weather today is comparable it is still August. I figured I was far enough away that it would be 2 by the time I got back to the hotel, so I started the long march back in the rain, stopping off at Starbucks to get some hot chocolate to distract me from my cold damp sweater.

Success, they gave me a room and I rushed up and collapsed on my bed. When I awoke it was still light out and I guessed it must still be Sunday since I did not think I could have slept all night, but it was slightly dark so could have been early morning. It took some time to orient myself to what was going on and clear the fog from my brain. In the end I only slept for 4 hours and I am looking forward to a hearty night’s sleep tonight. Although the night clerk is interesting – old and nice – but my American personal boundaries keep me from being too friendly and I think hotel clerks should stay behind their desks. The hotel itself is only two short blocks from the Tuileries and only 3 or 4 from the Louvre. It is a perfect location for me.

Pending Departure - How does one find time to pack?

I know it is hard to ask for sympathy right before your boss sends you off to Paris, but when your flight leaves at 6:00 am on Saturday and you will be working 12-13 hour days on Thursday and Friday it is difficult to be enthusiastic. Do I sense doubt? “Ah, but K you thrive off the chaos of it all”. You are correct, but all things in moderation, please. 

When it rains it pours, a new semester begins next week and I have not yet received a response from my thesis committee about my proposal. Even an acknowledgment they received it would suffice. Perhaps they are so blown away they don’t know what to say. Hopefully reading it did not kill them. 

In addition I have deposited my car at the repair shop and am soooo looking forward to the hefty fees I will have to pay to reclaim it. Not that I was planning on buying anything in Paris anyways. 

This week will bring big changes at work as one group of LL.M. students will be leaving and another arriving. Interestingly (for those of you who have been following the Georgia/Russian conflict) I have a student coming to study in Davis from Georgia. The airport he was to leave from was destroyed (though I am not sure what exactly constitutes destroyed, but that was how he described it) so he had to travel to Armenia and catch a flight from there. The professors at the law school are going to love him in all the current events discussions.

With the comings and goings I am receiving all sorts of interesting gifts. A pair of earrings from Turkey, which arrived today, take the cake so far. I love that one aspect of my job is I get to spend so much time with such a variety of people. Countries represented for the next nine months are: Georgia, Turkey, Kenya, Mexico, Germany, France, China, Taiwan, Korea, Iraq and India. Should be an interesting group.

In The Beginning....

Since my life is so absolutely fascinating... I figured beginning a blog might be a good idea. Perhaps this week was not the ideal time - as I am in the middle of more projects than I can complete, but then, there is no time like the present.
 
Life for the past month and a half has been consumed by work and vain attempts at finishing my thesis proposal. After much trepidation I finally have a thesis committee, now I just need to get my proposal to them. My chair has given me a completion deadline of May 2009 (which I am just fine with). I am looking forward to finishing my masters.  Looking forward to it more than I can say. If my children ever indicate they are going to work full-time and simultaneously attend school full-time for their masters, they will get an earful from me. I am proof that it is possible, but I would not encourage anyone to put themselves through this.

Over the summer work has kicked into high gear. I have 38 foreign attorneys I am coordinating a summer LL.M. program for and 16 LL.M. students arriving this month for a 9-month academic year LL.M. program - phew they keep me busy but I do so enjoy them. Thus the thesis progress has been slow.

There is so little time, but since my trip to Paris (for work - my second voyage of the year) begins on the 23rd and it will be something I will definitely want to post about I figured I better start early. Who doesn't love new ways to use up already scarce time?