Salut!

Today our day started as normal as any day in Paris can be, which is not normal at all, it’s magical. We took our 2 hour bus headed to Reims where we had not only our first introduction to champagne, but also our introduction to rural France. It was interesting to see how quickly the landscape goes from concrete and trains to grass and cows in a matter of minutes.

Quick shot of the scenery on the bus

The first place we got off was the Taittinger cellar. Here Professor Zinder introduced us to the diverse wine regions of France and what they specialize in. She also placed an emphasis on the wine cultural differences between the old world and the new world. I found it fascinating that in the new world, they focus more on the variety of grape and in the old world, they focus more on where the grape came from.

This is the stairway to the Taittinger cellar. It was really dark and my camera wasn’t in night mode so it captured the picture with an eerie effect, doing the place some justice.

The tour guide telling us how the cellar got started

Sign within the cellar

Going deeper into the cellar

Diverse bottle sizes

In the tour of the first cellar, Taittinger, the guide focused a lot on the history and architecture of the cellar. He spoke about how this was first started by monks in the cellar and how there was a church on top of the cellar that was destroyed by bombs during the World War. He also mentioned that during the war, a lot of people went underground to live in order to survive, which included the cellar. He showed us different carvings made by those residents. The guide also mentioned how because of the shape the cellar has, it is very hard to destroy in case of bombs or earthquakes. Something interesting we learned was how huge their wine reserves are. He mentioned that there were over 2 million bottles in this location and that they have another cellar with even more millions of bottles. We also learned that it is common for bottles to explode in the middle of the second fermentation. We ended the tour by going upstairs to have a champagne tasting. Most of the students seemed to like it and a lot of them even bought bottles of champagne. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the champagne, I felt it was bland and wildly acidic, like there wasn’t a hint of anything.

Champagne tasting

.

After finishing our tour, we walked to the center of the town. We got to see the town’s cathedral which made some of us wonder why it wasn’t completely destroyed during the war like the church above the cellar. When we reached the center, the group divided into different sections and I ended up in the group that went to eat French regional food. The food was delicious and we even got a juggling performer in front of the restaurant. It was interesting to see what their version of showtime is.

Our lunchtime

Juggler in front the restaurant

After we had lunch, we took the bus to our last tour, Champagne Geoffroy. The guide was a friend of the owner and he took us to the main groundlevel cellar where he introduced the Austrian barrels that had to be custom-made to fit through the door. This cellar was completely different from the first one because it was a local producer rather than a big brand. Everything in this cellar was done to a smaller scale and and the cellar itself was much smaller, the guide only took us down one floor. He mentioned the two kinds of fermentation required to create champagne. He talked about how after the first fermentation the bottles have be twisted over and over in order to get the sediment off the bottle. He even showed us the differences and turning the bottles by hand and how it is done by machine now since it’s much more efficient. Lastly he ended the tour by taking us upstairs and giving us a tasting of four different champagnes. He spoke about the differences based on the variety of grapes used to make the wine. He also placed a lot of emphasis on having your own opinion on how the wine tastes, rather than following what everybody else thinks. He even taught us how to open a bottle. After tasting the four wines, we headed back to the bus in order to beat Paris traffic and went back to the city.

Austrian barrels

Wine turning machine

The wines we tasted

The view from the bus

Bonjour à tous!

Today officially began our exploration of Paris and all that comes with it. Everyone woke up bright and early to begin our day with a 2-3 hour walking tour led by Professor Zinder.

Taking the 13 line to Champs Elysee, we met with Professor Zinder to begin our tour towards the Eiffel Tower. Professor Zinder gave us her background to explain how she ultimately became to live in the Paris, with details of her culinary career in pastry along the way. Living in Paris, she is able to beautifully speak the language and understand their culture, exhibited in the way she warns us what to expect and in the telling of the history behind many monuments.

Station by our hotel on the 13 line

Petit Palais, built for the 1900 World Fair

Group photo (minus the author)

Professor Zinder and her insanely large map

On the tour, we stopped in front of the Grand Palais to go over some brief details of the city. The Grand Palais is directly across the Petit Palais, both immaculate and beautiful. On the way to the Eiffel Tower, we crossed the Seine River on Pont Alexandre III, one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris due to the details glass lamp posts and gold statues.

View of the Eiffel Tower from Pont Alexandre III

Ultimately, we reached one of the most famous towers in the world. We took in the beauty along with the history of the monument, learning how it was also built for another World’s Fair, and how she is in dire need of a new paint job (which happens every 7 years).

A more upscale neighborhood in Paris

Fontaine de Mars, a restaurant for locals and tourists named after the god of war

Tower of Eiffel, named after the business man who bought the plan from the original architects (and Professor Zinder’s crazy map)

After the tour of the Eiffel Tower, everyone split into their own groups for the walking tour project. Banessa, Corrina, and I were assigned of Palais Garnier opera house, so we took the 9 to the opera house to do some recon for the upcoming days. After a long morning of walking, we grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant with some traditional French crepes, coffee, pasta, and pizza. We returned to the hotel ultimately, mainly to wind down a bit, and prepare for the adventures to come later on tonight (maybe). All in all, today’s tour was a great way to start our “first” day in Paris, and what a better way than to visit what it is most associated with.

Palais Garnier Opera House

Pasta Carbonara, Crepe Fromage, Pizza Margherita

Something about clean Parisian train stations makes us silly

Welcome to Paris!! Today we walked around the neighborhood. We got to see the markets, post office, and the metro station. It was great seeing Professor Zinder again. She shared some information on how the metro system works and as well as the navigo. Tomorrow is the start of this journey with a tour of Paris. See you all tomorrow.

Bonjour!! Today was our first immersion class with Professor DuChamp. The day started with receiving important information from Professor Pericles and as well a few gifts. The guides received in the giftbags will be extremely helpful during our stay in Paris. Professor DuChamp has taught us about the French culture, numbers and many useful phrases. The group was very excited to learn the valuable information from today’s class.  See you all tomorrow for our second immersion class.

Immersion Class Day 1

Learning with Professor DuChamp

Today is the last day of the Thomas Ahrens International Work and Study Program of 2018. Many of us are happy to go home while others continue their journey around Europe. My roommate Stephanie and I have finally booked our hotels and rides to Venice and Milan. France has been great but I’m truly looking forward to sitting on a gondola in the Rialto Bridge in Venice!

At 8am sharp, Professor Abreu and our Liaison Yvonne knocked on my door for room inspection. Our room inspection was suppose to take 10 minutes however it took more because we had an early morning chat with them. We were really chatting up a storm with a very good early morning conversation!

I continued my day by taking the metro for the last time to Champs- Elysees where Professor Zinder gave us our first walking tour. I stopped at Abercrombie & Fitch to do a little shopping. I walked around and decided to eat Parisian McDonalds for the last time. The McDonalds here is amazing! That’s something I’ll truly miss.

We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe, where we saw a marching band and many sergeants and guards under it. I did not understand exactly what was going on and I definitely did not want to ask the very serious police officer if he spoke enough English to be able to tell me what was going on.

Many students went out to explore Paris, buy last minute souvenirs while others stood back at the hotel to do laundry, cook and pack their suitcases.

For the grand finale, many of us will go out to dinner to celebrate these amazing 3 weeks that we’ve had with a cheerful toast of blanc or noir. Myself and five other really great students went out for dinner and had a wonderful night filled with lots of laughter,storytelling and picture taking. I feel like this program has brought new friends.

Paris has treated us great but now its time to say our goodbyes and go back to New York City.

Until next time, from Paris with love!

Abercrombie & Fitch

Arc de Triomphe

Dinner at Il Giardino

Celebratory toast with the whole group

Today is the last Thursday of the program and it has been a bitter sweet day! Of course we had to start it and end it with a bang. We began by having a midnight picnic in front of the Tour Eiffel with celebratory cheers during the first five minutes of the hour after 11pm as the tower sparkles. Afterwards everyone went home and got their very much needed beauty rest!

Everyone met in front of the famous, need-to-be-there Boullion Pigalle restaurant in their best Parisian outfits at 11:45. At noon we were able to go into the restaurant through a special door just for City Tech students (not really but we felt special!) and sat in nicely prepared tables. For my appetizer I got the leeks in french dressing with hazelnuts and for my entree I got the salt cod and potato mash. I was actually really surprised when I saw my entree because I thought that it’ll be cod fish on the side and mashed potatoes like my mother does it back home. My entree was actually a really nice mixture of mashed potatoes and cod drizzled with olive oil and topped with almonds. It was delicious! For dessert, my table ordered a variety of sweets and we all shared them. The most appealing dessert to me was the Chocolate Profiterole but the most tasty one was the Rum Baba. Of course wine could not be forgotten and we had a liter and a half of the great Sauvignon Blanc.

After everyone had gotten their meal I initiated a celebratory toast to the program, Paris and our meal. It was wonderful and even the professors cheered as well.

Here comes the sad part as we said our Au Revoir to Professor ZInder with the French style of greeting with a kiss on each cheek. Thank you Profesor Zinder for all of your guidance and smarts on this trip! We all hope to keep in contact!

Today was truly a wonderful day with wonderful food, wonderful people and wonderful

Chocolate Profiterole

weather. Of course, I had to purchase another luggage because I have so many things to take back home specially wine. Last but not least, I will end by night by hanging out with the French students that I met in New York meaning that this program has actually brought me some life long friends!

Bon soir everybody!

Everyone seated at the nicely prepared tables

Salt cod and mashed potatoes

Cheers to the program!

Everyone waiting for the doors of the restaurant to open at 12pm

Late night picnic in front of the Tour Eiffel

Today is Wednesday June 27, we are so close to the end! The past few weeks has been nothing short of amazing. I have learned so much about this city and most importantly how hospitality and business in Paris.

Today was another day of exploring, in the morning around 9:30 we left the hotel to meet with the group that was set to make their presentation on the La Coupole Restaurant. Jeanily, Brittany and Johandry served as our tour guides. La coupole one of the oldest restaurants  in Paris, it opened its door in 1927. In its prime La coupole used to be the “it” spot in Paris amongst artist to hangout. Although times have change , La coupole remains relevant with its remarkable arts and top quality customer service.

After the tour , we had enough time in between to shop and grab something to eat. In the afternoon around 2:45 we met up to walk towards the Pullman hotel. As we got to the hotel we sat down and were shortly directed toward another lounge area by 3 people, 2 of them being talent managers. The Pullman hotel is one of many around the world. There are 117 of them  in 33 countries. Their business logo is a yang logo which refers to  business and pleasure since they are mostly a business m/ conference hotel. According to one of their talent managers 60% of their revenues are from seminar/ meeting and 40% just regular guess guest. The hotel has 392 rooms which are the Classic , junior, delux, superior and presidential suite . Out of their 392 rooms 202 are just classic rooms. We were also told that they are now in their busy season with 80% occcupensy, but in the slow seasons such as August it gets down 60%-70%.

We were divided into 2 groups and had the chance to visit some of different type of rooms that they have and also one of their  conference room, the new bar area , and the storage room. Since the hotel is currently under renovations which won’t be complete until September. The talent manager Morgan told us about their futuristic and less common ideas that will be implemented once the hotel is fully renovated such as a bar that can served drinks throughout the lobby. She showed us the constructions that are being done on what will be their pool area, she also spoke about their up coming spa, sauna area, and theater that can seat 20 people. 

Morgan was very informative and captivating. She told us about internship opportunities and gave us her business card.

Today was our last tour day and visit. I  will surely miss waking up early and having the opportunity to  visit and speak with business professionals about what We are all passionate about.

Today we traveled outside of Paris to Chantilly, to visit Auberge Du Jeu De Paume a five-star hotel. Before going on the tour, the hotel manager, Nicole, the human resource manager Josephine and her assistant Catherine, gave us the full background of the hotel. Auberge Du Jeu De Paume has been opened for six years, contains 120 employees and 20 interns from all over the world. The hotel contains 92 rooms including 25 suites, spa, gym, fine dining restaurant and bistro style restaurant.

Each of the rooms interior design is inspired by the Chateau along with replicas of painting held in the Chateau. The first restaurant inside the hotel is a one Michelin star fine dining restaurant called La Table du Connetable. the chef of the restaurant is currently working on getting two Michelin stars. The second restaurant La Jardin d’Hiver is a bistro restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The spa in the  Auberge Du Jeu De Paume was influenced by Switzerland and offers a special treatment in which you can be wrapped in chantilly cream. The hotel is right next door to the Chateau and the horse museum. I would definitely recommend going to the horse museum, with your ticket you get access to the Chateau, the gardens on the property and the horse show, for 10 euros with your student id.

Marie and Sarah in front of the Chateau

Learning the background of Auberge Du Jeu De Paume

Going to see the suites

la Jardin d’Hiver

The front of Auberge Du Jeu De Paume

Mamie Burger

Today we had a restaurant visit to Mamie burger. The lady from the restaurant had us seated on the second floor and introduced their company to us. She talked about the management, a little history, and the food they offer. Mamie burger is a bistro restaurant that offering mainly burgers. As they are expanding their businss, they are trying to introduce more concepts in food other than burgers. She was so patient to answer all our questions regarding business management, employee management and regulations.

The lady also showed us the other two branches in the same area. The second one that we visited is the original one that is smaller and more like a fast food restaurant. The third one is the most recent one that is more like moving on from burgers and introduce more other types of food.

After the restaurant tour, we traveled to Sacre Coeur together. Rukiya, Marie, Kariluz and Welthy were presenting this place to us. It’s basically a regular Catholuc church, but as the dome is the second highest point in Paris, there are a lot of visitors coming to take pictures and reach the top.

 Mamie Burger

 Menu of one of the Mamie Burger restaurants

After the walking tour, the majority of the group with Prof. Warner and Prof. Abreu were going back to Mamie burger to have our late lunch in the afternoon. It was a great meal and fun day.

 Late lunch at Mamie Burger

 Group picture in front of Sacre Coeur

 The team is presenting Sacre Coeur

Today some of the students including myself traveled to Provinois. The travel to get there was not really difficult because we had to make 3 transfers. Transferring from m13 to the m4 and lastly to the p train to Provinois. Upon arriving, I noticed that the buildings are really old but the scenery around the area was very vibrant.

When touring the surrounding area, we noticed that there was a jousting show about to start and was able to find out that the price is reduced for students. (11 euro for students and original price was 12.50 euro)

Seeing the show was fun especially because of the animals that were a part of the show. Which included: pigs, ducks, a wolf and last but not least horses. Shows duration was about 1 hour. When the show was finished some of us took photos with the horses and later we went to a restaurant.

Some of us while walking including myself went to an artisanal chocolate shop called Crèneaux Chocolat. When going inside, we were able to try samples of the artisanal chocolate along with being able to make purchases. Chocolates that were squared were .70 euro each and they also had other chocolates that were prepackaged at 3.80 euro of different flavors. Some of the flavors at the chocolate shop included raspberry, lemon, blueberry, matcha, passion fruit, etc. When tasting the chocolate it was not overpowering the fruit flavors that was for sale.  Lastly, after shopping at the Crèneaux Chocolat we went to a restaurant called Le Dôme. Price range was inexpensive and the food that I had was good.

In conclusion, today was pretty amazing being able to attend a show with fellow citytech students. Throughout the day, we toured different areas of Provinois all while taking in the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. Lastly, the jousting show along with eating at a local restaurant nearby was a perfect way to start off the week.