Chateaus & Skyscrapers

 Hello everyone,

My workload has been steadily increasing. In between that and my excursions, I haven't had much time to write much. But since I have some time today I'm going to cover my travels to Montparnasse and INSEAD.

On Tuesday I went to Montparnasse tower (the tallest skyscraper in Paris) with my friend (Joyce) and got to see an incredible view of Paris at night. FYI, Montparnasse is this skyscraper that all Parisians consider a blight on their lovely city. So ugly in fact, that after its construction, further construction of all skyscrapers were banned within Parisian city limits!

We met up at the tower around 10 PM and got to see the sun set because Paris gets dark around 10:30 PM (Yeah very late!). If anyone's been to the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Montparnasse is very similar. You have to pay to take an elevator then walk up three flights of steps to reach the roof. From there you can see all of Paris with a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower and other famous Parisian landmarks! Anyone who is planning on going to Paris and have time should definiteley make the trip. I don't know why but we also got to see fireworks launched on the south west and east corners of Paris; making the experience there ever more memorable :)

On Friday, I got to take the day off from work and go to Fontainebleau, home of Europe's finest International Business School (INSEAD) and France's Emperor (Napoleon Bonaparte). INSEAD was very cool and interesting. The school is one of the few universities in France that actually has a campus. Because France is so much smaller than the US, not many colleges have the vast amount of land that we American college students enjoy. In fact, I'm pretty sure Fontainebleau could easily fit our Berkeley campus. 

INSEAD is very similar to Haas but its reach is bigger, ALOT bigger. It has an international campus in Singapore and another new one in Abu Dhabi. The admission criteria is very interesting because in order to apply, applicants first have to prove their ability to speak another foreign language practically and pass a very hard written test in that language. Upon admittance, students have one year to learn another language to graduate. Despite the strict criteria, the school seemed very balanced. Unlike some of the other B-Schools, INSEAD tries to offer a balanced life to its students. During our visit, we saw squash courts, a baby grand piano, foosball tables, a gym, and trophies from sports competitions that the school's sports clubs participated in. However, I still like the Haas architecture back in Berkeley, even if it is smaller. Maybe it's the location or that Haas is designed with more spacious rooms, whatever the reason, INSEAD seemed a bit old. Don't get me wrong though, the school is still fantastic and I wouldn't mind going there for an MBA.

The tour of INSEAD ended with the Marketing Director Andrew Bueno showing us a music video that some INSEAD students in Singapore made showing themselves having some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYXdBG9N3Ss&feature=player_embedded

It's a bit cheesy but the song did get stuck in a bunch of our heads LOL. Oh and he gave us some very useful INSEAD labeled international adapters :)

Around 3 o'clock, we walked over to Chateau Fontainebleau and quickly explored the Chateau. While it obviously doesn't compare to Versaille, the Chateau is still very impressive and big!  The weather has been getting increasingly hot these few days, going up to almost 90 degrees, which doesn't really help especially when some of the interns came straight from work wearing their business work attire. The one positive thing was that all my pictures turned out great! The gardens at Fontainebleau were especially pretty, there was a big lake with a gazebo in the middle along with two smaller lakes and lots of ducks. Oh and apparently there were swans too, but the group I was in somehow missed them. Since the chateau closed pretty early, ~5, we were ushered out very quickly.

Fontainebleau may not have been as grand as Versailles but the palace is still worth a visit. You'll get to enjoy delicious Parisian sorbet, see Napoleons lavish quarters, and ride a horse drawn chariot through a very large garden.

On the way back to Paris, some misfortune fell upon us. The weather in Paris has been pretty finicky and Friday was no exception. After a day of practically super hot weather, it quickly started raining. By the time we reached the train station, we could hear the thunderstorms. And just as we got on to our train, our conductor notified everyone that a thunder had hit the station in front of us and was causing an indefinite delay. Long story short, we ended up staying in Fontainebleau for dinner before arriving in Paris a couple hours behind schedule. 

Trip was definitely still worth it!

I've finished a couple big projects today and I have 2 more to finish tomorrow. When/If I do, look forward to my post about Normandy and 4th of July in Paree!

Until then,

A bientot!