I can’t believe there’s only three weeks left. I love Paris and I don’t want to leave.
On Tuesday I met with all the Americans after work and we watched the French soccer game. It ended up in a tie but it was a decent game.
On Wednesday it was the first day of sales. In France they have a three week period where everything from last season is on sale, while supplies last. After work 4 of us met up and went shopping. I ended up getting a lot of different things. We then got dinner at a restaurant near there and I had an amazing duck. Duck has become one of my favorite foods, which I feel is a little weird but it’s so good. We ended up staying there really late just talking.
On Thursday, Elise and I met at a restaurant called the Frog. It was really good, and the drinks were served almost like fish bowls which was so cool. We then went to a couple stores by the Champs Elysees. After that we met up with the other girls and did a little girls night. We went to a speakeasy type place. It was in a supermarket and you pull on a box of food and it lets you into the rest of the building. It was a really cool, and unique place.
This weekend I didn’t do a big trip, I just stayed in Paris. Only 2 people went somewhere this weekend. On Friday, I worked from home. I was planning on going shopping because there were a couple of other stores I wanted to look at. It was funny because a little while before I was planning on leaving, Elise asked if I wanted to go shopping. We went to one of the big malls. Afterwards we walked around the St Michel area. It is so pretty and there’s a lot to do. We went to a restaurant over there. It was one of the best places I have ever been. The duck was amazing and it was definitely the best duck I have had. It also wasn’t expensive which was a plus. We walked to Notre Dame after because it was really close. They fixed a good amount of it since the fire but they are still doing a lot of work on it.
On Saturday, Elise and I went to Tours. It is a big town in the Loire Valley. We were planning to go to a winery but it ended up not working out. The transportation from Tours to the winery and back was a little unreliable. We didn’t want to risk missing our train back to Paris so we just stayed in the Tours area. We mainly just walked around the whole day. It was a really pretty town. There was like a battle of the bands competition going on. All over the city there were 2 groups of bands and they would take turns playing while the other band danced to their music. It was so fun and they all had interesting costumes on and it was just cool to watch. We also went to a really good pastry shop.
On Sunday I slept in. I decided that I wanted to go to the Shakespeare and Co bookstore and then just garden hop. As I was leaving Elise asked me if I wanted to get hot chocolate with her. I told her I was planning to go to the bookstore but I could met her after that. She also wanted to go to the bookstore so I just read in a garden while I waited for her. The bookstore was so cool and there were so many different books. I ended up getting two. We went to a cafe after and I got, what I always get, a chocolate croissant and a hot chocolate. As always they were so good. Afterwards there were a lot of artists selling paintings by the river so we went and looked at those. I bought a couple for my room for next year. We walked around for a while and ended up in a garden and just read for a while.
My leadership style before this internship was more of a middle approach of listening to people but also making decisions. Other people sometimes have more knowledge about different subjects and I think it’s important to listen to those people when making a decision. Sometimes though a decision has to be made and there isn’t time to listen to everyone. Here leadership is very hierarchical. The higher up people have the most say and it trickles down. I’m becoming a better leader because when it comes to all of their information in English I have the most say over what they send out. I get to make decisions and this makes me a better leader.