The Places You’ll Go

It's been a little over a week now in France. After coming in from the States I've been in Paris, had orientation in Grenoble for a day, and then returned back to Paris. It has been a lot of fun getting to know the city. Its big, there is plenty to see, and it is also pretty easy to get around. I've been staying in the same apartment in central Paris with Chris Gregores and another friend from Portland, Sean Spang. None of us speak any French but we managed to have a pretty wild time. A few days we even felt adventurous enough to go out by ourselves without the aid of Chris' cousin, who grew up and lives here.

On to the language challenge. So far, still so good but its looking dicey. We ended up having to pay 65 euros for shisha one night due to our limited ability to complain. It is just a lot easier to get ripped off. It also quickly becomes obvious that you miss a certain element to the entire experience. A few nights ago in Grenoble I needed translation from my roommate Ben to understand this deadlocked rasta telling us about how girls are nothing but trouble. It was 2 AM, we were at a tram station, and I would have loved to keep this guy going. I speak fluent "depressed homeless rambling" back home. Hopefully, by the end of my time here I can enjoy a conversation like this one. I met someone from Latvia who spoke English to learn that apparently it sucks there (shocker) but he said Prague was pretty cool. More language skills would really add a lot of value. I better get on it.

Other random observations:

Old European men have perfected the art of wandering aimlessly. If theres a perfect balance between looking both clueless and determined to go somewhere, those men aged 55+ have found it. I'm sure they are just enjoying living or doing something really poetic and European but if your people watching, its funny to see.

I was very impressed by my school in Grenoble (Grenoble Ecole de Managemen). The building is really nice, the people seem friendly, and its on the complete other side of town from where I'm living. I guess riding a tram won't kill me. Hopefully. I'm about to finish Kurt Vonnegut's "Sirens of Titan", if anyone has a good book recommendation, send it my way. I could use it for that commute.

Even though I havn't explored Grenoble, its very easy to get antsy. It's the same feeling I get when I'm in an international terminal at the airport. You look at the boards and you see all of these cool places that people are going. Its always been a little overwhelming for me. The cool thing is being around at a time where its not hard for me to get everywhere. The danger is going nowhere because you sit around daydreaming. I'm lucky enough to be in a lot of extraordinary circumstances, I just need to chill out, figure out where I want to go, and get there. Its worked for me in the past but right now there's a ton of options. I'm excited to see where I end up.

Yes mom and dad, I am still coming home in December. Don't read that the wrong way.

Time to pass out on the train, didn't get home until 6 this morning from going clubbing and my ears are still ringing. Paris is fun.

The Places You’ll Go

It's been a little over a week now in France. After coming in from the States I've been in Paris, had orientation in Grenoble for a day, and then returned back to Paris. It has been a lot of fun getting to know the city. Its big, there is plenty to see, and it is also pretty easy to get around. I've been staying in the same apartment in central Paris with Chris Gregores and another friend from Portland, Sean Spang. None of us speak any French but we managed to have a pretty wild time. A few days we even felt adventurous enough to go out by ourselves without the aid of Chris' cousin, who grew up and lives here.

On to the language challenge. So far, still so good but its looking dicey. We ended up having to pay 65 euros for shisha one night due to our limited ability to complain. It is just a lot easier to get ripped off. It also quickly becomes obvious that you miss a certain element to the entire experience. A few nights ago in Grenoble I needed translation from my roommate Ben to understand this deadlocked rasta telling us about how girls are nothing but trouble. It was 2 AM, we were at a tram station, and I would have loved to keep this guy going. I speak fluent "depressed homeless rambling" back home. Hopefully, by the end of my time here I can enjoy a conversation like this one. I met someone from Latvia who spoke English to learn that apparently it sucks there (shocker) but he said Prague was pretty cool. More language skills would really add a lot of value. I better get on it.

Other random observations:

Old European men have perfected the art of wandering aimlessly. If theres a perfect balance between looking both clueless and determined to go somewhere, those men aged 55+ have found it. I'm sure they are just enjoying living or doing something really poetic and European but if your people watching, its funny to see.

I was very impressed by my school in Grenoble (Grenoble Ecole de Managemen). The building is really nice, the people seem friendly, and its on the complete other side of town from where I'm living. I guess riding a tram won't kill me. Hopefully. I'm about to finish Kurt Vonnegut's "Sirens of Titan", if anyone has a good book recommendation, send it my way. I could use it for that commute.

Even though I havn't explored Grenoble, its very easy to get antsy. It's the same feeling I get when I'm in an international terminal at the airport. You look at the boards and you see all of these cool places that people are going. Its always been a little overwhelming for me. The cool thing is being around at a time where its not hard for me to get everywhere. The danger is going nowhere because you sit around daydreaming. I'm lucky enough to be in a lot of extraordinary circumstances, I just need to chill out, figure out where I want to go, and get there. Its worked for me in the past but right now there's a ton of options. I'm excited to see where I end up.

Yes mom and dad, I am still coming home in December. Don't read that the wrong way.

Time to pass out on the train, didn't get home until 6 this morning from going clubbing and my ears are still ringing. Paris is fun.

First Impressions of France

I told myself that I would write this prior to my departure from the States. Moving down from Seattle Friday night and choosing to go out both later that evening as well as Saturday night put an end to that plan. The last few days were mostly a blur of me sleeping in and leaving the house while my parents told me I still had a lot to get done. Nonetheless, I was ready to go Monday and arrived in Paris via Amsterdam on Tuesday. The Oregon weather followed us the day we got there, which is especially frustrating considering it had been 80 and sunny the day before. Once we arrived, my friend Chris (who is staying in France for a week) and I were greeted by his cousin. We headed downtown to their apartment in Paris' 9^th district. We told ourselves we were going to hold off from sleeping to get a full night's rest but after lunch (and beer) we couldn't help it. Later that afternoon, we met up with a friend of ours who's a Parisian that had visited us in Portland a few times. After walking around the city for a bit, we eventually decided to call it a day. Twelve hours later we woke up, grabbed some food, and headed for the train station where I bought my ticket and am currently in route to Grenoble by train.

So far things have been moving extremely quickly but I have noticed a few things. One is that I am absolutely terrified of puzzled looks because they can only lead to one thing; questions. This is my biggest fear due to my low level of knowledge on the subject of the French language. Even at the airport where the customs official was speaking broken French/English, I still had no idea what the hell he was saying. Twenty-four hours into the trip the "smile and nod" move has gotten me almost across the country and I haven't starved yet. At some point I'm going to hit the point where I have to start pushing myself to learn which is going to open a lot of opportunities so I'm excited about that.

The next is that the French all seem like nice people. Considering the language barrier, I've gotten treated with nothing but respect from everyone. Coming from the East Coast, I would still say that I have had more trouble with people who speak my own language than I have had with those that I don't understand. I'm hoping that saying this won't come back to get me. Nation of France, don't blow this one. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Before closing this out I would just like to thank everyone at Boeing with whom I had the pleasure of working with this summer. I learned a great deal about developing as a professional. All the feedback I had received was extremely humbling and I value all of it. I am looking forward to keeping up the relationships that I made throughout my short tenure there. Translating that experience into this upcoming experience will certainly be interesting.

I hope to have another post up soon with more interesting stories. Feel free to take a look at some of the postings below from my trip through Uganda. The organization I was working on, MAPLE Microdevelopment, just recently received their Non-Profit status and has begun developing business projects in the town of M'Bale in Southern Uganda. I had a great time forming that organization and I encourage everyone to check up on what they have been up to. And make a now-tax deductable donation…

For those with Skype, you can find me on dougwgould. And if we aren't Facebook friends, send me those friend requests.

Take care.