From the the Land of Tea & Crumpets to that of Baguette & Brie

Pleasure: Ice drinks at the Absolute Ice Bar
Pain: Dragging our excessive luggage up one of the nearly infinite train station stairways

December 28th was D-Day for me. At 6pm local time I departed LAX for Europe, and a few days of adventure before undertaking what I previously described (see below) as "The Next Big Thing." That being, beginning a 4-month executive-level business course at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Those courses have subsequently already begun, however, that is subject matter for a future posting. For the time being, I humbly submit to you the following story purely for the sake of entertainment. Expect to find within nothing but the truth, albeit abridged for the purpose of brevity, depicting the events of the week between my departure and the commencement of my studies at INSEAD. I offer no promise of traditionally redeeming qualities other than a thorough appreciation of how to have a good time. Without further ado, let me begin...

Following an uneventful and relatively painless 10-hour flight courtesy of Virgin Atlantic, we landed at London Heathrow. As you may know, VA is a premium carrier and in true form they even gave us gift bags, to which I added my very own VA blanket via five-finger-discount. Sweet, swag! Through customs and on to brave the London Tube system with over 100lbs of luggage each (7 of us). We checked into what is likely the shadiest hostel I’ve ever stayed at but we more or less had our own room so that helped.

The next two days were spent exploring the city, checking out all the must-see attractions (Buckingham Palace, Parliment, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, The London Eye, Harrod's, Hyde Park, St. James Park, Covent Garden, Picadilly Circus, etc.) interspersed with a healthy dose of pubs, naturally. We also literally stumbled upon the Absolute Ice Bar, a small but quite posh club owned and operated by Absolute Vodka and in which everything is made of ice, straight down to the cups. Walls, furniture, décor, “glassware”, bar, everything. Its -5 Celsius and they gave us special thermal hoodies/overcoats and gloves. Pretty unique experience I must say.

On NYE day we chunneled it to France and by sheer serendipity met our French friend Jean-Hugues right as we exited the EuroStar train. He helped us get a taxi for all our stuff and while the others tested le Metro, I rode with the luggage and made friends with the cabbie who supposedly worked for the US state department doing semi-covert communist data collection in France and eastern Europe during the cold war before the iron curtain came down. Once settled at the nicest Holiday Inn I’ve ever seen (seriously) in northern Paris we headed out for what proved to be on an even par for the craziest NYE I’ve ever had, right up there with the NYE I spend in Berlin. After a quick dinner and several bottles of wine (we were 9 people now) we headed to meet another member of the INSEAD exchange group at his cousin’s (who knew we’d be there, and decided to rent an EXTRAORDINARY flat directly across Rue St. Severin from a cathedral directly south of Ile de la Cite in the Latin Quarter). There they had a smorgasbord of cheeses, meats, baguette and…here’s the kicker…a CASE of VERY nice champagne. We ate, drank, and stared at the gorgeous view and the cathedral’s gargoyles almost eye to eye for the next couple hours.

When it was time we grabbed the remaining 5 bottles and headed down to le Tour Eiffel where we met the rest of Paris, just as jubilant and intoxicated as we. We did the countdown, popped our bottles and cheers-in 2009 on a bridge near the foot of the tower. It was absolute madness all around. We walked back toward the centre of the city, witnesses a group of girls get mugged which was bizarre and reminded us of the other side of Paris, kept walking and got tired near the Louvre. There we found what must surely be Paris most expensive bar…where we of course had to stop for drinks. When our check came we were shocked to see the now 11 of us had run up the equivalent of a $650 bar tab! We’d only had two drinks each. Wait, I’ll do the math for you…that’s more than $27/drink (yeah, that’s how we do). Ah, c’est la Vie! Lots of debauchery, getting lost on the Paris Metro, and other mayhem later we stumbled in around 6am. We nursed ourselves back to health, which happened remarkably quickly (champagne of that quality doesn’t give hangovers apparently), and spend the next day or two wandering the city, seeing sights, and found some of the coolest restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. Lots of café au lait was also consumed.

On the 3rd (I think, its fuzzy at this point) we headed out to Fontainebleau, 45 min southeast of Paris. Our house is three stories plus the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a genuine dungeon. But it makes a perfect wine cellar! My room looks as if it may have once been a nursery, but it was quickly my favorite bedroom when walking around and I’m glad I got it. Its on the second floor, shares only one common wall, and is right across from a huge bathroom with open-format stone shower and Jacuzzi tub. Not too shabby! The last member of our group joined us the next day and we’ve settled in nicely.

Monday started class, have had a couple each day, and am enjoying the very different type of coursework than is the norm for design classes. The other students seem pretty nice so far, but I feel underdressed at all times in the presence of MBAs. The students very much live up to what one would expect given this college’s reputation. Luckily the cafeteria is cheap because the rest of France is NOT. Fontainebleau is a wealthy city by French standards and this fact is overtly reflected in the cost of living. It’s $5 for a cup of coffee. The resurgent Euro recently against the dollar is not helping either. But I’ve been frugal before, I will just have to be again. In any case, its clear to me this is just the start of what will be a phenomenal term abroad, and I leave it to you to check back for regualar updates on the goings on in Fontainebleau.

Cheers for now.