Whiten my teeth. I love coffee and so do the French. The problem is that since they are obsessed with avoiding cellulite they have forgotten to stock their pharmacies with teeth whiteners.

Target. It was a tragity when I realized I had put all of my men's white Hanes V-neck shirts in storage! Good Lord-- this is a staple in my weekly wardrobe. A trip to Target will be a must.

Nordstroms. Both my watch and a pair of sunglasses have broke, and where do you take things like that in France...?? You dont, you wait to go to Nordstroms, the store that fixes everything in the world. Such a service based store--by nature-- could not be located in France.

Buy Running shoes :-) Running shoes are expensive here! Because only 5 people in France run, the six pairs of running shoes they sell are in very high demand, making them expensive.

Walgreens and buy lotion, dental floss and fingernail polish all for under $15. In Paris each of these items cost about 8 Euros each!

This past weekend I was in Madrid meeting my friend Brooke. It was very warm weather, but was better than rain. The first day I ventured off to the Sophia museum that Devon had recommended. It was my favorite museum and I spent about two hours there (which for me is a long time!). Then i sat outside and at lunch: tuna and some peanuts (I cant eat at restaurants, so traveling is difficult). Then I made my way to Puerto Sol which is the downtown shopping area it was nice but nothing special really. My trusty areo-soles sandals were giving me blisters after walking about 8 miles so I invested 20 Euros in a pair of flip flops known for being comfortable. I continued walking and went to the Royal Palace and the Cathedral which is next door. They have some very nice parks there and great fountains! I made my way back to my hostel to have my tuna and grapes for dinner and then found a movie theater that showed American movies. Angles and Demons in Madrid :-)
The next day I met up with Brooke and Jenny and we made our way to the Thyseen Museum. It was a smaller exhibit but very nice, and their normal exhibit is very good and has a broad range. Next we went for some coffee-- I noticed how bad my feet hurt and it seems that my new flip flops were also giving me blisters so we stopped for band aides and kept on trekking! We walked along the Salamanca area, which is an upscale neighborhood. That's where I could no longer handle the blisters. After two sets of band aides that would not stay put due to the sweat on my feet I thought I was going to dieee!!!! So we started searching for new shoes for me (we had walked 10 miles thus far). The only thing we could find for under 30 Euros were a pair of clear plastic sandals with silver polka dots on them. They were being sold in a perfume store and i went in to try them on. As I tried them on I could see the owner of the store looking at my dirty, blistered feet-- thinking that I had BETTER be buying those sandals :-) I did, and we walked home. I immediately broke my Europe rule (no running shoes, unless I am running). I put on the running shoes and we headed out to continue our adventure! So when I am asked what I brought back form Madrid-- I brought back many flip flops.
The next day I headed out to the local flea market (in my Nike's). There were SO many people!! I could hardly move, it was a sea of people. I walked for about an hour then abandoned the flea market-- it was so crowded I couldn't even see anything. I walked around the town a bit more and took my last pictures. After my last can of tuna I packed up my bags and made the way to the airport for my flight back to Paris. A nice trip, but good to be back home in Paris where I have shoes, the cool breeze and uncanned food :-)

This Sunday I make my way back to the U.S.-- which is wierd to me. I will have a busy just setting 2 months. My schedule is the following:

San Francisco-- June 28- July 8
Oregon-- July 8- 12 (For my Brother's wedding-- YAY!)
New York -- July 13- July 27 (School in New York and a visit with Timmy!)
San Diego July 28- August 15 (Home to see Dad and relax)
Los Angeles-- August 14-17 (To see the my sister's family)
San Deigo/ San Francisco-- August 17-26
Paris-- August 27....til whooo knows when :-)

So I was suppose to have class today but received an email from my school saying that International Finance would be postponed to June 28th because the teacher had an emergency. They said that they were aware that some students would be out of the country, as it is right before our seminars in New York and to alert them if this was your situation. So it is my situation and I emailed the school to ask them what my options were. The response was that I could write an extra paper to make up the units or use my "pre" examination grade in it's place (this was basically a paper written with my application). I wrote back asking if this meant that I wouldnt receive any schooling in finance, as I didnt find it a responsible (especially considering the recent financial turmoil) to send another MBA grad into the world with a complete lack of knowledge in finance. So I asked if maybe there was an online class I could take or maybe they could buy me a book...."finance for dummies"....I dunno maybe they could replace "human resource development" with finance, as it is easier to fake knowing how to manage employees as it is to fake knowing finance.

In my quest to speak french in some sort of functional manner I turned on the TV and changed the station from my British news to a french station and there it was....like a golden ray of light....YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS-- IN FRENCH. How have I lived here for 3 months and only discovered this NOW??? For those of you who don't know this is a soap opera that my Mom, sister and I have watched for the last 20 years. Its the same characters ect, just taped over with French words. They are about 3 years behind in the plot line. But that actually helps because I already know whats going on, so it gives me some context for the words that I dont understand. Anyways its on at 2 in the afternoon, perfect for my lunch time, so try to not call during that hour :-)

Tower and then around to the The other night I went on a boat ride on the Seine. My friend Monica from school invited me. Monica is from Peru and moved to New York 4 years ago, not knowing any English, went to school and became an accountant. She always mixes English and Spanish on accident which makes our conversations fun, and our teachers confused. Anyways! Her friend organizes events and invited us on a tour of Paris. It was just starting to get dark and when we left and we went by the Eiffel Tower, Musee D'orsay, Concorde, then turned around just before the Lourve to head back. On the way back it was dark and all the sites were light up with bright orange lights. It was beaaaaautiful!

Men here have purses. Real purses. I think they are holding them for their girlfriends and then I look for the girlfriends and there arent any. I was in french language class and my teacher -- Boris, was teaching me how to say hand bag "sac du main" (hand bag). He said "and you will also be seeing the men with the sac du main here, you like to call it the man purse. LOL. His wife is American so she had filled him in on the man purse saying and how silly it seems to us. I of course moved on to other subjects and taught him what "man-dals" are (men who wear girly sandals).