A Day in Paris
Our days begin in the sixth arrondissement, the hectic rush that always occurs with a ratio of four people to one bathroom. If I have time for breakfast, I’ll grab a croissant and a bottle of orange juice from a nearby bakery. And then it’s on to the crowded insanity that is the metro, where it’s standing room only at nine AM, and you’re lucky if you only catch one elbow to the face.
After that, the quiet streets of the Marais are a peaceful balm. For the first time in the day, I feel like I can breathe deeply, walk calmly, and try to throw away some of the typical American “go go go” attitude. The streets grow increasingly more cobblestoned and less car-packed as we walk to our classroom, and by the time we step through CEA’s tall, red door, the sounds of the city have died away.
The morning class is taught by our Northeastern professor. She takes us through an overview of world fashion and each class is something different—everything from history, to different aspects of industry, to modern fashion around the world. Most of the time class takes the form of a traditional lecture (two and a half hours of it) but one to two times a week we head out on field trips. One day was a trip to the Citadium department store in the Haussman District, followed by a debrief with the store’s head womenswear buyer. Another was an excursion to Versailles, a guided tour and a pleasant afternoon picnicking in the palace gardens.
But, on a normal day, we finish up our lecture at 12:30 and are given a one-hour lunch break before our next class. Some days this break is spent rushing across the city—if we have a lecture for one class and a site visit for the other, it can result in a forty minute metro ride. But on more relaxed days we can spend the time fanning out across the Marais in search of lunch. Paris is renowned for its food, and the Marais is no exception. Whether you’re in the mood for a healthy salad, a plate of crispy falafel, or a perfectly-cooked crêpe, the area has something for everyone.
Our afternoon class is set up similarly to our morning class, though it is taught by a different professor. Most days are spent in lecture, discussing various aspects of luxury fashion marketing and merchandising. Other days, we visit luxury flagships or museum exhibits to see the principles in action. Either way, class ends at four. For most of the program, we had evening activities that could end anywhere from five to eight, but on our last week, we are being given some extra time to finish our final assignments.
I spent yesterday evening in Paris’ eleventh arrondissement. One of our final projects was to put together a mock “walking tour” of one of Paris’ districts, and myself and my partner chose the eleventh for its history political activism and protest. Starting at the Place de la Republique, we then hopped around from bakeries to boutiques to the Bastille, spending time in an awesome area of Paris that we would never have visited otherwise. I picked up a couple of French translations of my favorite books, as part of my constant attempt to improve my language skills. We had dinner at a Tapas restaurant (not French, but delicious nevertheless). I came back to my home in the sixth arrondissement at ten PM, sitting down with my laptop and the day’s notes to type up my final paper, finally falling asleep at two AM, ready to do it all the next day.
