October 2, 2002 Deodorant, Communists and Hot Chocolate
I have to say I am happily
surprised at the feedback from this website.
You wouldn't believe how many people have wrote to ask when I will update
it again. You might have noticed I
added a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section to tell
certain people, among other things, why there is a picture of a loaf of bread on
my site, as well as several other questions people have been asking me. I also thought I’d do some PR for my friends who have
aspiring websites like I do. Check
out my links page too.
Things continue to be good here,
and interesting. This past weekend
I plugged into the Varani family global network and spent the evening at the
house of guy named Paul Romiti who is my shirttail cousin.
It’s the first time I’d met him.
He had a few of his co-workers over for dinner so they included me in.
It turns out that Paul is a card-holding communist with pictures of Che
Guevara ("el Che") all over his house.
By contrast I am studying at probably the premiere institution in France
for budding capitalists, and he had a few things to say about that.
In the end, we had a great friendly debate, didn't solve any of the
world's problems (made them worse maybe?), drank wine, and I ended up staying
overnight at his house, not getting back to my place until the next afternoon.
We took a liking to each other, and I look forward to getting together
with him again soon.
I also went grocery shopping for
the first time this past weekend. I
didn't know any of the shampoo or deodorant brands, so I had to ask one of the
girls stocking shelves to pick out a good manly smelling deodorant and shampoo
for me. It was fun smelling all the
different products, and the girl was really intent on picking the best one for
me. In case you’re curious, I
picked a brand called “Narta” anti-perspirant.
I also found out that HEC is
well known around France as the top party school.
In fact, I guess it's the party
school. Every other Thursday the
undergrad student association throws a massive
party here. I mean, averaging 1400
people at the parties. I guess it's
so well known that people from all over, even Paris, come out here to attend (it's
probably the only reason anyone would have to come here.)
There was so many people, just getting to the bar was like being at a
Metallica concert. Earlier
the same night, there was a Japan theme party, with trivia on Japan (with prizes
for winners). I figured for sure I
was a shoe-in but actually I lost out in the very first round and had to sit
down. There is some kind of social
event happening every night here, and I could write several entries just about
some of the wicked fellows and ladies with whom I have the pleasure of spending
the next sixteen months.
Classes are really starting to
gear up now. We are in marketing,
accounting, statistics, macro and micro economics, plus intensive training in
the French language. We are allowed
to take an optional third language if we don't mind the workload, so I am
considering taking Chinese or Spanish. According
to just about everyone, I will be swamped with work and up every night until 2
AM from now until Christmas.
When I lived in Japan my friends
and I used to love the quirkiness of Japan (undies sold in a vending machine,
big men wearing track pants and bunny slippers to the shopping center, biker
gangs on 250 cc bikes … see my friend Jeff's website in the links
section). We thought that no place
in the world could be as quirky as Japan is, but France gives Japan a run for
its money. What can you say when
there is no bus service on Sundays, our computer network has been basically not
working since Thursday, there are just three washing machines to serve 170
people in my building, but yet I have a choice of four different kinds of hot
chocolate in the vending machine? I'll
try to come up with more examples and include them in later entries.
I decided to check out the rugby club. I’ve never played before in my life, and first practice is Thursday. No idea what to expect yet, but I did include the Sports Rider option on my health insurance. I'll tell you more about it later.