France > America

I do realize that I haven't blogged in an unnecessary amount of time because there has been SO much happening. I just got back from my two week excursion in France. There are no words to describe what a beautiful, incredible, life-altering experience it was. Paris was pure fun. We stayed in the Opera area at the beautiful Radisson Ambassador Hotel. I recorded our entire itinerary as well, of what we did everyday and where we ate. I was kind of proud of Rebecca and I for planning such a great schedule with the challenge of seeing all of Paris in 5 days. We went to the Louvre, the D'Orsay Museum, Versailles, all of the landmarks and some flea markets; Ate at some delicious restaurants like Cafe de Flore (where Picasso ate), L'Entracte Opera (had my very first glass of wine here), and Au Petit Riche. The food was fantastic: crepes, creme bruleee, quiche (my favorite), french onion soup, escargot, macarons, ratatoullie, and croque madame. We also did a fair share of partying. Luckily, there were alot of awesome bars in our area, two of which we went to almost every night, Cafe Oz and O'Sullivan's. I can't possibly upload the 349785 photos on here, but they will most likely all be on Facebook. Peep our hotel:



The second part of the trip was most rewarding. There are few people (so far, 30 worldwide) who have experienced the Dialogues in Design workshop with the famous Massimo and Lella Vignelli, and Armando Milani; three world class designers leading us through a corporate identity project for the Musee Nationale Fernand Leger (a museum we visited on our first day in Provance). They are the some of the most brilliant yet humble people I've ever met. It was remarkable not only to work with them, but to just hang out with them. We went to museums, walked around small Provencal villages and markets, and ate almost 3 meals a day with them. Experiences like that are almost unheard of. Perhaps equally remarkable was being in a 14-person class with people from Italy, Istanbul, Kuwait, Syria, Amsterdam, Germany, etc. It's funny how you don't think any other country besides your own exists until you leave it and realize that there is a whole other world out there that offers more than where you've been sheltered your entired life. I was the youngest of the group, ages ranging from me (19) to an author and designer who was close to 60. By the end of the trip, Massimo and Armando were calling us their "girls."