All About The Orange: My Trip To The Hague * *Wednesday Cara late in the morning… Train to Paris Gare de Lyon… Ate at Mcdonalds, couldn’t get lunch (I really just wanted a Bacon Royale)… Had bacon/egg/cheese McMuffin with koffie and OJ instead (surprisingly, no hashbrowns at this McDonalds. I think it is much healthier to force the OJ on you)… Train to Den Haag, tried a Leffe Brun… Met French-Canadian student on the train who was backpacking around, Reena… She played Indian music for us… Got to Den Haag HS… Got on tram, but couldn’t figure out how to pay… Made it to hotel, Bastion… Left to go find something to eat… Hopped tram again and still couldn’t figure out how to pay… Went to grocery store to find Stroop waffles for my mother… After 5 minutes of searching, asked for help… Person showed me to the waffles, good thing too, because I never would have found them where they were at… Spotted Sheresa in city centre, she told us about hamburger restaurant and that the hostel smelled and was horrible (us getting the hotel was good choice)… Kitchen at the restaurant Sheresa suggested was closed… Found an Asian place where you ordered piece by piece (meat, sauce, noodle, then vegetables)… AWESOME FOOD… Police came screeching into area, parked right next to where we were eating, jumped out and ran up to a young guy on a bike… Harassed him for 15 or so minutes before letting him go (reminded me of the US)… Went to De Pass, excellent bar with like 120 beers in bottles and 20 on tap… Had some weird tap beer and a Chimey blonde… Watched the bartender make crazy bar food (cheese, some type of meat balls [I think], pickles, and hot peppers)… Got text from Jenn about grades for Property… We all started talking with a British accent… Cara and I kept it going for the whole tram ride home… Still couldn’t figure out how to pay for the trams… Random guys hit on Cara on the tram… Got back to the hotel, with the Stroop waffles still in tact… Went to the hotel bar… Tried Palm beer, talked to old gentlemen that was a teacher and law professor… Bartender gave Jeff and I like 40 Netherlands soccer hats and soccer balls… The European Kup is HUGE here, the whole city was decked out in orange and black
Thursday Breakfast at the hotel, I think I ate some bad eggs… Cab to the Asser Institute… Professor Karcher’s presentation on sports agents in the US… Canadian law and economic presentation by Jean-Christian Drolet (“Do agents increase the pie or just redistribute pieces of the pie?)… Lunch (weird meat sandwiches)… First presentation after lunch was brutal to get through (the material was dry, the presenter was unanimated and monotone)… Mr. Drolet seriously bashed the boring guy’s work in the open, in the middle of the presentation (it could have turned into fist-a-cuffs very shortly)… Last presenter was great!! (fully explained everything, was completely animated and casual)… I actually understand the 6+5 rule and the homegrown players rule now!!… Booked it out of there to go eat dinner… Found Italian restaurant, but I was feeling horrible (my stomach was all messed up, I think it was the eggs!!)… Left the restaurant, before eating, after everyone got there because I felt so bad… Stomach ache, nausea, you name it and I felt it… Crashed in the room feeling horrible!!…
Friday
Still felt horrible… Fell asleep studying for French Business Law (our final
is on Monday)… Woke up, worked a few hours on my outline… Went to the
hotel bar for a few drinks while waiting for George and Cara… They were
late… Talked to English couple that owned a pub about vacation time and
“working to live” versus “living to work”… Popocotl (Mexican restaurant) for
dinner… Had chicken nachos, they were excellent… Took forever to eat,
almost a 3 hour dinner… Made it back to the hotel, got Torts grade…
Decided to see if anyone was at the hotel bar… Talked to bartenders
boyfriend (politics, “registered Democrat” definition, French people being too
“proud” to let you mess up their language, cancer benefit for their friend)…
Tried local Holland beer…
Saturday Found out breakfast was 12.50€ a day/per person (thank god I only had to pay for 1 day; the guy didn’t charge Jeff and I for the first 2 days)… I have a feeling I would have been pissed were I to be charged 12.50€ for a breakfast that made me sick!!… Got to the HS station (I remembered the Stroop waffles, and they were still in tact)… Still haven’t figured out how to pay for the tram… Saw Prof Karcher and his family, gave them a bunch of hats (still had like 50 left)… Lunch near the Nord station at an Italian restaurant (I had a bacon salad)… Metro to Gare de Lyon… Watched the police harass black guy hanging out outside the station (they frisked him, patted him down, and kept him there for about 15 minutes before letting him go. Again reminded me of the US)… Made it back to the MIU with all the hats, the soccer balls, and the Stroop waffles (Mom, you better love me for this one)…
Trip to the Town Hall
- Town hall in France = pretty much city government in US
- Building was built LONG ago out of volcanic rock
- The town hall representative joked that the building was not dirty, it was meant to look this way
- Huge garden in the middle
- There is a “marriage room”
- Which ironically used to be the “divorce room” when the building was a court house
- Champagne and horderves and deserts
- Once again the food was INCREDIBLE
Michelin trip
- Took the tram for about 7-10 minutes to go see the Michelin HQ in Clermont-Ferrand
- The HQ is humongous
- Had to show ID even to get in
- Presentation on the internal setup of Michelin
- Very interesting corporate setup used:
- One general partner is fully liable (for the first time in some 40 or 50 years this person is not a member of the Michelin family)
- Then there is a board and shareholders whose liability is limited
- The fully liable member is not allowed to give up his position without approval from the board
- Helps to keep the company in “family” control
- Presentation on being an international corporate lawyer
- The lawyer that gave the presentations is from South Carolina. Michelin sends attorney’s from all their HQ’s (Japan, US, France, etc) to other locations for 2 year periods
- Struggles on setting up corporations, products liability, and anti-trust issues
- Every country is different and the struggle becomes fitting the Michelin brand and “way” legally into these other nations
- Left Michelin, after taking a picture of Bibendum (the Michelin tire character)
- Went to dinner with Ali and Amandin (French student)
- Saw a local guy, obviously drunk, stumbling through the street… learned the French phrase for someone that drunk is “he is not alone”
- Found a “Pirate bar” named Long John Silvers Inn, had to go in and have a drink, just because of the name!
- Had a Coreff (beer brewed in Brittany, France)
Diana’s 25th Birthday Yes, Diana got 2 days for her birthday!! But, hey, she turned a quarter century!!
- Thursday
- Amandin invited us to her flat for dinner
- Very conservative flat, nothing fancy, and definitely smaller than most 1 bedroom apartments in the US
- The food was AWESOME
- Sundried tomatoes and cheese on a toothpick for appetizers
- Curry chicken with rice, tomatoes, onions
- Chocolate and (I think) pineapple cake for desert
- Having some home-cooked food was GREAT!!!!
- Friday
- Went to lunch at great little café
- Had steak and onions with frites (a.k.a. french fries)
- Sat in the town square for café crème (a.k.a. coffee) and ice cream
- Went shopping
- Wandered around the mall, a high end department store, and a BUNCH of
little boutiques throughout the city center
- Came back to the dorm, showered, and got ready for dinner, the French soccer game, and dancing
- Ali cut my hair (who knew we were future lawyers and barbers, as well?)
- Dinner at 1513
- OLD restaurant that has apparently been around since 1513
- We got to sit downstairs in this dungeon area
- Had a crepe, it was INCREDIBLE… jambon, pomme de terre, fromage, crème champignon (a.k.a., ham, potatoes, cheese, cream, mushrooms)
- So much better than my first crepe experience!!
- Go to 1513, not The Crepery
- Went back to the Pirate bar to watch the European Kup (Soccer)
- France was playing versus the Netherlands (thought about wearing my Netherlands gear from our trip to Den Haag, but definitely decided against that in the interest of actually returning to the US)
- France lost… damnit!
- Good to watch the game with some local people and see how into it they get
- The “random guy” experience
- We met a random, incredibly drunk, local guy while at the Pirate bar
- He was certainly NOT alone!!
- He told Diana that he loved her, told the French girl he was there with to “shut up” because she didn’t speak English well enough to communicate with us, and proceeded to follow us everywhere we went
- Followed us, somehow, to the dance club and continued to hang around for the rest of the night
- Very creepy guy
- Club del Sol
- HUGE dance club
- Whole floor upstairs to smoke (it was kind of on the roof, but had huge tent like overhangs)
- Eclectic range of music played
- Michael Jackson, American rap, some French music
- The French girls DO NOT dance the same way that American girls do
- NO “dirty dancing” or “booty-dancing” here in France
