T-minus 17 days until France

As the final component of my MBA Program with the University of Maine I have to go on an international trip. I was originally supposed to travel to Japan, but the tragic tsunami changed my plans. Since this is the last part of my MBA, I was given the option to join another international trip just in case the trip to Japan was cancelled. Not wanting to drag my graduation date out even further after some twenty years of schooling, I opted to join the University of Southern Maine's MBA trip to France from June 4-12. I am hoping I won't have to brush off my French skills from high school since they are beginner at best at this point. 

Here is a quick preview of what my week in France will look like:

Saturday - June 4th

Fly from Boston to Paris

Sunday -  June 5th

Train from Paris to Brest

Monday - June 6th

Conference at UBO

This is the Univeristy where I believe we are staying for our time in Brest. Try as I might, I can't find any information on the residence halls there. While I know they won't be 5 star accommodations, I have no idea what French residence halls are like. My only experience with dorms are the ones I lived in while studying at Emory University. Suffice it to say, it's not an experience I ever want to repeat for an extended period.

Visit to Roscoff

ALGO PLUS

This place looks....interesting. From what I understand from their website, they harvest and process food algae. I won't be surprised if there is some taste testing. However, I will be surprised if I end up taking a bottle home with me. My idea of algae is green, slimy and inedible. I'll make sure to have some strongly flavored mints or gum at the ready just in case.

Tuesday - June 7th

SCARMOR
No website for this company, which always surprises me in this day in age. From our trusty trip itinerary, I know that it is a logistics facility for E.Leclerc, a hypermarket chain in France and that we will be visiting the logistics platform.

SAVEOL
An agricultural cooperative specializing in high-quality tomatoes and other vegetables. So this day seems to have a theme: food. Given that both lunch and dinner consists heavily of vegetables everyday for me, I won't mind some afternoon samples from Saveol. We are going to the Packaging Station of Saveol, which should be interesting. Having watched a lot of How It's Made courtesy of my engineer boyfriend, I've got a whole new appreciation for how packaging plants work. It amazes me what kinds of machines have been designed and built just to package a product that I buy on a pretty regular basis.

Wednesday - June 8th
Visit to Quimper

MANOIR DU KINKIZ

This is a cider house, where we will be doing some taste testing. They've got apple cider, water, brandy, and some other apple based alcohols. Nothing like liquor in the morning, or whatever time it is back home. Oh it's 5 o'clock somewhere. When in Rome, right? 

ARMOR LUX
As anyone who knows me knows I am a clotheshorse. I have too many and it is still not enough. So I'm sure I'll be coming home with some souvenirs from Armor Lux, which sells on asos, a favorite online shopping destination of mine based in the UK. I'm kind of digging this dress...the stripes are so French.

Thursday - June 9th

OCEANOPOLIS

This is by far what I'm most excited about. I haven't been to an aquarium since I was a child. And given that working with sea creatures was one of the many careers I proclaimed would be mine while growing up, a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld to be precise, I can't wait to visit Oceanopolis. They are going to do a 30 minute presentation on marketing at Oceanopolis and then we get a 3 hour tour of the pavilions. 

Friday - June 10th

Train from Brest to Paris

Visit the US Embassy in Paris

My knowledge of what goes on at a US Embassy abroad is sadly limited and mostly comes from action movies and television shows. Screaming "I'm an American citizen"  as you bang on the impenetrable gate with the enemies hot on your trail. I've got a sneaking suspicion it will be absolutely nothing like that and far less exciting. All I know is I am going to hang onto my Visa like nobody's business so this visit is pleasure, not business. 

Saturday - June 11th

Free day in Paris

Given that this is my first trip to Europe, I want to try and soak in as much of Paris as possible. The Eiffel Tower or La Tour Eiffel as I should call it, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and of course, I've got to find some good shopping spots. 

Sunday - June 12th

Fly back to Boston

This is the day I'm both dreading and simultaneously looking forward to. It will be nice to get home, but the following day I'm off to Orlando for InfoComm, an audio/visual convention. With the time change and hours on a plane, followed by even more hours on a plane, I'm anticipating major exhaustion. All in a day's work I suppose.