Episode 5 - Gavrilenkos in Paris

Just in case one Gavrilenko in Paris wasn't enough, now there's four! Watch out

Oct 10, 2023

We’ve gotten to the point where I’m starting to build momentum with this blog. I find myself looking forward to writing it each week and always finding the time each day to write down my notes in preparation for the post.

Like my mom says, “If it matters to you, you find time. Otherwise, you find an excuse!”

Thank you everyone for joining me again today. If it’s your first time, welcome to this crazy adventure in Paris (and beyond). Crazy things happen each day, to the point where I’m used to it now.

Let’s dive in!

Saturday 9/30/2023

Today I turned 20! Hooray!!

I didn’t get pregnant as a teenager, survived the crazy teen years, and am officially moving on to my “second 20” (I made it, Ms. Joanne!).

Tatiana FaceTimed me the second the clock hit midnight and sent me the most lovely birthday text ever. Simon called me after, we caught up, he told me his roommate goes to bed every night at 10 and wakes up at 5 a.m. for the gym.

Like Borat would say, great success!

I woke up at 8:30 feeling well-rested and refreshed. Today will be a great day! I biked over to my family’s hotel on the other side of town and met them for breakfast in the lounge. I felt like a professional cyclist riding the Parisian cobbles. I need to bike the entire Arc du Triomphe loop during this study abroad. :)

The breakfast was amazing, with lots of delicious jams, great bread, and honey literally on a honeycomb. Is this what living fancy is like? My first breakfast as a 20-year-old was perfect.

I was back on the Velib bike shortly after to bike across the river to meet up with our orientation group. Our orientation group instructor (Phillipe) a few weeks ago worked in the budget office of the prime minister and had arranged for a private tour of the prime minister’s gardens and office at the Hôtel de Matignon.

It was just a coincidence that it was my birthday, but I like to think that Phillipe organized the private tour as a present for me!

These gardens are the largest private gardens in Paris (at 3 hectares) and massive offices for government officials. They also have private state meeting rooms for when delegates and prime ministers of other countries come to visit! There were guards with assault rifles (nice!) and Phillipe looked so at home.

He clearly loves his job.

The gardens were some of the nicest gardens I’ve ever seen. The grass was the best grass I’ve ever had the pleasure of walking on in my entire life. It was nicer than golf course grass. I’d dare say it was the best grass in France. I was in awe.

The prime ministers of France also have this really cool tradition of planting a tree in the gardens! Whenever a new prime minister is sworn in, they plant a tree in the prime minister's gardens to commemorate the event. It was cool to see the trees from the other ministers, and I saw the tree from the current prime minister, Minister Borne! From my geocaching experiences, I know that the Quercus genus on plants is for oak trees. The prime minister planted an oak tree!

The other students in my group thought it funny that I was knocking on the trees and marveling at the gardens. When you love plants as much as me, an opportunity to see one of the nicest gardens in Paris is a truly exciting one indeed!

When the tour ended, a few in our group (Emma, Phillipe, Max, and Vanessa) and I headed over to a café for lunch. Phillips treated us to cappuccinos, a bottle of wine, and a cheese board.

I guess working in the budget office pays quite well!

We talked about life and ourselves. Turns out Phillipe doesn’t even have a car — there’s no need to have one in Paris. He also was on exchange at Columbia when he was a student at Sciences Po, which explains his perfect (though heavily accented) English. Phillipe asked us if we planned on getting a master's degree. Most in the group said yeah, but I said most likely not. I’m tired of school already. The café experience was wonderful, I felt like I was in Paris (I am lol). I also saw the place where the Alliance Français was founded (that’s the French learning institution I was at in Chicago)!

I biked to the Arc du Triomphe afterward to meet up with my family. This time, I biked around the entire arch, weaving between cars and having the most wonderful time ever.

Call me Tadej Pogaçar 🚴‍♂️

Met up with my family, and we walked back toward the Arc du Triomphe. We stopped at a Helly Hansen store (one that makes ski jackets), though this particular shop was for sailing jackets. Apparently sailing is a big thing in Europe.

We walked under the Arc, then took ~27 hours walking down the Champs Elysees while my family looked at all the different stores. I forgot how slowly this family can move sometimes. Fortunately, being more patient was my New Year’s Resolution, so I didn’t mind! I love the Apple Store. 🍎

Zara takes forever. It also has a lot of cool shirts. Maxim and I tried some on.

We did get lovely macaroons at the first-ever macaroon store. They were delicious. 😋

The store also gave out free lotion for some reason. Not sure why.

We eventually made our way to the Eiffel Tower, where we took lots of touristy pictures. We stopped at a nice park with comfy benches in the shade, and Maxim started feeding the pigeons nearby with the only baguette we had. After some strategic bread placements in a bush, Maxim caught one of the pigeons! Of course, he had the assistance of his skilled older brother. 😈

Now I’ve caught a pigeon in Paris, a goose in Chicago, and a duck in Boston.

I guess I need to catch a swan next? My random bird side quests have been fun. I love birds! Throwback to the duck in Boston:

And the goose in Chicago:

After walking around and taking many more pictures with the Eiffel Tower, we took a sunset river cruise along the Seine and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 8 p.m. It was my family’s first time seeing it, and they loved it!

We had a lovely birthday dinner at a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. I tried a pork dish with meat from the throat of a pig? Not really sure why that’s eaten. It was ok. Gloria called to wish me happy birthday, we caught up, it was amazing to see her again!

After that, I quickly biked over to Ben’s apartment! The entire gang was there for a surprise birthday party!! I felt so loved :)

We played a ton of Rage Cage (my favorite), and I only got the bitch cup once. Bad luck happens to everyone, I suppose! Turns out Joe and Lara are EXTREMELY ticklish. It was hilarious.

The girls got me an amazing card (thank you Lara!!) with a 50 euro shopping credit, guess I’ll need to go thrift with them soon. Joe and Ben got me perhaps the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received.

You can say it was a poppin’ good time, if you know what I mean ;)

What an amazing birthday. Thank you everyone for making it so special!

Sunday 10/1

I woke up to a pumpkin being dropped on my head. Happy October!

That obviously didn’t happen, but I do love October 🎃

I slept in til noon (rage cage is no joke) and biked over to the Bois de Bologne (Bologne Forest) on the other side of Paris to meet up with my family.

It was a 10k ride. Farthest one so far. It was smooth sailing, with the Champs Elysees completely closed for a breast cancer awareness month event.

Nice!

The park was beautiful, with even the bike parking station being nicer than usual. Met up with my family and we walked around the amazing park! There were a ton of fish in the pond, a nice botanical garden, and some Parisians racing their RC boats in the lake.

There was also a huge capabara that my brother fed. They are the largest rodents on Earth. I fed it a banana peel. It loved it.

Chatted a lot with Mama and Papa, and my uncle called me to wish me happy birthday. He is the coolest uncle ever!!

We made it back to the super nice hotel with amazing views, read some of my (very strange) science fiction books, and ate dinner with the most gorgeous views of Paris ever.

Monday 10/2

I now have 3 backpacks in Paris.

My Swiss Army backpack. Indestructible, big, great for traveling and when I need to carry lots of things.
My blue Cotopaxi backpack. Lightweight, lots of space, great for hiking and outdoor adventures.
My Kraft Heinz operations backpack. Perfect for school and holding my Iceland Penis Museum keychain.

Backpack specialization is key.

Maxim and I woke up around 10 and had breakfast with the best view of Paris imaginable. Maxim told me his strategy for strategically spending time with his different friends and his different classes. He is a genius in the making.

I biked home to drop off my bags, then met up with Joe to give him back his dress shirt. My bike was good enough to win the Tour de France:

Joe and I biked back to the Champs to meet up with my family. Maxim LOVED Joe. He thought his accent was hilarious.

That’s what happens when you’re from Twickenham.

After shopping some more at Zara and buying a super nice dress shirt for 40 euros. We walked to the Seine, then to the Eiffel Tower, getting crêpes along the way.

We got into the Eiffel Tower facility (it’s huge!!) and got tickets to walk up to the top of the tower. The views from the top were stunning. Everything is so tiny!!

Gustave Eiffel is kinda the engineering goat. His company built the Eiffel Tower in the late 1800s for the World Fair, and it was never taken down. He even had an apartment at the top where he conducted experiments and met Thomas Edison.

We walked 5 km from the Eiffel Tower over to a Pokemon shop. Maxim really wanted to buy French Pokemon cards. He has Japanese ones and English ones.

Clearly getting French ones is a top priority.

Maxim was quite hangry but was perfectly fine after getting a sandwich. Life is simple when you’re 11.

We later got dinner at a nice restaurant, where we all tried snails! The service was slow but the food was yummy.

A short walk to Notre Dame, then we called it a day and we all went home.

I walked back, called Audrey, did homework, then called Tatiana. She and I have very diverging views on studying abroad, it was super insightful and a great conversation.

Tuesday 10/3

Tuesday means class. And class means work.

Woke up early questioning existence and went to my trade class, thank goodness Lionel explains well.

I also heard a funny quote about things not working. Don’t say something works 60% of the time.

Say 60% of the time, it works every time.

Just like with Paris weather. If there is a 20% of rain, it means that there is a 100% of 20% rain (sprinkling). Bring an umbrella, or you’ll need to buy a new iPad like in Chicago.

Labor economics was boring, but I sat next to João and we chatted. I might be going to Helsinki with him?

I also got rejected from McKinsey. Great.

Eitan and Sapir (my Israeli labor economics groupmates) met up to do some work and headed over to the Apple Store. Eitan had never been to an Apple Store, Sapir never to one in Paris. It’s always great to bring the joys of Apple to others.

After planning our paper, I headed to the Rodin Museum to see some bronze sculptures. Rodin was a goated sculptor who made a lot of sculptures out of bronze and marble. The gardens outside had the bronze ones, and the marble ones were inside the mansion (lots of mansions in Paris). There were also some really nice lawn chairs to take a nap on there.

After my 30-minute nap, I checked out the sculptures, and then went back to Sciences Po.

I saw The Thinker! There was also a sculpture just like the headless man at UCLA. It was the original!

I had my French class at Sciences Po, where I presented about the sculptor Rodin I literally learned about today.

I had no mental energy for that class today, but I pulled through. I’m proud of myself.

After that, Guy (my classmate) and I had the funniest conversation about doorknobs. I did not know I could laugh that hard. He also didn’t know the word “decide” and it took 5 minutes for me to figure out what he was trying to say.

I love it. You can have the best conversation about anything.

Biked home, called Carly, made dinner, showered, called Audrey, she’s up to the same old same old.

I biked back to the Hotel Invalides area to take the train to Versailles, met up with my parents, and we walked back to Versailles to the nicest hotel I have ever seen.

Called Tatiana. She made a whole home for herself in London, I just want to travel all over Europe and don’t really vibe with Paris all that much lol.

Wednesday 10/4

October 4th! Mama’s birthday! How exciting!!

We all slept in until 9, then we went downstairs for the fanciest breakfast I’ve ever had. The omelets were delicious. Papa is a travel points legend.

After breakfast, we walked over to the famous Versailles gardens, where we saw dancing fountains, perfectly manicured hedges, and so many marble statues. Versailles is amazing. I love the flowers and the epic opera music playing from the speakers. What a place.

We had reservations to visit the Chateau, where we saw lots of fancy royal things.

Fancy beds.

Fancy statues.

Fancy paintings.

Fancy cups.

It was honestly a little too fancy for me, but it was really cool to see all the different rooms in the massive palace. The Hall of Mirrors was especially cool, and I got to stand in the exact spot where the Treaty of Versailles (ending WWI) was signed.

I also saw the super-famous painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps on his amazing horse. Even though the horse he rode was actually old and dying, it was very exciting to witness this masterpiece. Napoleon is the French goat. Nearly everything in France is about him. He’s George Washington on steroids. Thanks to the random tourist who snapped the photo.

After the palace, we went to a nice lunch, then we were off to the gardens again! We explored a fancy orange grove (orange trees were symbols of wealth in France, since it was really hard to get and grow them). Maxim and I played catch with a fallen orange, then I discovered this amazing cave that looks straight like the Mines of Moria from the Lord of the Rings. I (poorly) sang some opera, then left with Maxim.

We walked the recommended loop around the gardens, fed the swans, saw some more dancing fountains, ate sushi at a Chinese place for dinner, then headed back to the hotel.

Papa and I then went to the hotel bar for some drinks. That is father-son bonding right there. We had a great conversation about life and traveling, and how finding a job where you work on a meaningful project is very important. Nearly everyone has a desire to travel, but it’s important to finish my degree as well. If it’s any consolation, Mama and Papa don’t remember anything from their classes either.

Some big discoveries I’ve had about myself so far:

I’m not a city person. I prefer nature and wilderness over cities any day.
A road trip across the entire US would be amazing. I need to go on one.
Jack Raines is a really good writer. He inspires me to write and I’d love to meet him one day.

And so the week ends! It was amazing spending time with my family again, I will be back home in the US before I know it. France is beautiful, with so many things to see and do. Thank you all for reading, it is a pleasure and privilege as always :)

Some more honorable mention pictures:

Adventure with Dennis!

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