Life after Intrax
This past month I have visited many European countries for my first time. Given a rich historical background, the proximity of different nations makes a small impact in blending together differences between borders. After visiting London on my own and a friend in Antwerp, Belgium, I traveled with my best friend Jing through Amsterdam and Croatia. At the end of our trip, we returned to Paris where I was able to give him a tour of all the best spots to visit thanks to my summer in the City of Light. I was really thankful to be able to share all my collected experience with someone close to me!
By the Adriatic Sea in Dubrovnik, Croatia
A day or two later, we parted ways when I took the train to Bordeaux to begin my education abroad program. My first week here has been quite an adjustment from Paris where every resource was readily available, a characteristic of a developed city. Internet is not readily available everywhere, but as a result we learn to use different sources of information. My comprehension and utilization of the French language obtained through my practice throughout the summer also proved useful when helping other students settle in to a completely new environment. My new knowledge of all the French food products I’ve learned about from working with Foodco has also been an asset to adapting to living in a more suburban region of France. Studying abroad will be an interesting comparison to working abroad from this summer. I hope my work experience this summer will aid my focus on what I aim to receive from my education in France.
Furthermore, I will be continuing my travel blogging at the following blog
Last few days in Paris
Our last few days in Paris passed by quickly.
Finally, to celebrate a productive summer, our last Global Skills Training took place as a picnic on Pont des Arts. Our supervisor Frances invited her Parisien friends and we were able to mingle over a very gourmet picnic!
Frances and her interns at Pont neuf
En plus, as the French would say, our group took one last look at Paris together on a riverboat through the Seine river. We had a final dinner organized by the interns at La Fondue de Refuges so we can satisfy our craving for more cheesy fondue avec baby bottle wine one last time. This was a week of feasting, since our next meal was going to be rather luxurious.
As grand finale to our summer together, Intrax organized a dinner through Frances’ recommendation. Right next to the Eiffel Tower, we experienced a full multi-course French gourmet meal at Maison Blanche located on the Rue de Montaigne. We had a variety of high quality wine to select from and a menu consisting of dark chocolate coated foie gras, lamb and sole risotto as well as a beautiful chocolate and cream dessert.
The next few days I will be preparing for the coming vacation in London, Belgium, Amsterdam and Croatia before my semester at Bordeaux begins.
Cheers, or shall we say, Chin chin!?
Welcome to a day at FoodCo
My summer in Paris with Jean-Francois and Olivier at FoodCo is nearing the end.
A typical day of the week consists of waking up at around 7:30 in the morning, getting dressed and going to breakfast at at little after 8:00am. Then I walk to Denfert Rochereau station to catch the metro (RER B) towards St-Remy-Les-Chevreuse. Upon leaving the metro at Le Croix de Berny, I take the TVM to Montjean where I work.
Once I arrive, I had my own table with a computer where I do my research and compilation of resources. Sometimes we would take trips to Rungis or a supplier. There are times when we have meetings or staff breakfast in the building too. At lunch, we always leave the office to either walk to our nearby Brasserie or the Belle Epine area where we eat at one of the restaurants.
Sometimes, when necessary I would call abroad to the offices of FDA and CBP when they first open their offices at 8:00 a.m. EST. Every week at some point in the afternoon, I would debrief a recent project to Jean-Francois and Olivier. At the end of the day, I leave at 5:00 p.m. and take the metro back home.
Before I finished with FoodCo, I finished a 32-page summary with table of contents for the research I’ve done this summer in addition to several powerpoints created to relay new information.
Jean-Francois and Olivier often guided me by giving me tips and advice on powerful presentations from their experience with working at Bain and Co, a top consulting firm in France. I also learned a lot about regular French products and various cultural differences from our conversations about France and the United States. Both Jean-Francois and Olivier have lived in the United States, so they were able to relate with me about many of the amusing differences and similarities between the cultures, their current events and specific habits of the French.
In order to show you more about Foodco, Olivier and Jean Francois will tell you what Foodco is all about in this video. And I have made a simple video at the office to share with you what I’ve learned.
Latin Quarter and Lille
Car Shopping with FoodCo
Life was back to “normal” the week I returned from Toulon. At work, my company bought a company minivan and we visited Rungis several times to search for better packaging material.
In the middle of the week, Mathilde and I took an afternoon off from our normal dinner routine to relax and people watch with a pitcher of rose at a circle of bustling cafes near the Pantheon. As we walked around the Pantheon – once a church and now a famous burial place – we passed by Le Coup Chou, a restaurant I remember visiting with friends three years ago when I visited Paris for a few days with my highschool French program.
As the end of the week rolled along, everyone dispersed two by two to take advantage of our last weekend in Paris. Carrie and Kinleigh traveled to the nearby country of Luxembourg where they had a weekend of kayaking, intense mountain biking (27 km!) and incredible natural views. Mathilde and Jin took a trip to visit Brussels where Jin’s friends awaited. Haitham and Hibba both had visiting family or friends while Alana and Heather debarked on a trip to Nice and the south of France.
Left in Paris was Chris and I, who wanted to enjoy Paris one last time. Friday night, after a morning of sleeping in and exercise, we met up in the center of the city to go souvenir shopping and enjoy a calm evening in the Latin Quarter. Braving claustrophobia, we sat down for a menu formule and some delicious escargot! Voila, our first dish of snail in Paris, France… fresh from the Seine river (I’m just kidding).
After dinner, we were entertained by some street performances that afternoon as we walked to the metro. I also had to prepare for my adventure the next morning since I had ordered a fast train ticket to join in on one of the excursions with Mathilde and Jin.
Eating at Coq Hardi
Sunday morning, I arranged to meet Mathilde and Jin to join them on their week-end excursion in Lille, France. We walked all over Lille where the center of town is about which is the size of a large university campus. From one corner of town to the other, it takes about 15 minutes of walking. Every restaurant was labeled “Ch’ti”. Charles de Gaul was born in Lille, and we walked on the street where he was born. After visiting the old stock exchange center where men were playing chess among antique book collectors, we ate moule a la meuniere at Coq Hardi as the sun set. Time felt so slow in Lille, so the weekend excursion was incredibly relaxing.
*Bonus video clip of How to eat Moule Meuniere, presented by Jin.*
Duck Confit and Porcini Mushroom Pastry Pie
Hello Everyone,
I have just finished my trip in London and I am staying with Michel and Weixin in Paris for a day before I continue my trip to Belgium, Amsterdam, and Croatia. Michel left me with the following homemade recipe of his delicious pastry pie which I had last time so that I can translate it and share the recipe with the rest of you to get a sense of real French home cooking!
PATE DE CONFIT DE CANARD AUX CEPES
(Duck Confit and Porcini Mushroom Pastry Pie)
Ingredients :
1 round feuilletée dough
1 box of twice-cooke confit de conard300 grams of frozen porcini musrooms or dried porcini to soak.
peanut oil
garlic
parsley
salt
pepper
1 egg yolk
Strip the meat of the cooked duck and remove the skin, bones and fat.
Fry in oil the pre-thawed frozen porcini mushrooms or soaked dried porcini mushrooms with chopped parsley and two cloves of crushed garlic. Salt and pepper lightly.
Heat in the oven at 210°C or 420°F according to the system they use here (thermostat 7)
http://www.cuisine-et-saveur.com/conversion.html
Open the dough and place the duck meat in the middle leaving a 2cm margin on the border of the pastry dough. Place the fried porcinis on top and sprinkle with the juice left over from cooking the porcini.
Mix the egg yolk with a few drops of water. With the help of a brush, brush some egg yolk on the border of the dough. Fold the other part of the pastry dough to make a half moon shape. Join and push on the border with a fork. Place in a pastry dish.
Paint the pastry with the rest of the egg yolk.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. As soon as the pastry is golden brown, remove and cover with aluminum foil and serve.
Toulon, France
Having breakfast on the front porch with my French mother using the teapot my grandfather had sent them from China three years ago
I love Paris, but nothing can steal my heart from the south of France. My first experiences of France three years ago were with my French host family for five days in Toulon, France during a two-week high school French trip with Minnetonka High School. I’ve kept in touch with them since I left, and this weekend I was able to pay them a visit at their house in the Côte d’Azur!
I cannot emphasize how beautifully this weekend passed by – upon receiving me to their home that night, we had a beautiful midnight summer supper in their garden full of roses, magnolias, and lemon trees. Oh, and an occasional hedgehog or “hérisson”! Their azure swimming pool was lit up with floating bulbs, which we borrowed for our beautiful terrace table. The hot summer night was brimming with the music of “cigales” or cicada and we had chicken, fresh salad, and my French mother’s homemade tiramisu accompanied by some Pierre Hermé macarons I had brought from Paris. (They are the best in Paris – even better than the popular Ladurée – with flavors ranging from Jasmine, Vanilla-olive oil and chocolate passion fruit.) “Life is simple, but good” described my French father Alan, who’s a captain at the port of Marseille for the French Marine.
A summer evening meal in Toulon
Saturday morning, we attended a family funeral in a Catholic church at Aix-en-Provence – and it was very moving to see family and friends mourn the death of a beloved father in the family. Death is universal, and we all feel the pain of loss when someone with whom we’ve shared important memories in our lives passes away.
Escaping the summer heat in St Cyr sur Mer with my French sister and her best friend.
We returned to rest and have a simple fresh lunch in the garden, and that afternoon my French sister Anne-Charlotte took me along for a visit to her friend’s country house in St Cyr sur Mer.
With a view of the Mediterrean from their home, we took a dip in their ocean-side pool to escape the south summer heat with her friend’s cousins. Each young girl in the family had a small signet ring on their pinkies with their family crest ingraved on it (Brazon de Chevalier) – worn traditionally by French nobility. I believe I was with quite the company this weekend!
Hyere's traditonal flag colors red and yellow are referred to as "Sang et Or" which actually means "Blood and Gold"
That night we had another gorgeous dinner with Normandy cidre and I returned to Paris the next day on the train after visiting the small quaint Italian-style village Hyere with my French family.
A well-needed rest, I’m ready to make strong progress for my two weeks at this internship and hopefully start sending some products through the supply chain to the USA for Foodco!
Versailles and Port Clignancourt
Antique Market from Saturday to Monday
Although I wasn’t able to join the rest of the group on their trip to Dublin, Ireland, I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding weekend. First of all, I will be blogging on this new website which Intrax provided upon seeing my enthusiasm for sharing my experiences demonstrated in my personal blog. What a surprise!
Yuksel's collection of ancient keys
Inspired by the short time I have left in France, I took initiative this weekend to explore the city. I visited the Marché aux Puces at Porte Clignancourt at the suggestion of Mathilde,who is interning in Paris for Pathmotion. On a mission to view the antiques, I ventured past the bargain vendors, street games and men selling coal roasted corn from shopping carts.
When I came upon a quiet alley with vine-covered buildings, there were people browsing through ancient furniture from deceased Nobles, glass crystals, and elaborate gowns. There, I conversed with the merchant of the adorable skeleton key display. The merchant, Yuksel, had visited the Bay Area before and was happy to meet me. He left his contact, inviting me back to visit or grab coffee anytime.
Here I am savoring real French home-cooking!
Making friends with other travelors at Versaille
That afternoon, I searched for Turkish delights. In anywhere else other than the US, it is called Rahat Loukroum. I once tried to make them without much success, so it was time for me to taste the real thing! I managed to find some at Barbès Rochechouart!
I brought my precious Loukroum to my visit at the house of a some family friends, Michel and Weixin. Michel had prepared a self-created recipe: feuille-pâte stuffed with confit de canard and cèpes (Porcini mushrooms). I was excited to taste it because I had heard about the famous cèpes from Jean-François and Olivier during my trip to Rungis – the international wholesale food market near Frèsnes where I work. It was altogether absolutely delicious.
The next day, I visited Versaille by myself… but that didn’t last for long! I met a Chinese couple for whom I had offered to take their photo in exchange for mine. Soon, we were taking the tour together as if we were old friends. I have truly been lucky to meet so many friendly people this week! My favorite part of the visit is definitely the “Le Domaine de Marie Antoinette”.
My future home (Marie Antoinette's adorable farm)
Then as a final note – I visited my friend Cyril at his restaurant “Le Vin Qui Chante”. Along with some beautiful sandre and a refreshingly icy fruit dessert, Cyril also introduced me to some delicious white wine (Viguls Rousses), while his friend Xavier brought a few bottles of some of his very own family-produced provençale rosé for us to sample as well: Millesime 2008.
Xavier suggested that I visit Delice de Sezchuan at Strasbourg and Cyril mentioned that the Villette plays free movies in the evenings.
During our conversation, I came up with the following quote that sums up what I’ve learned from taking control of my adventures this week; “If you look too far into your future, you will only see the end of your life and miss out on living now”
Life is short, try dessert first.
Carpe Diem!
Beware la grêle….
Making a visit to Rungis International Food Market, the largest in Europe!
Do you think it’s a sign if it hails outside my window the instant I touch the keyboard to begin telling you about the tour I took today of the La Poste factory for Coliposte? Really, let’s not be too dramatic here shall we?
Because photos were officially prohibited as we entered the factory, what I’m about to tell you is top-secret… well not really haha. But brief description: An extremely large warehouse with a labyrinth of blue conveyor belts and chutes. Quite impressive actually.
I’ve been very lucky to have had the chance to visit so many facilities with Foodco lately. The founders of Foodco, Jean-Francois and Olivier, invited me along to an experimental tour of the factory where Coliposte packages from France are sorted, categorized and sent to their national or international destinations. As visiting clients, we were given VIP toe-protectors before entering the sorting center 
. Below you can see a photo of us with our FoodCo package (to test the sturdiness of our packaging) and snazzy protective shoes…
Touring Coliposte with Foodco
The workers place parcels on conveyor belts that send up the packages to other workers who scan the codes on the parcels. Then the conveyor belt calculates, yes – calculates, the speed at which to send the packages so they land precisely with a well-aimed shot onto a specific scanner plate. Then the packages all go through a red scanning light station before the plates tip the boxes over at exactly the right point so the parcel slides down an incline just to drop violently into specific baskets labeled for different destinations. Wine, internet orders, FNAC orders, etc…you name it!
As a last word of advice – they told me to “Watch out for la grêle” on my way out because it was so hot today that the weathermen predicted hail. And come full circle, as I am telling you about this – it hails.
P.S. This weekend, a big group of Intrax’s Interns are visiting Dublin, Ireland! I wish I could go (and afford it on the longer term) – But the world is infinite in two ways: globally and locally. Thus, I am going to entertain myself in the local direction by taking advantage of Paris, visit Versaille and the Antique market at Porte Clignancourt. I am visiting to Toulon next weekend… followed by London, Belgium, Amsterdam, and Croatia before going to Bordeaux so I will have plenty yet to see!
Bastille Day and Les Soldes
I have passed my first month in Paris and last night ended with an amazing display of fireworks during the celebration of July 14th, Bastille Day!
The Eiffel Tower on FIRE!
Everyone in the Intrax Intern Abroad group here in Paris quickly bonded when we went to our first French club (Queen) during our first week. Although , we left early, at around 2 a.m. We were still a learning the timeline of the French night out that begins at midnight and ends at 6 a.m. the next morning. Everything’s later; people usually don’t eat until 9 p.m.! Although one’s first impression of the French week is that everything closes early and nothing is open on Sundays… the city actually never stops. There’s definitely something to do any time of day if you just go seek it out.
A group effort to catch some escaping fondue cheese!
To celebrate my roommate’s birthday we all went to an eclectic idea restaurant named “Le Refuge des Fondus” on Rue de 3 Freres (3 brothers) near Montmartre between Metro stops Pigalle and Anvers. They serve their endless refill wine (red or white) in baby bottles along with their full course endless refill fondu that includes appetizers, aperatif drink and dessert all for 17 Euros prix fix.
July is also the month of “Les Soldes” which are “The Sales”. Everything is on average 50 % off their normal price- including all top brands everywhere. The most popular stores have already almost emptied their shelves now after having gone through their troisième demarqué.
Grabbing a bite on a Sunday visit in Le Marais
During this time, I was lucky enough to witness the rare life event of Terry buying new suits. He had arrived on a Sunday and on Sundays, everything is closed except Le Marais and the stores in Chinatown (Belleville and Ivry). Le Marais is an excellent place to experience Jewish pastries – with the added nostalgia of San Francisco with the surprising juxtaposition of Rainbow Pride flags along the Jewish neighborhood (and flamboyant gay-men who have from impeccable to almost borderline insane sense of style).
Let us not neglect to mention that La Fête de la Musique was last month on June 21st! Music and performances were everywhere. Jin and Haitham, the talented salsa dancers in our group, even had a chance to dance to some music being played by a group right outside of a restaurant where the group was enjoying dinner.
We also toured Champagne/Reims with Terry on July 4th as a group excusion, celebrating America's Independence day!
Yesterday after a night of failure to enter the Saint Sulpice Bal au Pompiers (You have to be there before 11pm to get inside or have a very strong will to wait in line for an hour), I woke up early and went with three of the girls from the group to see the “Défilé” or the parade. Sarkozy waved from a tank down the Champs Elysees and then 30 minutes a spectacular airshow flew down the strip followed by the infantry marching in front of a long chain of military tanks. It was a completely military patriotic show – very unlike the floats and colorful laymen festivities in the United States. Then we had lunch in the Jardin de Luxembourg and rested at home until the fireworks lit up the Tour Eiffel. I watched it from Pont Bir-Hakeim (a landmark where the Foreign legion once fought and lost).
Happy Bastille Day!
Je vous embrasse!
Yin
An Introduction
Dear Friends,
I am about to embark on a journey to Paris tomorrow from the United States for an internship with Intrax Intern Abroad. On June 12th, 2009 I will be arriving in Paris at the CDG where my friend Huiyi shall be meeting me.
This summer I will be interning with Foodco, a French entrepreneurial international e-commerce enterprise exporting French products to French expats across the globe. I will be helping them enter the US market by researching and aiding their development of a system for exporting French food into the USA. I’m looking forward to asking many questions about French language, culture and food. From this particular internship experience, I also hope to strengthen my confidence in dealing with the legal portion of the business world.
Come fall, I will be studying abroad at University of Bordeaux, France taking a course load as part of the Education Abroad Program (EAP) French immersion program by University of California, Berkeley.
Thus I created this blog with the intention of recording my journey and sharing it with the rest of you (and a future me who will look back upon this). Having a good memory just won’t be sufficient to remember all my reflections from this grand journey. I hope my voice and adventures will reflect my life vision – to live with awareness that our lives are short, filled with lucid details and the world is within reach (so fear not!).
As I keep updating, may you enjoy the photos, the noted places to visit and good stories yet to come!
