Les semaines finales à Paris

Bonjour!

The last two weeks have flown by so fast. We were so incredibly busy with finishing up our Trend Forecasting class that we had little time for much else, however I definitely managed to soak up every last minute I had left in Paris. In the last two weeks, our class had two big projects to work on. The first a group project, in which we researched a designer, went to their store, and created two mood boards and a presentation based on our research and what we saw in the autumn/winter collection of 2011. My designer was Andre Correges, a french designer known for his space-age collections back in the 1960s. I couldn't help but think the clothes looked straight out of Austin Powers. I even had the Austin Powers theme song in my head as I left the store. The project turned out well, but we were definitely tired after turning it in and presenting on that Thursday.

 A few of my friends and I were relieved and excited that we were heading to Barcelona for a relaxing weekend on the beach! We had a lot of fun in Barcelona soaking up some sun. It was my first experience staying at a hostel, which I'm sure a lot of you know is a very interesting experience. Sleeping in the same room as all of these strangers was a bit creepy, however we met a lot of cool people while staying there! The night life in Barcelona is crazy. I swear people do not sleep! We got back to our hostel in the early hours of the morning after one night out and not one other person in our hostel room was back yet. CRAZY. Anyway although the weekend was a whole lot of fun, it ended badly with my whole entire purse stolen on the beach. People are not exaggerating when they say that Barcelona is known for its pickpocketers. My friend's phone had also been stolen earlier that day. Luckily I had my passport! We returned to Paris that Sunday feeling a bit defeated not to mention broke. Thinking back, it was a very fun and relaxing weekend, it just really did not end well. Oh well, I guess I have to learn from these type of things.

I had to get over this quickly, though, in order to enjoy my last full week in Paris. We were very excited because it was Haute Couture fashion week in Paris. To start out the week, our teacher took us to stand outside of the Dior show and people watch and take some pictures of the people outside of the show. It was really cool, and we saw some amazing clothing, and even spotted Nina Garcia! The next night, we ventured over to the Chanel show outside of Le Grand Palais to do some more people watching. It was very fun because we all dressed up and even had some pictures taken of us! I know we all secretly hoped we could break into the show, but that is just impossible. Here are some pictures my friend Hannah took throughout Haute Couture fashion week:

During this last week we also had a final project to work on, and this time it was an individual project. We had to research a designer, and come up with a forecast for their Spring/Summer 2012 collection. I chose Chloe and created two mood boards based on my inspiration, colors, and fabrics. It was a very fun project, and it ended up going very well! I even had to sketch the collection (I usually draw stick figures), but my teacher helped us through that and one of my friends who is a design major. Even though we had a lot of work to do, we also managed to have some fun during our last few nights. On Wednesday night, we went to this awesome hole in the wall jazz club. My friend Hannah knew a Parisian guy who was friends with the band, so she took us along and we had a great time! The next night, we had our farewell dinner with our whole class and our teacher as well. It was a great time just reminiscing about all of our amazing adventures in Paris. We finished the night at some bars in the Bastille (with our teacher, which was awesome), and had to say some sad goodbyes. I was so lucky to have met all the people in my program, and I know a lot of us will stay in touch!

I was sad to leave Paris, but I am so grateful and happy that I had this experience! I am now in Nice having a great time with Sophie Hoegh and her family at their lovely house. I will be heading back to California on Saturday, and I'm very excited to get back to the states!

I've had a great time over here and France and I've learned so much about the culture and about my passions. Hope you all enjoyed reading my travel blog!

Bisous,
Claire