Wal-Mart is evil, and other little known facts

Good afternoon.

As I sit here in my apartment with a long weekend ahead of me, my thoughts are all over the place. I'm quite enjoying the Led Zeppelin playing in the background as I write. My chocolate supply is running dangerously low and InterMarché stopped their promotion on 70% Dégustation Pistache. I should be out drinking, but instead opted to stay in and watch Sherlock Holmes. I recommend to those of you who have not seen it to at least try it out. I quite enjoyed it.

My main issues are these: 1) I have an enormous project to do for my current Propaganda 101 class, which consists of destroying Wal-Mart's reputation in South America. Should be fun, but will be a lot of work.
2) More importantly, I need something to do for my week off in February. I need to be somewhere with hi-speed high-bandwidth wireless internet. So I can watch Olympic Hockey.

This second point raises a key issue. What drunken, dim-witted, unionized, left-leaning, 1st-generation (non)Canadian sack of sh*t determined Team Canada's schedule? Why am I stuck with the games at 1:30 am? I mean, I guess I could watch Finland or Belarus, but why? The only good thing is that the finals start at 9:30 pm my time. But I won't be anywhere with a decent internet connection, so that sucks. *sigh* I really hope the playoffs yield better watchability (that is, at least San Jose starts at 4 am, I can wake up for that).

Oh well. As the French conspire against me, I must conspire right back. Tomorrow I will again attempt to go skating (last time they decided not to open...) and on March 4th I will have the chance to tell dozens of rémois students that they should go to Western instead of uOttawa. The joke's on them.

Hope you all have a good evening. Til next time, then.

Five days in March

Good Morning.

Though this may seem a little pre-emptive, I want to say that March is going to kick some serious ass. I will be attending Peter Gabriel's concert in Paris, after a weekend in Voisins, and just before heading to Turkey for a 6-day vacation.

Because I know you'll hate me for this, here's my itinerary (as writted by the tour company):


Outbound : Tuesday 23 March 2010
Departure: 10:00 Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) Terminal 2F
Arrival: 14:20 Istanbul Ataturk (IST) Terminal I

23 rd March 2010
Istanbul
Arrival in Istanbul and transfer to your hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.

Hotel in Istanbul: www.rasthotel.com

24 th March 2010
Istanbul - Sultanahmet

Visit the St. (Haghia) Sophia, which was built by the Emperor Justinian. It was the largest building in the world for over 1000 years. See its intricate mosaics and huge central dome. Continue to the Topkapi palace, which was used by the Ottoman Sultans from the 15th to 19th centuries. We will also see the impressive collection of priceless jewels, crystal, silver and porcelain, robes worn by the sultans and relics of the prophet Mohammed. (Entrance to the Harem is extra). After lunch we will see the Blue Mosque, built for Sultan Ahmet I, which is a unique piece of architecture with its six minarets and features 20,000 beautiful Iznik tiles. Visit the ancient Hippodrome with Obelisk of Theodosius, Snake Pillar and German Fountain of Wilhelm II. Walk through the back streets of Old Istanbul and visit the elegant little Sokullu Pasa mosque and the hidden underground Theodosian Cistern. See the Grand Covered Bazaar. This tour may be done all or partially as a walking tour.
Overnight in Istanbul.

25 th March 2010
Bophorus Cruise with Dolmabahce

The tour starts with a visit to the exotic and aromatic Egyptian Spice Market. You may buy spices, caviar, and almost anything imaginable. Continue over the Galata Bridge and the Golden horn. We will visit the “Selamlik” chambers of the incredible 19th c. Dolmabahce Palace. We continue up the Bosphorus and cross over to Asia to Camlica Hill for a view of Istanbul. After lunch visit the Sadberk Hanim Museum, with its well-organized archaeological and ethnographical sections. The Bosphorus cruise begins in the afternoon. We pass by the Rumeli Fortress and you will enjoy crossing from continent to continent traveling down the Bosphorus, which is lined with old Ottoman seaside mansions, marble palaces and small fishing villages. Overnight in Istanbul.

26 th March 2010
Istanbul-Gallipoli-Canakkale

Very early in morning we will depart from Istanbul, drive along the northern shores of the Marmara Sea, and as soon as we arrive we will have a break for lunch.
Gallipoli and The Dardanelles after our lunch we will stop to visit Gallipoli, a place of fierce WWI fighting between Allied forces and the Turks. At ANZAC Cove thousands lost their lives in one fateful dawn morning. We will also see other famous battle sites of World War 1 in this area, such as Lone Pine and Chunuk Bair. From here we go to a ferry and cross the Dardanelles. For World War 1 buffs, you will know the Dardanelle Straits were a strategic crossing point for the allied armies to cross from Europe to Asia Minor. Over a nine month campaign, more than half a million soldiers lost their lives in the fight to control this strait of water and nearby Gallipoli peninsula. Canakkale will be our final destination for today and where we will spend the evening. After dinner, you might want to stroll the harbor walk and experience the local culture. The locals buy sunflower seeds and stroll with their families, gossiping and looking at the sunset. When they reach the harbor's end, they turn around, buy their ice cream and walk the other direction. Breakfast/Lunch & Dinner provided. Overnight stay in Canakkale.

Hotel in Canakkale: www.helenhotel.com

27 th March 2010
Canakkale Troy- Istanbul

We continue our scenic drive along the Aegean, stopping for photo opportunities and perhaps to indulge the taste buds at one of the many farmer road side stands that sell olives, figs, seasonal fruit and pistachios. We then will head east towards our first site of the day. Troy is the ancient site written about by Homer in the Iliad. It dates back as far as 3000 BC and has been the site of nine different cities through the thousands of years it has existed. As you enter the site a large wooden Trojan horse dominates your view. You will definitely want to climb up and get your picture taken! After the tour we will provide lunch and after that we will depart from Canakkale, drive back to Istanbul, After arrival we will transfer you back to your hotel, Overnight stay in Istanbul.

28 th March 2010
Istanbul to Home

Gule, Gule! It is time to go home. We will transfer you to the airport and wish you well, asking that you keep Turkey in your hearts and prayers, and hoping that our paths cross again in this life! If you have extended your time with an additional add-on trip, we will be confirming this day with you your additional schedule. Contact us for additional tour options.

Return : Sunday 28 March 2010
Departure: 15:10 Istanbul Ataturk (IST) Terminal I
Arrival: 17:50 Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Terminal 2F


Hope that doesn't make you guys too envious. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I hope it does :P

I wrote my exam this morning. It went OK, though I hope I never ever have to take accounting again. Note: I am going to have to take accounting again, but if there's one thing Obama has tought me, it's that even in situations of absolute certainty, there's hope the result might not be what is certain. Or something like that.

I think I'll try to go skating tonight. Better than watching my 18th movie in 2 weeks. (Note: Couples Retreat was awful)

Oh well, I've got one French class left, then a one-week vacation in February, then it's smooth sailing, with 4 English classes and two weeks of vacation over the following 14 weeks. Then June vacation!

I'll make sure to keep you posted on my travels. No photos yet, but there will be.

Enjoy your weekends, and try not to think about the cold!

Taking Contrôle

Greetings to everyone.

Since I last posted here on January 4th, not a whole lot has happened, and yet, those few events that did occur are highly significant.

I began a course entitled "Contrôle de gestion", which is more or less a mix of Managerial Accounting, Financial Management, and Business Ethics. The main teacher is nothing special, but I did get a class with Prof. Antonio Zulaica, who was my 2nd favourite guy from Sports Management (pictured below on the left).



Also, I found out I don't need to pre-purchase my visa for Turkey, and I will be planning this trip in the coming days. Yay! Now, I just need to find something to do in February, before I begin the English portion of my exchange.

The coming days will also include a short research paper on ethics, internal auditing, and risk management. I'm hoping my insight will be enough to give my group a decent mark, and my efforts will allow me to later concentrate on Friday (the 22nd)'s exam.

Lastly, I have seen some interesting movies in the past 10 days. I have divided them into 3 categories: "Must-sees" for everyone, "Good movies but there's better", and "whoever paid to make/see this movie must have been pissed afterward - I was".

In category 1: Pulp Fiction ; Invictus ; The Boat That Rocked ; Fight Club ; Forrest Gump .

In category 2: Precious ; It Might Get Loud (I hesitated to put that in 2 rather than 1, however I think it only appeals to a certain audience. Jimmy Page deserves category 1 but The Edge demotes the film to 2. Sorry.) ; Men in Black 1 & 2 ; He's Just Not That Into You (which wasn't that bad, hence making this category) ; Unbreakable (again I hesitate to not put this into category 1, but M. Night Shyamalan is a shit director...) ; Lakeview Terrace (if not for S.L.J. this would be a 3) ; Death Race (for sheer entertainment value, this should get a 1. Jason Statham, however, along with the rest of the "actors" in this movie, cost it greatly on the "must-see" front).

In category 3: The Fast & The Furious .

Uncategorizable: Ichi the Killer . This was a Japanese film (I can see some of you saying "well duh" already, but hear me out) about a young man who enjoys watching women get raped [citation needed] then killing the man who did it. There is a whole lot of violence, gore, sexual content, etc. I was deeply disturbed by this film. I urge anyone with a warped and desensitized mind and who also loves laughing at the sheer hilarity of Asian sterotype after Asian stereotype to see this film. If you would not describe yourself this way, DO NOT see this movie.

[Note: for more detailed reviews or reasoning as to my choice of category, feel free to ask. Though I'm pretty sure you don't care. That list, folks, is what we call filler.]

Up for the coming weeks: The Watchmen ; the Die Hard Quadrilogy ; the Lethal Weapon Quadrilogy ; Rain Man ; probably some others I haven't seen recently.

Hope you all have a good weekend. My next post will likely come after my exam, so at least 8 days from now. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes. Peace.

2010 - A year to make history

Let me start by wishing all of you a very Happy New Year, filled with as much as you want of whatever you need!

The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least, and always a lot of fun. So let's start with Christmas.

I celebrated Christmas 2009 with my friends, the Fourniers, and had an absolutely amazing time. I met some people for the first time, too, and even one person I supposedly know from the last time I was here. Supposedly. Anyway, I spent a wonderful 5 days in Voisins-le-Bretonneux with everyone and I will never forget it. Merci Michèle, Jean-Luc, Anne, Nathalie, Édouard et Papi :D

I left the Fournier house on Sunday the 27th and made my way back into Paris. At the Gare de Montparnasse, an apparition in the form of an angel greeted me and took me to my quarters for the night. It took me a few minutes to realize it was actually Anastassia :D (not so easy to believe after so long), and I was quite happy when I came to this realization.

(pictured: angel)

For the next few days, we toured around Paris, seeing such noteworthy things as the Arc de Triomphe (see below), the Tour Eiffel, the Chateau de Versailles (also below), the Père Lachaise cemetery (where such famous people as Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Frederic Chopin and Jim Morrison are buried), the Galeries Lafayette, Mango, Zara, H&M, Promod, Etam, BCBG Maxazria, and a few other landmarks.

New Year's Eve, we went where every other immigrant and tourist goes: to the Eiffel Tower (pictured below). They put on a sound-and-light show for the masses, and it felt more or less like a club, but with the Eiffel Tower less than 100 feet away. Awesome!

We came back to Reims for almost 24 hours (it takes about 30 minutes to see the entirety of the tourist attractions in Reims - see picture below), before heading back to Paris. We got to stay in a Hilton the last night due to difficulties with planes, trains, and airport security. The dinner was wonderful, and the room looked more or less like the Royal Chambers in a museum or something. Also, it was a 10-minute walk from the terminal, so that's convenient.

A very enjoyable Christmas vacation, indeed, but what's to come? 2010 is the year of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, a few Asia-based fads, and the official Year of the Long-Distance Relationship. Allow me to elaborate.

Over the last couple of days, I have done some scheduling, and some basic math. As it turns out, the gift of the exchange program is a mixed blessing. Between my exchange here in Reims, Anastassia's fall exchange to Copenhagen, and barring any other unforseeable (or forseeable) changes, we will be away from each other for a minimum of 315 days this year (including forseeable events, the maximum days apart climbs to around 345). As you may understand, I was quite surprised and disappointed by this at first. However, I am optimistic that the experience will be positive all around.

As a final note, I hope you all transition back into work or school smoothly, and that you start your 2010 off on the right foot (unless you're left-handed).

Enjoy the pictures! (the rest are or will be on Facebook)