I love Paris in the ... Winter!

Yesterday I took the TGV up to Paris for an interview for a Tour Manager position with ACIS (American Council for International Studies). ACIS organizes international travel experiences for groups of US high school students. Tour Managers are the liaison between the company and the group. They accompany the groups during their travels and make sure that everything runs smoothly. The major period for ACIS in Europe is apparently March, April, June and July so those are the months I would most likely be working. My friend, Jocelyn, has worked as a TM in the past and recommended that I apply. It's a good sort of job to have when you're working on a doctorate because it isn't tremendously time consuming. On the train up, I was sitting next to an older French lady. She was very friendly and we engaged in several exchanges over the three-hour ride. She asked me if I wouldn't like a throat lozenge, she was having one. Then when I was dozing, she squeezed my wrist to wake me up to see the snow-covered fields going by outside. Later on she offered to loan me her fashion magazine, but I declined because I was reading the McEwan book. Upon arriving at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, we went our separate ways. However, a few minutes later our paths crossed once again on the way to the subway and she exclaimed to her companion who had come to meet her: "Ah! Voilà la jeune fille qui était assise à côté de moi dans le train." And to me: "Je voulais vous dire que vous êtes très belle!" I thanked her and we again went our separate ways. This time definitively. I decided to take the compliment as a sign that the interview would go well, and well it did go! They invited me to the annual training session in London which is next weekend. Though they reserve the right to not keep you on after the training weekend, it basically means I'm in! I had been a little bit nervous about the interview because it's been ages since I've had a job interview. Most of the time people just offer me work without my having to apply or interview for it! But it went well. I smiled and told lots of funny personal anecdotes which they seemed to enjoy. After the interview I had just enough time to hop on the subway up to Madeleine to go to Fauchon (a classy French food shop) to get something to bring to Michel and Muriel's dinner party tonight (I decided on a box of cookies and a box of macarons) before getting back on the subway to meet my friend Gérald at St Michel. This was very important because aside from seeing a friend (we first met at a workshop for grad students during our first year of our doctorates, he finished in December and I'm still working ...), he was bringing me a huge stack of documents to help me with my research! We hung out, had a few drinks, talked shop and then he accompanied me to the train station so I could catch the 8:15 pm TGV back to Marseille. It was a long whirlwind day, but very pleasant and worthwhile. And in addition to getting to see snowy fields from the TGV on the ride up, I also got to experience a bit of real snow myself. When I got out of the subway at Madeleine it was snowing! It last for about five minutes. By the time I came back out of the shop it had stopped. The the little bit I did experience was magical!