Bonjour!
Thursday, we broke up into three different groups and each group was assigned a different two hour session so that there would only be about 8 or 9 people in the aircraft simulator room at any given time. The aircraft simulator we were shown was one used not for training pilots, but for training air traffic controllers on aircraft capabilities and controls. This simulator was created by Airbus for the preliminary design of the A330, but once the design changed the simulator was given to ENAC for training purposes. During my session, the instructor went over the controls and got the first pair ready to fly from Toulouse to Marseille. Taking off was pretty easy, but landing was the difficult part for everyone. It was kind of more fun watching other people crash than actually land your own plane safely.
On our last day in the program, we started off with learning about the air traffic control simulators. We didn’t actually get to do anything in the simulators, but we were shown the different roles such as upper airspace, lower airspace, and airspace visible from the tower. It was actually two air traffic controllers and former ENAC students that came back to teach us about this topic. This was still probably one of the more interesting topics mainly because I’ve never had any information on air traffic controllers before. We then had lunch at ENAC before heading back to SUPAERO to get changed for our program debriefing. The debriefing was just an open forum between the students and the program administration. We brought up some areas that should be improved such as limiting the program to about 20 students instead of 30 and improving how content is covered such as focusing on important concepts versus cramming every detail in just a few hours. They also had suggestions for us such as improving our punctuality since there were quite a few times when just a few people being late would make the whole group look bad since it would cause us to arrive at visits late. Basically, it’s always good to remember that “Michigan Time” only applies to U of M classes. Overall, I think we had a nice dialogue to improve the program, and I would like to hear from next year’s participants to hear their experiences. We then had a three hour break before the graduation ceremony. The graduation was expected to last almost two hours, but only took about 30 minutes. The President’s of ISAE and ENAC gave short speeches and then handed out our unofficial transcripts. Our official transcripts are being sent directly to our home universities in order to be audited for transfer credit. We then were allowed to change into more comfortable clothes before heading to the restaurant the program had booked for our last official gathering. The restaurant is along the canal just past where we walked the week before to get to Intespace. They had snacks and drinks for us when we arrived so that we could just relax and chat. It was also a good time to take some last minute photos with friends. The dinner did have its sad moments as we realized this would be the last time we’d ever see most of the people in our program since we all leave at different times. After dinner, a few of us went to two of the dance clubs by the Palias de Justice metro stop since it was our last time to go out dancing as the French do.
I slept in quite a bit on Saturday since I didn’t have to leave for my train to Paris until around 11pm. When I woke up, it was a bit weird because half of the program students had already left, which just made the dorm feel lonely. I went out into the town with the few remaining students to find lunch and we also did a bit of shopping. There were lots of great deals, but my luggage couldn’t hold anywhere near as much as I wanted to buy. It was probably a good idea to save my money for Paris anyways. I had to leave the group early so I could head back and do laundry and pack. It was interesting trying to pack 6.5 weeks back into a suitcase then lug it to the train station, but I made it. Although, I had to carry it all the way around the train station since they only have one entrance open at night. My train was delayed about 45 minutes, so I was just about falling asleep on the platform waiting for it. When it did arrive, I found my train car, but I had a problem finding my seat. The car was dark with almost every seat filled since it was a night train to Paris. I found what I thought was my seat, but it was hard to see the numbers. There was a woman and her child sitting there, so I figured I must have the wrong seat. I found an empty seat and sat down when the woman in front of me turned around and started talking to me in French. Sadly, I didn’t understand a word she said, and I told her I could only speak a bit of French. She then pulled out her ticket, so I gathered she wanted to see my ticket. She read my ticket and led me to my correct seat. She ended up taking me back to the seat I originally thought was mine. She then said something to the woman sitting in my seat, and I thanked the woman for her help. I then tried to settle in as much as I could and get some sleep.
On Sunday, I got off at about 7am. I didn’t sleep very well since I was kind of worried about missing my stop even though I knew Paris was most likely the last stop. Anyways, I met one of my friends from the program who had taken the train the day before to Paris. He helped me find my way to my hotel so I could store my suitcase in their luggage room, and then we were off to the Louvre! There are metro stations right under the Louvre, so we were able to pretty much breeze through security since most people enter through the pyramid. It also helped that we were there just after 9am which is when the museum opens. We kind of powered through the Louvre in three hours since we wanted to make the most out of the day. Realistically, you would spend days if not weeks reading about every single piece of art. So we went from room to room to see the most famous works of art while seeing the other cool stuff along the way. I was really surprised by how small the Mona Lisa is in real life. It’s displayed on a huge wall behind bulletproof glass and they still rope off the area so 10 feet is the closest you can get to it. We then went over to Notre Dame which is on one of the islands in the Seine River. The façade is very impressive especially because of the height of the bell towers. The inside wasn’t as great as the outside, but it was still worth seeing especially since it’s free to enter. The line to climb the bell towers was quite long, so we decided to skip that and go back to the hotel to meet up with our friends that flew into Paris. That night we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant near our hotel. The waiter was very helpful, and the food was amazing.
I was still tired from the night before so I slept in a bit on Monday. One of the other guys in our group did the same, so we just had the other guys leave without us and we’d go exploring a bit later. He still hadn’t been to Notre Dame, so we went there first. It worked out well because I wanted to get some better pictures and climb the bell towers. My friend had to find a train station to by some tickets, so he went and did that while I climbed the towers. The view really was worth the wait. I then went over to the Eiffel Tower to see if I could meet up with my other friends. I didn’t find them, but I decided I’d climb the tower since I was there. The elevator was about 3 times as much as climbing the stairs, so I just went the cheap route. It was a long trek, but I got some decent pictures and learned a few facts about Gustave Eiffel. After building the Eiffel Tower, Gustave did a lot of aerodynamic experiments, including a windtunnel at the base of the tower. I then found the Arc de Triomphe just as the sun was setting, which was my plan all along since my friends suggested spending the sunset there since you have a decent view of the Eiffel Tower and other views of Paris. At 10pm, the Eiffel Tower lit up and put on a five minute light show. This happens every hour after it gets dark, but this is the only one you can see from the top of the Arc de Triomphe since it closes before the next light show. I then decided I should head back to our hotel. It wasn’t a very hard decision as my feet were aching from all the walking and climbing. I didn’t plan for it, but it turned into a day of climbing. In total I climbed 1377 steps when combining the totals from Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower.
On Tuesday, all of my friends left for home, and I had to change hotels. It was about 2pm, but the time I was ready to head out to do some more sightseeing on my own. I decided I had just enough time to go to the Army Museum which is also the location of Napoleon’s Tomb. The tomb is under a golden dome that you can see from quite a distance. I was also able to go through the World War II display, which was very interesting to learn about the French perspective. Next on the agenda was to see the exhibit on medieval armor. It was getting late, so I went back to my hotel area to find a grocery store. I got myself stocked up to last me the rest of the week. When I was downstairs in the lobby of my hotel, I met some students from Massachusetts, and we talked until about 1am or so when it was time to go to bed.
Wednesday’s plan was to find the Air and Space Museum. I saw where it was on the map, but I couldn’t find it when I got to that area. After looking around, I finally asked around, and I found out the map lied a little bit. I ended up having to take a city bus toward the airport. When I did get there, I was able to go aboard a B747, two Concordes, and a rescue helicopter.
Since it took me so long to find that museum, I really only had time for one more thing. I headed back to the center of town to find the Concierge which is the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept for a few months before being executed. Overall, it wasn’t a very exiting day, but I did take a relaxing walk along the river.
I took the train out to Versailles on Thursday to explore the Palace of Versailles. The actual palace part was impressive, but it was nothing compared to the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon, and the Queen’s Hamlet. These places are part of the gardens to the palace. There is also a canal in the shape of a cross that stretches about 3 kilometers. It took me about 6 hours to walk all over the estate to see everything, and I was very happy to get on the train back to Paris, so I could sleep for an hour. When I got back it was around 7pm, so I figured it would be a good time to check out the Moulin Rouge. I just took pictures from the outside since the price of one show was about 80 euros. I then went back to my hotel to eat and rest my feet.
Friday was my last day to explore Paris. I figured I’d start with the Opera House. There’s also a new Opera House, but I wanted to see the historical one. There’s not much to the place, but there are many lavish staircases and hallways that would have been amazing to see when the Opera House was new. I then went to find one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. It’s famous, because many of France’s greatest people in science, politics, and entertainment are buried there. There are also several internationally famous people such as Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. I just found it interesting that most of the graves are above ground like the ones you see in cities with water tables near the surface. Jim Morrison’s grave was hidden behind a few others, and it had barriers around it to try to prevent vandalism. Oscar Wilde’s grave is covered in kisses, and what I mean by that is that it is tradition to put on red lipstick and then kiss the tomb. I also found Joseph Gay-Lussac’s grave. He’s not as popular as others, but to an engineer into gas dynamics, it was a must-see attraction. After getting a little lost, I found the metro station to head to the last Hard Rock Café of my trip. It was late, so I had to head back to my hotel right after I got my shirt. I packed up all of my stuff and tried to get a few hours of sleep before heading off to the airport.
I left my hotel on Saturday around 5am to head to the airport. I had to transfer a few times, but it was nice that the metro system runs to the airport. My flight wasn’t until 10:45am, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to go through check-in, security, and customs. Once I was through everything, I found a place to get some food then played a few games on my computer while I waited for my plane to start boarding. Once I was seated the ride went by pretty quickly, but it helped that I was able to sleep for about 6 hours of the flight. The only problem was the guy next to me that wanted to talk to me while I wanted to read. I got into Atlanta, GA around 2pm. I had to go through immigration then get my bag and go through customs. I have a feeling that they were expecting several international flights because they basically had us rush through customs then drop off our bags to get checked again before going through security. After all of that I was able to get to my terminal and wait for my flight to Flint. I had a 6 hour layover, but it was fine since it gave me time to call all of my family and friends to let them know I was back in the states. I have to say it was weird to suddenly have a cell phone after going without it for 7 weeks. Anyways, I had a very nice flight to Flint. Atlanta at night is very beautiful at night plus we flew next to a thunderstorm about halfway through the flight. My parents were waiting for me at the airport, and it was great to finally see them in person after 7 weeks. It’s been a long day of traveling, so I’m glad my very comfortable bed is waiting for me.
Thanks for following my study abroad adventures, and I'll make another post in a few weeks to let you know how I'm adjusting back to American culture.
