The Honeymoon is over

The days are starting to blur together already (which is quite sad).  This is day 5 of my travels and day 3 of training.  I wont elaborate on this (because that is not the point of the blog), but I have heard this training compared only half jokingly to the reality shows Survivor, Big Brother, The Apprentice and the Mole.  HAHAHA.   Lucky me.  I know I am not a Richard Hatch or Amarosa so maybe the outlook is not so good for me; however, I am having a lot of fun and meeting a lot of interesting people :)

Yesterday was a long day.  The most notable experiences involved working for the first time with my team to accomplish a case study and eating dinner in a Moroccan restaurant.  It was a VERY cultural experience and I have decided that I love cous cous.  I wish I had a picture of the inside of the restaurant but I thought it might be rude to take one.  However, picture feeling like you are eating inside the tent of the sheik of Arab!

When I got back to the hotel last night, I couldn't sleep at all.  I ended up working until 4 am and then getting an entire 1 hour of sleep.  Today was a fairly long day.  I had my first meeting with the tribunal (haha this is just a joke but it is a figure of speech in a way).  The afternoon was quite awesome.  I spent it in the Michelin museum.  I think if I could convince my father to come to Clermond Ferrand and visit the museum, he would see what a wonderful company I work for: one that is both socially responsible as well as passionately innovative!  I must have been emotional due to the lack of sleep, but it was a pretty inspiring day overall.  After the day, I trudged back to my suite with several colleagues.  We hiked up to the cathedral and had a lovely dinner and then walking back to the hotel....and here I sit documenting my day for my loves.  Here are a couple of pictures I took today:

I was told by one of my colleagues that my eyes look "like his do when he hasn't had any sleep."  Yes, I posted it on a blog just to make him feel bad.  Here is a picture I took of myself.  Do I really look like I haven't slept more than an hour??????? Perhaps I should have purchased the INDUSTRIAL brand of makeup.

Here are three of my colleagues walking through the streets of Clermont Ferrand.

The architecture is interesting with both old and new elements

Plenty of attractive looking shops

I have seen a lot of beach cruiser and antique bicycles.  Well of course this city is the origin of the pneumatic tire!

This is one side of the cathedral notre dame and the view from the table where we ate our diner.

Tomorrow will be another long day followed by a cocktail party.  I am sorry girls but I don't think I can bring myself to wear a party dress.  I will be doing a partial tour of the city on foot in the afternoon and I feel the need to be practical.  30% of my fellow stage mates are female and so far there are not many dress wearers :)  I will try to wear something attractive and sparkly and I'll be sure to take a picture of myself in the morning so you can tell me if you approve!  I love you and have a wonderful night.