Day 9 - Wednesday, May 21, 2014

On Wednesday, we had our final session at Emlyon, by Niki Papadopolou. She was able to tell us about her experiences as a US expat in France. She talked about the French education system as well. What I found interesting was that even when she began working somewhere it was two years before she had any non-business interaction with her coworkers, and 6 months before she was invited to lunch during work. This is very different from America. Just in my internship, I was taken to lunch by my manager the first day I was there, and have had many opportunities to have lunch with other coworkers as well. We then went back and visited the Atelier de Soie, which is the last place in Lyon which still does silkscreening by hand. The owner is a fourth generation silkscreened, who gave us a demonstration that made it look easy, but I am sure was not. They also explained the process of creating these silk hang ins that use rayon thread, and are hand painted, with each section taking 10 hours to complete.

Afterwards, I stopped with Evan & Julia to get something to drink and people watch at the large square with a fascinating fountain. I ordered an Orangina. Surprise! Sad to say, i'm not sure I took any pictures of Orangina while I was in France.