Hurrah!!! was one of the cooler agencies we visited so far! The people who hosted us gave us a fascinating look into the world of e-sports and the rich advertising opportunities that lie there. With football and baseball come established lore that took years and years to establish. E-sports on the other hand, is a new frontier—the legends yet to be names and the traditions yet to be set. This leaves for bountiful opportunities to create a culture around the shared experience. As they were presenting, I was constantly telling myself “duh why haven’t we done this sooner!!” I would have totally gotten my butt kicked by them in Super Smash Bros.
After an impulsive (and unfruitful) journey for a walk-in tattoo shop with the lads, we all decided to just buy some wine and ring in America’s birthday in style by watching the Eiffel Tower shine. SO COOL!! We set up camp in a more than decent spot where we then ran into another American from Texas, some girls from Germany, and couple from Mexico. It was such a lovely night of dancing and singing and admiring the Tower. I love it here!!
On Tuesday, Claudine and Deb were amazing enough to score us a tour of the French Television station! It's all run by the government and our tour was led by a sweet old man. Claudine had to translate for us, but I still feel like I was able to get a valuable look into the television production process. My favorite parts were the sound recording rooms and of course, the TV sets.
Next we visited HAVAS worldwide and wow what a spectacle that was. HAVAS functions in a village as to facilitate a collaborative work environment and put a new meaning to the word "in-house" haha. They were nice enough to walk us through almost every department in the building! They're organic flow workspace went from PR to social media to digital and so on. They really outdid themselves with their tour of the joint.
We kind of had to jump our of HAVAS early because Daniel, Noelle, Morgan and I needed to catch a spot for concert #2 of our study abroad trip: The Avalanches!!! Yes, The Avalanches!! I was so stoked on this show and it truly lived up tot he hype I threw on it haha. I'll talk on concerts Abroad later, but man I have to say it was way sweatier than Whitney last week. We also ended up finding people in the crowd that were from UCF! I loved every second of it all, but I have to say the same for any show that the best part of a night out is the grubbing that follows. As to continue our 4th of July celebrations, Daniel found an American style diner for us to eat at, equipped with an extensive milkshake menu, old fashioned baseball reels playing in the distance and neon signs on everything. I felt like I was in a time/dimension warp. Poptarts and Lucky Charms on the menu?? Can't be real.
And today, well... all fun things must end. I woke up with a horrible throat infection and I've just been sleeping and trying my hardest to swallow some Cup-O-Noodle. I'm missing out on the Leo Burnett tour unfourtunately, but I think is was time to take a day off. I am absolutely not in any condition to leave. So, I think I'll go back to sleep hah.
Hopefully I'll feel a little better tomorrow and enjoy my last full day in Paris before heading back to the USA... I don't wanna leave :(
-A.J. :~)