One of the other presenters was a guy named William Wade who is currently working for the US as a representative with OECD. He was also from Utah so it was interesting to hear his perspective of working at OECD and his background in international affairs.
The main function of the OECD is to coordinate and advise the economic efforts of the 33 member countries. It has been referred to as the "International Country Club" because all most of the member countries are high GDP countries. It was interesting to understand that although there is no policy enforcing group for the OECD (military or otherwise) most of the policies are implemented due to the peer pressure of countries to follow the set standard.
The OECD also works to gather data and publish statistics on various economic topics. They have a very well known reputation for collecting correct data and important information. My first impressions of the OECD before visiting was that it was a somewhat pointless organization that only benefited affluent countries, but I was able to see the benefit on a wider scale of helping not only member countries, but other countries to understand and implement effective economic practices. Their focus was less on making all countries uniform, but rather informing other countries of additional practices.
After the presentations we were taken on a tour of the Chateau that is part of the OECD. I really enjoyed this visit as I had my opinion of the OECD changed, and more fully understood their role in the international community. It amazes me how all of these various international organizations exist, yet the US State Department is able to coordinate efforts with all of these different organizations at the same time.
After our OECD visit we had the rest of the day free. A major part of our experience is the opportunity to explore the cultural aspects of the places we visit and as important as discussing cultural differences it is best to realize those differences through first hand experiences.
Milo, Becky, Ben, and I took off to together. Our first stop by my request was the Eiffel Tower. We boarded the metro and arrived there fairly speedy. This was my first real stop to the Eiffel Tower and I was very excited as it has been something I have always wanted to see. We came up the steps from the Paris Metro and there it was…overshadowing the surrounding buildings.
We went up to the base and took some great photos. I loved it and of course wished I was in love. It seems to lose a little magic visiting the most romantic landmark in the world alone…or at least with people who are just friends. Someday I suppose I'll go with someone, right?
After walking all around the base we decided to find the sister to the Statue of Liberty in the Seine River. We walked and found her much further down the river than National Treasure 2 paints the picture of it being. Thanks Nicholas Cage! (sarcastic)
After going to the statue Milo and I realized how bad we needed to go to the bathroom and the thing about Europe is there are no bathrooms ANYWHERE! And little shops and cafes make you buy something most of the time to use their “toilets”. Lame. So we were dying, but didn’t want to buy anything because every shop lining the river is expensive so we finally found this hotel and walked in and pretended to be guests staying there. No one at a hotel is going to question you if you pretend you know where you are going. We found the lobby bathroom, used it, and resumed our day. I do have to mention how inconvenient this cultural difference is…especially when you have to go BAD! (Which is why I try to drink very little)
We decided to get a later lunch next and walked several blocks away from the river before finding this charming little sandwich shop. The lady inside spoke no English, but was very nice and helpful and we both laughed at how neither of us could speak the other person’s language. You do a lot of pointing and nodding. This isn’t unusual, but she was just so cute and nice and cooked us the BEST Panini sandwiches. I love the food here!
Our next adventure led us down the Metro to Notre Dame. Now I know I have confessed my Cathedral dilemma, but Notre Dame is unbelievable because of the sheer size and the amount of stain glassed windows. The Catholic Church obviously does things a little different, but I did find the glass roomed “Bishop’s Office” where people were confessing their sins to the priest a little strange. You could see them and trust me there were lots of people walking around looking in.
It is interesting to see the patronage the Catholic Church pays to the various Saints. I openly admit a lack of understanding in this area with their feelings on these different Saints, and am just pointing out a cultural religious difference.
While walking around Notre Dame I was right under the Organ looking at something and then all of the sudden it started playing and it was a “D” chord and for a second I thought they were about to start playing “Phantom of the Opera” and then realized Mass was starting. It was neat to stay and watch part of the evening Mass. It was different from what I am used to, but it was still good.
We left Notre Dame and came back to the hotel to work on some of our group projects and take it easy as we walked all over Paris. We currently have an innovation tournament going on where each of us had to think of ten new product/business ideas and tonight we had to rate at least 200 of these ideas submitted by each other and the top 30 ideas will be selected and presented on, and in the end only a few final ideas will be chosen. We’ll have to do business plans and presentations on those final ideas as part of one of our final projects when we get back.
It was quite the fun day and I still can’t believe I’m in Paris!
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