The Paris Diaries | Puppies, ponies and parisians

Day 3.

Day two of our three day event was a chaotic one, with tens of thousands of visitors heading pilling into the entrance in the first hour of the day. It was hot, packed and stressful – but luckily I was working with a team of angels, mixed up of employees of my company from the Amsterdam office and local students, who made the day so much more fun! Working alongside a group of upbeat, interesting group of people, who kept me laughing all day, made my day of work seem more like a holiday.

With so many people in the venue, security was tight and police presence was felt. The French police who patrolled the area were lovely, with every single one of them coming over to say hello and shake my hand. Nothing makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside the way good manners do!

One police officer was kind enough to bring a puppy along to the show, which made my mid-afternoon stint in the quiet lobby much more enjoyable. We were told ‘they’re not dogs you want to stoke’ but I strongly disagreed. He was wagging his tail so much I could tell he wanted to play, so I headed over and asked if he was friendly before bending down and being attacked by cuddles. His name was Abel and he was a cutie, rolling on his back so I could give him a belly rub. Sadly I couldn’t stoke him all day, I had work to do, and the police officer jokingly remarked that I was ‘ruining his image’, which was a fair point.

Not only were there puppies in the building, but horses next door – the next building along were hosting a horse show on the same week as our event. Sadly, despite my eager attempt, I couldn’t make it through the security on the front gate. I did however, get to hold a door open for a Shetland pony who was arriving late, I stroked him as he walked passed and sneezed all over the door. I named him Sheldon.

After my stint on the front lobby, I ended up in the lunch hall with the girls. I sat eating a bowl of vegetables (the vegetarian options were limited) with two French girls, two Chinese girls and a girl from India. They all asked me questions about London, I asked them questions about their events management course in Nice, I learnt how to say ‘I love you’ in Mandarin and thought about how strange it was that we all ended up at the same dinner table.

Sadly the girls weren’t working the third day of the show, meaning I had to say goodbye to my new French friends. We exchanged details and I’m already mentally planning a trip to Nice! The best part of working while you travel is the people you come into contact with – working means you’re constantly interacting with people you’d otherwise never get to meet, and I got to meet a very lovely bunch!