Musee Carnavalet Recap

Hello AU members and fans! TGIF!!

We had a great turnout at last weekend's event, the guided tour of the Musee Carnavalet. Our tour guide, Mlle. Tram, was very friendly and very knowledgeable in all things Paris. Her excitement was so contagious we had some hanger-ons join our tour. There was much to see and 1,5 hours is simply not enough time. I will definitely go back for learn more about this wonderful city I now call home.

Oh, and one last thing, the Musee Carnavelet offers many different themed tours (ie 17th century furniture, a general history of Paris, 18th century art). Some tours are free and others paid. General admission to the museum is free and you must pay if you want to check out their latest exhibition: the French Revolution.

Go check it out...you won't regret it!

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We've Moved!

Welcome to Accent United's new virtual home. Sit back, relax, and explore the new digs.

Now as you know, moving can be...well, ummm...challenging to say the least. While not as physically straining, virtual moves are quite a challenge. I won't bore you with the details but know that there was a bit of work involved and there is even more work that needs to be done over the next couple of weeks.

The purpose of this blog is to share Accents United related information with you, our members (and those interested in becoming members). We will post information on Accents United events, charities we work with and Accents United administrative information. Links to our Facebook profiles and our Picasa photo albums can be found right below the header. We have also added a section for member events in case you have an event that you would like to share with the other Accents United members (right menu column). And of course, if you have any ideas for the blog, feel free to let us know. This is after all, a work in progress.

One last thing...as you can well imagine, we have a lot of photos (4 years x 12 events/yr = A LOT of photos!). This is the part of the move that will take the longest. Most of the photos will be housed on our Picasa site. Photos for our most recent events will be found on our Facebook group page. We'll let you know once all the photos are posted but in the meantime, keep checking back with to see how far we've come along!

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Accents United GM Meeting, May 27, 2009

Present: Racquel Cooper (President), Aisling Mullet (Secretary), Laurent Petit (Treasurer)
Members present: Alexandre Iffrich, Leonor Rondeau, Melanie Vaz

Renewal of Committee members
Racquel explained that she would no longer have time to run Accents United considering her new role ;-) Racquel will continue to attend events when possible but put the President role up for renewal. Members were asked if they were interested in taking over the Presidency position. Melanie stated her interest and was unanimously voted in as President. Aisling and Laurent were asked if they would like to continue as Secretary and Treasurer. Both agreed to be renewed and were voted unanimously. Members were asked if they would like to participate as a committee member which would mean helping out in the organization of certain events. Leonor became a Committee member.

Therefore the current Committee includes:

Executive Committee
President : Melanie Vaz
Honorary President: Racquel Cooper
Secretary : Aisling Mullett
Treasurer : Laurent Petit

Members of the Committee
Leonor Rondeau

Financial Statement
Laurent presented Accents United’s current financial position. He explained that Accents United had a relatively good year, making money for this year’s chosen charity through 2 garage sales and two quizzes. Main outgoing costs include insurance and the cost of the website. It was suggested Accents United’s try reduce its outgoing costs in order raise more money for our chosen charity. One suggestion was to find a free website or blog. Melanie agreed to look into a new solution.

Accents United currently has 12 paying members. Please email accentsunited@yahoo.fr for a copy of the 2008-09 financial statement.

Events
Members were asked if they had enjoyed the 2008-2009 activities. It was noted that the Sports day should remain as an annual event (perhaps free of charge for everyone). Other favourites with members included the quizzes, museum visits and the guided tours in English. It was agreed that we would include all of these events in the 2009-2010 calendar. New suggestions for events included:

• Cooking class
• Bike tour or segway tour in Paris
• Ballet
• Museum visit
• Boat trip Canal Saint Martin
• Organise new photo exhibition
• Visit photography museum
• Picnic Parc Monceau
• Polyglot apéro evening
• Tickets to Roland Garros
• Day trips - St Germain en Laye, Parc des Sceaux, Vaux Le Vicomte
• Night show at Versailles
• Visit St Eustache church, Les Halles
• Outdoor Shakespeare (jardin anglais)
• See a show at Opera Bastille
• Treasure hunt
• Guided tour of la coulée verte, Paris
• Metro ghost tour
• Jardin des plantes
• Bike trip in the 93
• Forum des images

If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to let us know via email or in the comments section of this post.

Charity 2009
Accents United made 400€ for this year’s chosen charity. Aisling mentioned that originally Accents United would have liked for someone to participate as a volunteer in one of the humanitarian trips organised by Coup de Pouce. So far no member has volunteered. Aisling will send another email to members to see if there is any interest. If not, Accents United will donate the money directly to Coup de Pouce.

Next Charity
Members present were asked to make suggestions for this year’s charity. Most members were interested in a local children’s charity. Each member present will look into this further. Members who have any ideas can forward any suggestions to Aisling: accentsunited@yahoo.fr

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Why Accents United?

Paris has a huge expatriate population, yet with work engagements and other such commitments the choices available to newcomers (and those already established in Paris) for making contacts are often limited. The majority of our committee members understand the unique problems faced when moving to Paris from abroad. Being alone in a big city is no fun!

In short, it can be difficult – sometimes daunting– to meet people socially.
Although many cultural associations/clubs exist, they often focus on a single area of activity such as sports, language exchanges and orientation for newcomers to Paris.

Accents United is involved in a variety of activities and welcomes everyone!

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