University clubs

I forget who suggested I should check out my alma maters' (I have no idea how to pluralize that) club sites in Paris. I just did, and found that the Yale Club de France has a happy hour this Thursday near the Tuileries, as well as some other outings.

The MIT club, though, has some pretty seriously chichi events. For 95€ (80€ if I get a 60€ year membership), I can have a Thanksgiving dinner the Monday before Thanksgiving with the American ambassador to France. Also, last year they had (for 250€) invitations to the École Polytechnique's 115th annual Grand Ball at the Opéra Garnier. It's difficult to explain what a big fancy hoo-ha dealy that is. On the site they explain it this way: "The Grand Ball of the Ecole Polytechnique is a veritable French public institution, held every year since 1879, in the presence of French and foreign dignitaries, senior officials, industrial leaders as well as personalities from the field of science, industry, culture and the world of communication, under the high patronage of Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic." Right. The graduates of the École Polytechnique, known as "les X," run France (along with graduates of the École Nationale d'Administration, who are known as "les énarques"). Pretty select company!