Pari!

Bonjour! Got back from Paris Sunday night, and unfortunately it was not as eventful/chaotic as Madrid. It was all organized through the school so we just had to follow and pay attention pretty much ha. Friday afternoon we took a double decker bus to the the EuroStation to get on our chunnel to Pari. It was kind of unfortunate leaving because it was super nice out and really sunny... of course the day we aren't going to be here but oh well. Can't win them all. Well we made it to the train station and I am really sad to say but it was not like Harry Potter going to Hogwarts.... at all. It was just a normal train but with comfier seats.  On our bus ride to the station I asked our tour guide if it was like that and she laughed and told the entire group what I had asked, on the loud speaker. Grr. Yah so it was not how I expected at all and you couldn't even tell we were underwater at all either. Not as cool as it is made out to seem, let me tell you. But at least we got there safe and sound.

By the time we got there it was night time and our leaders had scheduled us to take a night boat cruise through Paris and see all the buildings lit up. It was AMAZING! The Eiffel Tower is so so sooo pretty at night. There were other boats and museums lit up to and it was incredible. A bunch of us bought little baby bottles of wine and drank them as we went up and down the river.... so romantic but super cold. Paris is for sure a romantic, woman city. I learned this weekend that Paris is a woman city because of all the romantic things one can do and London is a manly city because it is the only place in the world where the guys dress better than the ladies, ha. I thought that was a fun little fact. Anyways after our little tour we got a bite to eat and just hung out at our really really nice hotel. It was super late when we got done and we had to wake up at 730am to go on a bus tour of London so all of us just hung out in each others rooms.

So we woke up the next morning and got on our bus. It was muggy and rainy but still so unbelievably gorgeous! Our first stop was at Notre Dame! I pictured it to be way bigger but it was a normal size cathedral. I was a little upset though, there were like two gargoyles and I always imagined it completely filled with them. Oh well. It was still amazing. The inside was very dark and sacred. There was actually a mass going on when we walked it so it was kind of creepy. Not that the mass was creepy but I felt like I was intruding and going to be taken to the dungeon for sneaking in... thankfully I didn't. After that we drove around Paris for a couple more hours because it was raining and we couldn't really get out. We saw many, many cathedrals, Musee de Lourve (which is the biggest museum in the world), Muse de Madelena (which was my personal favorite), the Academie Nationale de Musique (where the Phantom of the Opera lived), and Palace de Luxembourg and much much more. Lastly, we stopped at the Eiffel Tower to ride to the tippy tippy top! It started down pouring right when we got there, so we waited in line for an hour and got soaked. By the time we got to the top, we were frozen and didn't end up staying for long because we were so cold. It was sad because it's a big dealll but it was so cold, no one could stand it. The view was absolutely amazing though and I want to go back when it is nicer outside. We took the elevator up, which was kind of frightening and then took the stairs down. 1665 stairs to be exact.

After that we had free time and Meg and Lauren and I went to the shopping area in Paris to see what it was like. Kind of like a typical mall but way more fancy. We took a taxi there and luckily Meg spoke French and the driver apparently told us that he thinks British people are pretty but Americans and very veryyy pretty. haha. Boosted our self-esteem for the rest of the day. Once we were exhausted from shopping, we tried to find a taxi home... we were roaming the streets and ended up walking right into a protest. It was actually pretty frightening. It was a revolt for world peace for the Israelis'? I think. We quick turned onto another street and ended up on "prostitute lane" we decided to call it. It was unbelievable seeing these girls in broad daylight, roaming the streets in their mini skirts. Ew. We quickly booked it out of there and finally found a cab back to our hotel.

That night we got dressed up and went to dinner with a bunch of people in our program. It was so fun just walking around trying to find a restaurant.  Did you knowthat you can drink in public in Paris? Just have a bottle of wine, in hand and drink while walking down the street. Welp you can, I still felt like it was illegal so I didn't do this but everyone else did. Also, there were street performers everywhere and music playing. I tried lamb for the first, and didn't really think it was that great. After dinner we went to some underground bar and danced the night away. haha. Meg, Lauren and I decided to call each other french names for the whole trip and Meg was Maaag, Lauren was Laron and I was Madeline. fun fun times.

Sunday morning Lauren, Meg, Raya and I went to the famous flea market in France. It was an experience for sure. Some French guy almost got me to buy a 200 euro leather jacket.... they are amazing at persuading. Thank god I didn't buy it though because then I would have to say goodbye to Amsterdam this weekend.  One part of the flea market, you could tell was not the best because people pretty much just had a pile of old junk on a blanket and they literally would pull you to their station and speak so fast and and hand you their items. I had issues with this just because I didn't speak any french. We ran through this part pretty fast though and then took a cab to THE LOURVE. I can not even describe how big this place is. It is incredible. It's shaped like a U too and in the middle is a beautiful courtyard with green grass and flowers. Since it was Sunday though, it was packed and really overwhelming. We pretty much just went in, saw the Mona Lisa and a couple other exhibits and left. Too much to handle. Oh and Mona Lisa.... not as cool as it's made out to be. It's tiny. Maybe I am just bitter because I didn't get to see it up close because so many people were in front of it but either way I was not impressed. Just a forewarning. I mean it does have a lot of history, and it is very pretty but I don't know. I still took a picture.

Once we finally got out of the Lourve we went back to the hotel and met our group to take a bus back to the EuroStation. Oh ohhh we saw where a scene took place in the Bourne Supremacy, which I thought was preeetttyyy cool. Then took the upsetting chunnel home and went right to bed. There was a SuperBowl party in another dorm but we we were way too tired. The game started at midnight here and went on till 3am. Some people were able to stay up, somehow but my roommates and I definitely did not.  Pretty successful weekend overall and excited now for next weekend in Amsterdam! In one month, I am going to have been in an English speaking country, Spanish speaking country, French speaking country, and Dutch. pretty exciting. That's all for now. Toodles.