Paris

I just returned from Paris two days ago, which was amazing. Although I had heard this many times before, I didn't realize how truly rude the Parisians can be. At first my French was extremely rusty, but by the end of the trip I was able to have several meaningful conversations, including how to get somewhere on the metro and where I could find a cash machine and umbrella. I understood a lot more than I could speak. Surprisingly, a LOT of people speak English there. Every restaurant we went to had English speaking waiters. (Especially McDonalds, which is the only thing open on Sundays in Paris).

We hopped in a cab at 3 am on Friday morning to go to Paris, which was a little early for my liking. We were all totally exhausted. The cab ride was two hours to Luton Airport in London. We lucked out and only had to pay 80 pounds instead of 140 because the people I talked to when I called in advance gave me the wrong price. Hooray! When we first arrived at our hostel we definitely did not get a warm welcome, but we made the best of it. At least we got free internet and croissants in the morning! Although they did hide them behind the counter near the beer and I had to everything short of beg them to have two instead of one. The first day we walked around the area nearby our hostel and stumbled upon the Eiffel tower, which ended up being about a 15-20 minute walk away. We realized quickly that you had to be careful of gypsies and hagglers around the Eiffel, including a man who drew the most hideous caracature of me...I refused to pay him for it because it was so ugly. And he still gave it to me for me! After walking around for the day, Joanna, Jelyse, and I all met up with Katharine and her friends and went out for dinner. (A 30 euro dinner, might I add....with TINY PORTIONS! But soooo delicious). Joanna and I were both struggling with a terrible cough, no sleep, and PINK EYE! From wearing our contacts too long and fake eye lashes the night before at Jo's burlesque themed birthday party. But we made the best of it because we were so excited to be in Paris. All the rest of the 5 days seem to be a blur, but to summarize, we saw the Sacre Coeur, Eiffel tower in daylight, night, and went halfway up at night, Champs Elysees, Luxembourg Gardens, Concorde, the square where Marie Antoinette was killed, Versailles, the Arc de Triomphe, Moulin Rouge, Saint-Michel fountain/square, the Notre Dame, the bridge where the first pedestrian sidewalks were created/the oldest bridge in Paris, the Seine River, the Louvre (Mona is tiny!), and the Opera house that the phantom of the Opera musical was based off of. We took a map and literally walked or took the metro to all of Paris. For the Versailles tour we had to take the train there, and although the gardens were AMAZING, it rained the whole time and we were soaked. The thing I loved about Paris was that every where you went there was some fountain or monument popping up. Everything was extremely beautiful and I felt like I learned a lot on the free tour we went on and from Joanna's friend living in Paris who took us around on the last day. I realize that you have to have a thick skin to live in Paris, as amazing as it is. I found myself desperately missing Colchester and the small town friendly vibe here. It is an amazing city though and I felt really blessed to have the opportunity to travel there and do as much as we did. Looking out from the Eiffel tower at night at the city made me feel so small in a good way- like the world is this huge, amazing, infinite place where anything is possible.

Unfortunately my blog won't let me post pictures right now, so those of you who don't have me on Facebook will get emails with the pictures :)

Tomorrow I am going to London to spend Easter with Christie, then I have two weeks of essays and studying before GREECE!

Love from England xxx