Paris

Paris! Once again, I had a great experience in Paris. I was a little nervous going into Paris because people always talk about how rude the French are, but I hoped some of my French from high school would come back to me so I could communicate somewhat in French!

Well when we landed in the airport i just wanted to check that we were on the right path for our train so I walked right up to the info desk and asked if the women would speak English to me please (in French of course) she was very willing and sent us on our way! Once we checked into our hostel we knew the first thing we were doing was going to Chipotle. I know some of you read that and are saying, “Chipotle but you are in Paris”, but when you haven’t been to a Chipotle in 3 months and you finally are in a city that has it… it’s a little bit irresistible! So, we headed to our nearest one which was about a 25-minute walk, so we decided to actually make the walk instead of taking the metro so we could explore the city, and shop along the way! Once we made it, it was everything we had been waiting for and more, but the guy who was checking us out said he felt a bit pressured giving us our first bowl of chipotle in months, let alone our first chipotle in Paris! But he did great making it because we ate every bite! After our dinner break we continued our shopping only this time we shopped while making our way to the Louvre, which is where we would spend the rest of the night! The louvre is absolutely massive and filled with art work. People could spend an entire day in there if they actually took the time to sit and inspect each painting they were passing, but we went in there on a mission to find some must sees and also get through a large majority of the museum but not spend too much time in there. We made it to the Mona Lisa early on and it honestly in pretty comical when you see the room she is in. The room is huge but all the people are gathered around the Mona trying to get their pictures, meanwhile there are massive paintings on all the other walls and just the tiny Mona. I do think some people pay the money to get into this museum and only see the Mona Lisa! Something that is awesome about Paris is that with a student visa you get into most of the museums and attractions there free! Paris is a VERY expensive city, but this definitely helped lighten the load. A single dinner out there can easily be 25 euros.

Thursday, we spent the entire day in Disney! If you haven’t already go read my post about Disney! It was definitely one of the most memorable days of my time abroad. BUT that night when we got back into the city, we tried to go to a Cabaret for the evening. We found one that was 20 euros which we were excited about because it was fairly cheap (very cheap compared to the others ones) so we went and when we sat down the cheapest drink was 17 euros, and it was now 11:20 pm and the show that was suppose to start at 1030 hadn't even begun. We were told UBERing in Paris wasn't safe (which we now learned is false) but since we thought that at this point we needed to metro back and the metro stopped running at 12:55 and our hostel told us to leave by 12 to make sure we made it back. So I wasn't about to pay 20 euros to only be there for 40 minutes, so we got up explained our situation and headed back to the streets to just explore till we had to be back on the metro. We went and saw the Notre Dame which is gorgeous, but was filled with Rats! Rats would tun out from the bushes and towards the garbage cans! But we had a fun productive night even though it wasn't what we were expecting!

Friday, we started out our day by going to Centre Pompidou which we just went to see the architecture of the building, SO we went and took our pictures then were off to meet up with the one and only Tori Trimm. (Tori is studying for the semester in Paris so I made sure that whenever I decided to come to the city that she would be there) Of course, she was running late so Anna and I found a cheap crepe place on the side of the road and got some crepes because how can you be in Paris and not get some crepes, and took them to go and shopped a bit! Once Tori arrived she took us to this place that is VERY well known especially since there was a line out the door, but she took us here to grab some delicious hot chocolate to go and we hit the road so she could show us around! She took us to the Eiffel Tower and took us the scenic route to get there so we could see as much as possible! Then from there she took us to this adorable little place where we got a cup of tea for 2 euros and just sat and caught up! This place was full of mosaic tiles and fun colors and was just a place to be in general. She took us through some amazing parks and through a little festival that was happening, then later that night we met up with her and some of her friends from school for a few drinks! Anna and I had dinner on our own that night so we could pick up some cheap street food, because we are trying to get by with our little amount of actual cash left. (Like I have said, we avoid using ATMS because they have only caused problems for our friends).

Saturday, we had about half of the day to spend before heading to the airport! We started our morning by going to the Sainte Chapelle because Tori thought that was something we would like to see being architecture and interior design majors. It was beautiful and COVERED in stain glass windows and definitely something I'm happy I saw! Then we met up with Tori and her friend Kelsey to go thrift shopping! Paris had some great thrift shops and vintage stores and our friends told us it was a must do while there! So, we went out and it was a great time! It was my first time ever thrift shopping and I was on a hunt for good deals. I got a jean jacket which is something I have wanted this entire trip for only 1 euro! 1 euro! This place we went to had bins FULL of stuff that was only a euro! So, we tore apart these bins hunting for some good finds, and honestly you could find a lot in there. All I got was my jean jacket, but Anna got 4 jackets, Tori got a pair of pants, a top, and 2 jackets, and Kelsey got 2 sweaters! After the thrifting ended we headed to grab some lunch to go and Tori took us to a falafel place because its cheap, good, and filling! It was Anna and I’s first one every and I definitely made a mess while eating it and fed several birds, but it was something I will definitely have again. Then our last stop of our trip was to the Arc de Triumph to climb and get an amazing view of the city. We decided to do this because climbing the Arc was free for students opposed to Eiffel Tower which was 20 something euros, and this was we could get pictures with the Eiffel Tower in it! We were low on metro tickets at the time so Tori and Kelsey squeezed with Anna and I to get us through using their metro passes so we didn’t have to buy just ONE more! The arc was amazing and a great view, but was a HIKE to get to the top! But it was worth all the steps

In all Paris was a great trip, but besides Disney (which was something I looked forward to all semester) it was honestly a memorable for me because I got to catch up with Tori and have her as my personal tour guide for a day! It was so nice having a new familiar face from home, and I miss her already! Paris was only the beginning of our trip this week because we had Wednesday-Monday off for thanksgiving break. And since Paris and London are so close to each other (and were going to be our most expensive cities) it only made sense for us to do them back to back! Be sure to check back in tomorrow for the rest of my thanksgiving travels in London!