Despite the countless times I exclaimed to Justin that I don't know any French unless it's a phrase pulled from "Lady Marmalade," I not only made it to Paris but, with his help, I had one of the absolute best weekends I've ever had in recent memory..
So, being the brave-and-daring roommates that we are, Elyssa and I got up at 3am (so early that many of our friends upstairs were just coming in for the night) and we quickly readied ourselves for our near-epic journey to Kings Cross St. Pancras International Rail station in central (is it central?) London where our Eurostar train was scheduled to leave at 5:30am. We lugged our bags several blocks, even encountered a blood-thirsty fox along the way, and caught a bus not 5 minutes before 4am, then caught a second bus, then finally arrived at the train station. After discovering that our seats could hardly have been on more opposite sides of the train (I was in section 14, she however sat near the front), I missed my ipod terribly and nearly caught hypothermia - but nevertheless - made it to Paris after drifing in and out of sleep for the 2hr ride. By the way, WHY were there so many babies in my car?
When we arrived in Paris, the weather looked more like London (and, oddly enough, when we left London it was warm and dry). We dropped our bags off at our hostel - which was actually a very lovely hostel now that I look back on it - we made our way back to a store in which we got by with saying "bonjour" and "merci" and nothing else in order to buy some food. And then shortly thereafter, Justin stepped out of the metro station.
Now, I've had an incredible time thus far in London. I couldn't have lucked out more with my roommate and I've made some great friends here (and have become better friends with those on my program who I already knew). But, I was so, SO happy to finally see one of my best friends in person (NOT skype for once!), especially being that we had stepped into a country in which I knew nothing and could speak no more than 5 words of the language. Being abroad for a semester has been one of the most incredible experiences thus far, but one thing I have wanted so much was for some of my closest friends to be here to share it with me.
That being said, it wasn't more than 10 min until he convinced Elyssa, their friend Daniela and myself to eat food. Typical. We walked to the Sacre Coeur, which was absolutely beautiful even despite the misty weather. Not to mention that one of the street performers was playing "My Heart Will Go On" when I got there. I guess my obsession with that movie is blantant even in foreign lands..
Anyway, afterwards we grabbed some crepes and various baked goods. I was more than aware that the French are known for their food.. but keeping in mind that my diet has consisted of cheese sandwiches, ramen, potato & leek soup and reduced-price crisps.. even the most poorly-made pain au chocolat would have tasted divine. Oh, and it did.
So afterwards, Justin and Daniela had class obligations, so Elyssa and I made our way over to the Seine (and, as I predicted, the sun came out!). After getting proposed to (in French) by a homeless man, we took a thousand pictures by the river, then walked across to the Pont Neuf, which was absolutely beautiful in the warm sunshine.. I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep right then and there, so we quickly left and mistakenly stumbled into what I'm sure was an absolutely beautiful memorial to those displaced during the Holocaust. However, being that we know next to no French and had gotten completely lost, we had no clue where we were or why we were surrounded by blank white walls at all sides until minutes after we had left. So it was kind of comical on our behalves in that sense... We also made our way over to the Jardin du Luxembourg which I absolutely LOVED (particularly the palm trees!)...
Afterwards, I reunited with (my Big!) and good friend Rachel and the group of us carried out the genius idea of a picnic by the Eiffel Tower. Not only was the weather absolutely gorgeous, and the food absolutely cheap, but it was so relaxing (and so French!) to be able to just sit there with friends and more or less stuff our faces with delicious food (and cheap wine!). Plus, I was glad I got to see the Eiffel Tower when it twinkled, because otherwise I would've missed it..
We then went to the Louvre at night to see the infamous cellist who plays absolutely beautifully (the only street performer thus far in Europe that has received a tip from myself). It made me wish I had taken up an instrument that would allow for me to be a street performer myself (for a day, of course) besides the piano... okay,so there were those years of the flute, but I like to not revisit them...
So the next day, Justin skipped class (thankfully!) and we ventured out to the Moulin Rouge (so that he could pick up an application) and then made our way over to a FABULOUS chocolate shop. Oh my goodness, if I could just lock myself there for a while, the damage I'd accomplish would be phenomenal...
Although I barely understood a word of the owner's rapid-fire French, her love for her chocolates translated beyond any language. She was absolutely hysterical. If her long blonde braided hair and the inflection in her voice wasn't enough, her hand gestures and inability to let Justin take half a second of her time to turn to me and translate was absolutely comical. Nevertheless, we bought a (very rare) chocolate bar which was double-sided: half with dark chocolate and half with milk chocolate, for a little over 10 euros.. and oh my goodness, it was DELICIOUS.
We then met up with Rachel again and headed out over towards the Eiffel Tower. To state that the weather was absolutely gorgeous was an understatement. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I haven't been able to bask in the good weather so much in London due to obligations or being sick, or maybe it was because I was with good friends, but I'm pretty sure the weather could not have been any better.
So, being the mountainmen (and women) that we are, we took the stairs to the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower... which I'm actually very glad we had done, not only because it saved me a lot of money, but because I think you really get more of the experience that way. And, as Justin read t he posters on each of the landings, it gave me an opportunity to pretend that I was taking breaks to learn about French architecture (and that I wasn't stopping to catch my breath).
Finally, after a journey of an hour or more, we hopped on an elevator and made it to the top! It was absolutely beautiful and I felt like I could see all of France, even if the Eiffel Tower is actually one of the smaller observation decks I've been on.
And, a trip with Justin wouldn't be complete if it didn't involve an act or two of thievery. So, shortly afterwards, we more or less ran to the site of his program's welcome dinner... and, despite the fact that I still knew no French, I waltzed in as if Iwere a student. (Although I'm pretty sure when Anna, who I haven't seen in ages, ran up yelling "What are you doing here?!" some of the program directors may have gotten the idea. I don't think THAT got lost in translation). Regardless, it was a free (and delicious) dinner, and afterwards a busload of people ransacked a nearby grocery store and we all split bottles of wine (which somehow, the two of us ended up inheriting the latter portion of it). There's something classy about drinking on the seine, even if you do completely lose your bearings. It was absolutely hilarious and I had such an awesome time that it was sad to see Rachel and Justin have to leave early to catch their train the next morning to Nice.
Elyssa, Daniela and I then walked around in search of a bar/club and eventually settled on a very American bar, which was actually quite a lot of fun depsite the fact that both the upstairs and downstairs were booked for private parties. We then rushed out to catch the metro before closing time..
After mistakenly bumping into our new shirtless travelling musician roommate in our hostel, we stumbled out of bed in the morning to head over to the Louvre (which we ALSO snuck into) and finally saw the Mona Lisa! After a delicious second dosage of gelatos, we grabbed our bags and headed back to catch the Eurostar home.
While France in and of itself was in every way AMAZING, there were two really awesome things I learned on the trip that I hadn't quite realized I'd take away to London. The first being that even the greatest places can be 1,000 times better when you're with your best friends. The second, being that while away from London, I realized I became homesick for London. That doesn't mean I was at all sad to have been in Paris instead (I was NOT, trust me haha) BUT it means that I've finally started to really settle in here. It's certainly not home (and I rushed home to catch the finale of the Yanks/Red Sox series, which was very much NOT London haha), but nevertheless, I don't feel so much like an outsider to London, especially now that I've experienced being an outsider to Paris [from the inside haha]). That being said, while I'm here I have the unfortunate blessing of homework, and as I'm writing these incredibly long entries, my ESSAY, however, is NOT being written..
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