We arrived in Paris on the EuroStar – a train that actually travels under the English Channel! It was very exciting, and a new and different way to get around! We got to the hotel and immediately went to sleep, preparing ourselves for the next day. We got a chance to see the Eiffel Tower (I didn’t go up, though, seeing as this was my 9th trip to Paris), the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees, and Notre Dame. In the evening, we went up to Sacre Coeur, the church on the very top of Paris, to watch the sunset. We were also lucky to experience an international food festival that was going on. That night was rather exciting, to say the least. After dinner, we all wanted to go experience the eiffel tower at night, so we made our way to the gorgeous structure. Our luck seemed to be better than ever, and we arrived right on the hour to see the tower sparkle. We met some people from all over the world and had a great night sitting by the tower watching the lights and soaking in the city. On the way back to the hotel, however, our luck began to change. As we were walking, a young man was coming in the opposite direction and began yelling very vulgar things at my friends and myself. Being fluent in french, I understood what he was saying, and was very disheartened at the offensive language he was using. He was also scaring my friends, so being the confident and somewhat confrontational person that I am, I asked him to please leave us alone and stop being so rude. Now here was my mistake – I should have just ignored him and let him get it out of his system. Before I could react, he had wound up his fist and punched me on the right side of my face. Shocked, I began to feel a sense of rage crawl over my entire body, and he seemingly knocked the common sense out of me. I was angry and in pain, and I wanted revenge. Thank God my friends pulled me away from this scene because we were absolutely floored to find out that this man was the member of a rather violent French gang, and that he was most likely on his way to get his friends and come back. Needless to say, we ran to the nearest cab driver and went home. Now, if you are reading this and getting worried, don’t. I actually think I took the punch like a champ, and from now on would like to be referred to as Rocky Balboa, or simply Rocky would do. After this night, however, I will never again confront any stranger for any rude thing they may say. We continued our adventure by traveling up to the northern coast of France and taking a ferry across the not-so-still channel back home. The Paris trip (minus the punch in the face) was a wonderful success and I gleamed at the opportunity to speak French for an entire weekend! 

The very next day, my parents arrived in London! My dad had a scheduled meeting in the city, so my mom tagged along. On Thursday, they rented a car and drove down my way to visit me and my friends and host family. That day, they took all my friends and I out to a pub called Fox’s for lunch, and then treated my host family to a lovely Tapas style dinner before the 3 of us left for Gatwick Airport. We travelled up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend to spend time together and just relax. We ended up having an absolutely amazing time. We got to see the castle in Edinburgh, the old and new sides of town, and there was a Starbucks on every street corner. Needless to say, I was in heaven! I also had a very lucky encounter: I found out that two of my good friends from my international school in Lausanne, Switzerland, both atten the University of Edinburgh, and I had a chance to meet up with them and catch up. We all went over to my friend Henri’s house and listened to music and reminisced. Henri had also finally achieved his lifelong dream of owning his own, personal bouncy castle, so naturally we spent most of the night sitting in the bouncy castle. Overall, the past two weeks, though hectic, have created some amazing memories and I loved the chance to show my family the lifestyle I’ve acquired whilst living overseas! I look forward to my next post when I can actually put up some pictures – however at the moment I am having some technical difficulties loading the pictures onto my computer! So look out for a post within the next day or two with photos from both the Paris and Scotland trips! 

Also to look forward to: Thursday begins our half term break and a group of us will be traveling around Ireland and the highlands of Scotland – we have rented a car and it should be quite an exciting trip! Until next time, peace, love and trips galore!