I haven’t been able to write a blog entry until today since the Wifi in my hostel had been incredibly unreliable, so here is another post. I arrived in Paris on Wednesday June 3 at approximately 12:45 PM at the CDG Airport. My head was a sealed container with the highest pressures of excitement, apprehension, and exhaustion. Upon out arrival, my friend and I were quickly reminded of how much travel experience we lacked and immediately of how little french we actually knew. The taxi drivers at the airport kept asking us if we needed transportation and we simply refused because we wanted to take the train and try our luck with the metro. To put it frankly we were carrying 30+ kg of luggage and we traveled through the airport, train station at CDG, and about 4 metro stops. The only thing I seemed to notice during this travel to our hostel, l’Hôtel Bastille, was the massive number of STAIRS. We had to carry our luggage through the thin metro gates, up countless flights of stairs, all the while watching out for pickpockets exploring this unknown world. Finally, one flight, a train ride, 4 metro rides and countless blocks of walking later, we stumbled into our hostel, heavily breathing, covered in sweat on the hot Parisian day, and with sore feet. Despite what everyone back home said about our lack of directional competence, we had finally made it to our hostel.

Despite being thoroughly exhausted, we decided to walk about and visit a cafe, and meet up with my friend, Danielle’s, acquaintance from France (Avignon specifically) who was also visiting Paris. His name was Thomas, and we was the first french citizen I had interacted with during that journey (besides the countless people to whom I had simply said “Bonjour” or “merci” or “où sont les toilettes?”). He was an incredibly nice person who spoke English very well, so we could easily fill in the words we did not know with English words and ask him what they meant in French. Thinking back on the experience now only 4 days later, we were a bit foolishly apprehensive about offending the Parisian citizens. How do we eat this? How do we hold our forks and knives? How do we address the waiter? What do we do with our hands?! Thomas seemed to be mildly entertained by our questions and our mannerisms, and at one point he said we may have eaten the decoration on one of the meals we ate (whoops) then he realized that you actually could eat it so he apologized for making us panic (sweet relief). After the meal, we went to the canal to casually drink wine with hundreds of other Parisians who appeared to be simply hanging out or relaxing after a day of work. There we met a man from Morocco who noticed that we spoke english and wanted to speak with us, and his two friends. We were very pleased to find that they were so friendly, and Danielle and I noticed that many Parisians were like this, and not as unfriendly as many stereotypes suggested. We stayed near the canal for a few hours with our newfound friends, and then left at about 23h to go to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. As Danielle and I were running through the metro with Thomas, trying to catch la ligne 8 back to our hostel, I thought to myself that this was the start to a very beautiful and unique adventure.

Wine with friends by a canal in Paris

Last minute Eiffel Tower trip

And indeed, the next three days were quite magical. We visited the Eiffel tower two more times, and also got to watch the Djokovic v. Murray match of the Roland Garros in a square in front of the Eiffel tower. We went to the catacombs of Paris, which was the resting place for about a million french citizens who passed prior to the 1800’s. That was an interesting and eye-opening experience for the vast history of the city of Paris. The catacombs were created because of the unsanitary conditions of various cemeteries as a result of their overcrowding. The caves of the catacombs were lined with skulls and bones of the long-deceased in a decorative manner enhancing the eerie feel of the already dank caverns. Along many of the walls in front of the dead there were famous quotes of authors, who had also been long-deceased about death, life and sin. We payed a visit to the Louvre and les Tuileries, which is a garden near the Louvre as well as Notre Dame and Musee d’Orsay with Thomas and his friend Andrea. The cool thing about the museums was that all French students between the ages of 18-25 got into the museums for free, so Andrea told us to pretend to be french and try to get in. Unfortunately that did not work so well and they made us turn around and buy tickets for the museum. Then we walked along Les Champs-Élysées and saw the grandeur of the lavish lifestyles experienced by the upper class. The small markets on the Champs-Élysée were also quite interesting, being that we saw the biggest loaves of bread and wheels of cheese both Danielle and I have ever laid our eyes on. At the end of Les Champs-Élysées we stopped by l’Arc de Triomphe, which was worlds larger than I had first anticipated.

Those three days in Paris seemed to pass faster than any other days I have ever experienced. Our final night in Paris we spent time with Thomas once again and also met four other Parisians who showed us around Paris nightlife whose names were Thomas, Raphael, Antonie, and Valerie. We listened to popular french music and danced with the locals, and it was one of the best times I have ever had. To my surprise, the club we went to played Aerosmith and older American songs from the 2000’s, and everyone seemed to know the words. Our last night in Paris was definitely one to remember and before we knew it, we were waking up to catch our TGV train to Aix-en-Provence, where our actual study abroad program was going to commence the following Monday.

A short clip of Le Roland Garros by the Eiffel Tower

“Think that every day is your last” -a morbid yet inspiring quote in the catacombs of Paris.

A bridge across the Seine, which contained various “love locks”, which are locks that couples place on the bridge as a symbol of their eternal love

Our last visit to the Eiffel Tower… We Are!

le musée d’Orsay. Once a train station for the wealthy, now converted into a museum open to the public.

We had a pretty hard time with the maps since we couldn’t use our phones without wifi

An example of the lavish lifestyle of those that choose to visit les Champs-Élysées

cheesin in front of l’Arc de Triomphe

Danielle in front of the Louvre… and we also just noticed the signs saying not to walk along the fountains upon looking at this picture…

We arrived in Aix at 15h45 and was greeted by our host mother, Patricia Delocque. Her English is good, but she does not want to speak to us in English so we can practice (which I am actually pretty grateful for). It was at the house that I noticed that I was missing my wallet. I suppose I was one of the many to have been pick-pocketed that day at La Gare de Lyon (I assumed it was while I was at the train station), but nonetheless I was very disappointed. However, I needed a new wallet, I only had 10 euros in my wallet, and I had my passport and train ticket on me (thank god). So it was not that much of a loss. The only inconvenience is that I will need to wait for a card to be shipped to me from the United States, so I will not have one for 2 weeks. I can fix everything else once I get home. After a relaxing day napping in the middle of a park in Aix and having a late meal (but not so late for the french) at around 21h, I arrived home to pass out on my bed from exhaustion and that brings us to this exact moment having woken up and felt like blogging, currently laying in bed and conveying to you some of the most magical days of my life. Hopefully the next 6 weeks will have as many plentiful stories as these past 4 days.

Location: Paris