Tag Archives: parade

Expect the Unexpected

I quickly learned after traveling to just a couple of cities that no city is completely how you expected it to be. France was no exception to this rule. Before I went to Paris all that came to mind about the city of love was high fashion, romance, and rude people. While Paris was a very romantic city it has a lot more depth than just being a romantic getaway. Paris boasts wlourveorld famous museums all through out the city. I had the opportunity to visit both the Pompidou and the Louvre. And the best part: both of my visits were free! (You can get in for free by showing a student ID card and an ID card that shows you live in the EU). The Lourve is massive. I think you could spend weeks in there and still not see everything. If you are able to go give yourself a few hours to walk around (and of course time to see the Mona Lisa even though she was named the second most disappointing tourist attraction in the world because of her size).

The architecture in Paris is absolutely breathtaking from the Notre Dame Cathedral to the Eiffel Tower to the Galeries Lafayette (which is a mall!). I would recommend definitely experiencing all the three of the places I just mentioned. While the last is not well known, it has an amazing rooftop view of the city and is the most gorgeous department store you will ever see in your life.

During our trimeandlocksp we stopped at the Love Lock bridge to put up our own locks. We accidentally  put our locks on the wrong bridge (oops!) but turns out that was not such a bad idea since the original bridge had begun falling apart and all of those love locks have been taken down. It is easy to find locks in the tourist shops around Paris especially by the bridge.

Paris is known for its food and after visiting I can see why! The street food especially was amazing. Make sure to get a crepe or two during your visit! There are also many restaurants in Paris but just because Paris may resemble the hustle of New York City during the day it does not at night. Be aware that a lot of things close early in this city. I ate at Le Refuge De Fondues one night in Paris and the food was amazing! They serve steak that you cook yourself on the table and bread with cheese fondue. They also are known for serving wine in baby bottles. It was a great restaurant to go with a group but make sure you have a reservation!

After Paris, we flew to Nice using Easy Jet. You can also take a train to Nice, however, flying niceviewthere worked better with our schedule. Nice is absolutely gorgeous. It boasts a large market in town with delicious fruit and beautiful crafts and paintings. If you like soap you will find lots of handmade soap here especially lavender. Climb up castle hill for a great view of Nice and of its rock beach.

We specifically went to Nice for Carnival in March. The parade was amazing and everyone watching was dressed up. It was a mix of Halloween and Mardis Gra. The parade was much more interactive than any parade I had been to before. People dressed up would enter the crowd. Everyone watching would throw silly string and confetti on friends anicecarnivalnd on the people in the parade. And everyone on the floats was doing the same. The floats were very elaborate and there were a lot of performers walking through the parade too.

St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin

I traveled to Dublin with a bus full of eager international students on Thursday morning. We arrived in Dublin around 10am, and the festivities began!  It was beautiful outside all day, and I had awesome friends to hang out with :]

As usual, photo blog!


All dressed up!


My irish breakfast! Om nom!


Some fun drunk guys at the parade!


The parade has some interesting floats…


See what I mean?


Cutest little girl everrrr.


SO MANY PEOPLE!!!


Guinness Factory!


Enjoying our free Guinness at the Gravity Bar! 

So, the rest of the night was a little bit nuts.  We went to a handful of pubs.  There were so many people out. It was, pardon my French, a bit of a shit show.  But, I suppose that’s what makes Paddy’s day, huh?
Apart from Paddy’s, been working on some more essays.  Only have two left (one due this Thursday…one due in April).  Going to London this weekend!  DEFINITELY hitting up that Harry Potter tour.  Other than that?  Who knows! haha.
Cheers,
Melanie


Location: Dublin, Ireland

Take Me, Take Me, To The Riot!

Saturday, there was a Techno parade taking place in Paris- basically, a parade of tempo trucks blasting different kinds of Techno music, going from one destination to another over a course of time. I anticipated a day full of fun, with great music and great company. However, as irony would have it, the day did not go quite as well as I envisioned.

It started on a note of doom as I woke up Saturday morning, realizing I had slept in and all my friends had left without me. Getting ready as quickly as possible, I decided to rush to the station and take the first train out, intending to get there by myself and meet up with my friends later. Which, in retrospect, was not the smartest idea, since I did not have a phone, having broken it a few days ago, and had no idea how I would get in touch with anyone.

Anyway, I got to the station and met another friend who had slept in as well and was now trying to get to the same place I was. At least he had a phone, albeit with no credit. The problem was, neither of us knew where exactly to GO, since it was a moving parade, and we weren’t sure where it ended.

By a stroke of luck, we met some other friends from school on the train who knew where the parade was going to culminate-Bastille- so when we reached Paris, we just decided to go there. This was the first time we were in Paris, and had never used the metro before. After getting credit for my friend’s phone, we tried to get in touch with a few people to ask them where they were. However, you can imagine what ensues at a techno parade, thanks to which none of our friends picked up their phones. If they did, they were not coherent enough to be helpful. So, we spent the next thirty minutes figuring out the metros till we finally arrived at Bastille and saw the parade. We had made it, just in time to see the parade pull in! The turnout was absolutely incredible- there must have been hundreds of people in the streets, all dressed in neon colours, glitter, wigs and numerous mismatched accessories. Bottles of poorly concealed alcohol and rolled up joints that I can only assume were cigarettes completed their ensembles and epitomized the general heady atmosphere of the parade. Needless to say, being sober, my friend and I were not in the same frame of mind as ANYONE else at the parade.

When the parade finally started coming to an end, the dynamics of the crowd seemed to change rapidly, almost like a switch being activated. Since people did not have music to listen to or dance along to anymore, they started getting bored and agitated, looking for alternative ways to entertain themselves. We saw several SWAT teams march in lines and get in place- armed with guns and covered from head to toe in military gear- clearly anticipating some kind of violence. I was anxious to find everyone else, as the crowd got increasingly rowdy. We finally got through to our friends, and started making our way towards where they were, right across the street from us.

However, at that exact moment, someone in the middle threw a glass bottle at the SWAT team, and all hell broke loose. Numerous glass bottles were being flung at the police by an angry mob,  glass shards were flying everywhere from the impact and people were running in all directions to avoid getting hit. In a split second, the SWAT team descended on the mob, spraying the crowds with tear gas and pepper spray. My friend grabbed my arm and we ran away as fast as possible to find a safe place as the riot unfolded before our eyes, at the exact spot we had been at less than a minute ago. The air was so thick with the fumes of the tear gas and pepper spray that we both felt our eyes tear up almost instantaneously. It was absolute pandemonium, and without a doubt, one of the scariest experiences of my life, even though it only lasted for a few short minutes (the SWAT team did an impressive job of breaking the crowd up and calming things down quickly).

I eventually found my friends and we spent the rest of our day in a much calmer environment, walking around Paris and enjoying the night-time view the city has to offer. However, I learnt a few important things that day:

Lesson #1: It is not the smartest idea to go to a parade by yourself, hoping to find your friends when you reach.

Lesson #2: Never, EVER, travel without a phone to a new, unfamiliar place; especially when you have no idea where you are going.

Lesson #3: Being spontaneous is GREAT, but it does not always work out for the best. Planning ahead is both safer, and has a higher success rate of ensuring you will have a good time.

Lesson #4: Mob mentality is like spilled petroleum on the floor-dangerous and highly volatile. All it needs is one spark to ignite before it spreads like wildfire, causing damage in its wake. BE CAREFUL and alert any time you are in a place with a large group of people.

And finally, lesson #5: It is extremely idealistic to expect all experiences while studying abroad to turn out exactly the way you planned. However, they all add up and contribute to what is bound to be an interesting m�lange of events during your stay. And most important of all, they will always make for the best stories 🙂


Location: Bastille, Paris, France