A Year in Paris: Day 1 and 2

After this incredibly long week, I've made it to Paris. It was a very rough week, I'm not gonna lie. I think I cried more than the 5 month old baby my mom watches. But, I knew that it was going to be hard to leave home but I didn't realize it would be this hard. I was too tired to blog last night so here's an overview of the flight, day 1 and 2.

We left Chicago around 7:15 and our Swiss airplane was one of the nicest airplanes I've ever been in. Apparently they are all brand new. We each had our own t.v. screen which was pretty sweet, and all the other standard airline stuff. However, we did have really forks, spoons, and butter knives instead of plastic ones. The food was alright. I had some chicken and rice thing. I really couldn't sleep on the plane. The guy I sat next to was a bigger guy so our thighs awkwardly touched. Then there was this family of 5 sitting next to me and I was worried that her 2 babies were going to scream all night but they really didn't. I started watching "The Proposal" on the plane but for some reason it stopped and it wouldn't let me watch it again. I had to settle for "Angels and Demons." If you haven't seen it, don't. It was a waste of 2 hours and 15 mins. The rest of the flight was pretty decent. I was feeling really nauseous for some reason...I really don't know why.

We landed in Zurich, Switzerland around 10:30 or 11:00 am Zurich time. The airport there is very small but it's really nice. Our flight to Paris was only an hour. It was a really small plane. For some reason I get nervous on small planes. I sat next to this French couple that literally talked the entire flight. I listened to my iPod and could still hear them, they were that loud. After landing in Paris we actually walked off the plane (like walked down the stairs and onto the tarmac)....it was weird. Everyone thankfully got all of their luggage. Mine was so heavy I didn't think I'd made it to the bus. We met Dr. Costello, our program director and he's nothing like a expected to be. He's an American and has been living in France since the late 70's. He's pretty much you're stereotypical French man. He even has a fancy man purse. The bus ride into Paris wasn't that long. Everyone fell asleep except me and I'm glad I didn't because I think if I did, I wouldn't wake up.

We are staying at Foyer International de Eutdiants on the Boulevard Saint-Michel in the 5th. It's a really pretty neighborhood. Our room is pretty bare. 2 beds, linens for the beds (which was nice) small, flat pillows. There are 2 desks, a small closet, and a big armour. It reminds me of something out of Harry Potter...maybe because I'm just a dork....but it's very minimal. The best part about the dorm is the view from the terrace at the top of the building. It is amazing. I saw it and they say that it is the 2nd best view of the Eiffel Tower in all of Paris. It's so pretty! I went out to dinner that night with the kids in my group and that's when I started to realize that things are more expensive here than they are in America. We just wanted tap water because if you don't say that the waiter assumes you want sparkeling water, which is too expensive. Our waiter gave us a funny look when we told him that's what we wanted. The restaurant was called le Depart Saint-Michel. I ordered a sandwich, and it was pretty good. After dinner we wandered around the Latin quarter for a bit and looked at Sorbonne, which is one of the oldest universities in the world. We walked back to the dorm and called it a night after some chatting on skype.



I had a rough nights sleep. The beds are not very comfortable and are pretty small. I'm still adjusting to the time change so I'm usually really tired during the day and not as tired at night when I should be. Our breakfast was the typical French breakfast: tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, bread with butter or jelly and either apple or orange juice. That is the only meal that we're served for free during the day so I try to eat a big breakfast of bread...my jaw starts to hurt after awhile because the bread is really crusty, but so good.



Day 2 consisted of meetings, a boat ride down the Seine, and a lot of walking. Our meeting was about the layout of Paris and all the neighborhoods. We had to put together a map of the neighborhoods. My partner Lizzie and I didn't do a very good job. We learned about the metro and it seems really confusing right now. I had to buy this pass for the week and one the for month of October because apparently you have to apply for a year long pass...which I didn't know about (we weren't told in our meetings) and I won't it until November at the earliest. The passes were so expensive it was nuts. The month pass and the one for the week, plus a card ended up costing me around $115...about 78 euros. It's a horrible exchange...I know :( I'm trying to be really careful about all the money I spend because I know that I don't have a lot of it but everything here is quite expensive. I went grocery shopping today because I can't afford to eat out every day and lunch and dinner. I bought some juice, chips, oranges, and yogurt. It was around 7 euros...which I guess isn't that bad.



The boat ride on the Seine was the best thing we've done since we've been here. It was so pretty. The tour guide was really nice and she's a student so she had some interesting facts to give us. There is an exact replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty in NYC that the US donated to France to show that they are like besties or something. It was placed in the area where Princess Diana was killed and it has now become a memorial for her. We also passed under all the famous bridges in Paris. This one bridge that we went under has collapsed 13 times...something I wanted to know before we went under it. Very interesting....I have a bunch of pictures from the tour and a few more of the first day, I just don't know how to upload them on here yet. Once I have the time to figure it out I will upload them. After our tour we had the night free so we walk around....A LOT....my feet are so sore and covered with blisters so, awesome. We saw the Louvre and walked in le jardin des tuileries, which faces the Louvre. Today we learned about this thing called le grand axe and what it is is basically a line of monuments starting at L'Arche de la Defense to the louvre. It's really neat. A lot of the monuments have arches so you can see through all the the arches down the champs elysees.



Well it's 11 pm here and I've had a long day. I know that post was really long but if you made it through, congratulations.



Bonsoir et a bientot