Chuck, Sam and Versailles

Yesterday I headed to Versailles to visit Chuck and Sam. We all go to U of I and they are studying in Versailles for the year. We've all been living in the same country since September and this is the first time I've seen them...it's kinda sad. Sam met me at the train station and then we went into McDonald's to meet Chuck. I guess McDonald's and Starbucks is where they hang out because they can use the wifi there for free as long as they get something there to eat or drink. I guess it's the local hang out. It's pretty funny. So I walked in and found Chuck sitting in a booth with his computer ordering socks. I guess all of his have holes in them so he was ordering a bunch off the internet. It was so bizarre! I've missed Chuck so much. We left McDonald's and went to Sam's apartment to drop his stuff off. He has a pretty small apartment and has a roommate who also goes to U of I. I met Chuck and Sam's friend named James. We had lunch at this Kabob place and I'm pretty sure either I or Chuck got our meals for free. They guy at the register wasn't very good with change.

After lunch they took me to the studio at their school. I guess this is where they do their architecture stuff. Their school used to be the horse stables at Versailles which is pretty sweet. There is a really nice view of Versailles out of the windows of the studio. We left and then decided to go to the gardens in Versailles. I really wasn't sure how we were going to get in because you usually have to pay to get into the gardens. Well, we didn't. We walked around the outside of Versailles through the town and ended up at this door that lead into the gardens. There wasn't even a guard there. The door was just wide open. So we snuck into the gardens. I'm a rebel now...no big deal. We walked all over the gardens. There really weren't that many people there because I don't think people realize how far the gardens go. We went into the peasant village that Marie Antoinette had built for her when she was living at Versailles because one day she decided she wanted to live like a peasant. It's really cute. There are a bunch of animals too. It's like a farm. The first picture is of Marie Antoinette's peasant village. The picture below that is of Chuck and some sheep. I really don't even know why theses sheep were there.

There was this pen that was full of bunnies and they were really funny. We watched them for a while. We also walked through the grand and petit trianons....for free of course, we just showed our student IDs and they let us in. We must have walked like 3 miles walking through the gardens. We got to the end of the gardens and there was this huge fountain. The fountain was shooting the water into the air so hard that the mist was reaching us and we were really far away. The gate that you needed to walk through to get to the fountain was close so Chuck and Sam decided that we were just going to jump off this wall in order to get out of the gardens. Chuck asked Sam how far down it was and Sam goes, "oh, it's only like 5 feet." He so lied! It was much higher than 5 feet...the wall was taller then me. Sam just jumps off and then Chuck went and I'm like oh god, I'm gonna die. I didn't want to sit at the top of this wall any more so I just jumped. Luckily, when I landed, Chuck caught me so I wouldn't fall in the mud...what a gentleman. We walked from the fountain, which is at the very bottom of the gardens, all the way up to the chateau. I was so exhausted when we got up to the top of the hill.

We dropped Chuck off at the studio and Sam walked with me to the train station. It was around 5 when I got back to the train. They felt bad that I couldn't stay longer but they have a big project due this week for school so I understood completely. It was a 40 minute train ride back to Paris. When I got back to the apartment Renee and Caroline were getting ready to leave to drop Caroline off at the train station so she could go home. She came into my room and apologized for eating my noodles. It was so cute. Before she left, she came back and in English, she told me that she'd see me at Christmas. She speaks English pretty well...better than Renee. I watched tv with Renee for a while and then called it a night because I was so exhausted.

Today I'm really feeling all that walking we did....I'm so sore. I have school tomorrow. Barf.

A bientot