PARIS!!

Well I didn’t journal in Paris for one of two reasons. One—because we didn’t have a spare minute with everything we wanted to see and do. And two—because when we did maybe have an hour LJ and I were SO exhausted (honestly we felt like we were in coma for most of the weekend) that actually forming words on paper seemed like a funny/cruel joke.
So I’m going to give a very entertaining play-by-play of the weekend and I hope not to sound too monotone J
LJ and I took off just the two of us to visit my friend Aidan in Paris Thursday night! I had been looking for a weekend to do this all semester and this was the perfect one. Aidan has been living in Paris since the beginning of September working at this internship and soaking up the Parisian culture. He lives in an apartment with his family friend, Clem and they were so amazing to let us stay with them for the weekend. We were very spoiled, had our own room and beds, and didn’t have to worry about showers in a hostel. Really nice!

Thursday our night train left Salzburg a little before 8pm and arrived in Munich only less than an hour later. There we had about 45 minutes before boarding our train to Paris (which was scheduled to get in around 930am Friday morning.) We booked a 6 person sleeper car but only three other people ended up being in the room so it was a little better. But we thought the rooms on the Superfast were tiny… Um yeah. We were greeted with two triple bunk beds, enough floor space to climb a ladder up to our beds. Beds where lying down was the only viable option. SO after surveying the situations, nervous laughter ensued, I took out my contacts, grabbed my sweatshirts, dolled out LJ and I’s dosage of TylenolPM (thanks mom) and passed out. Next thing we knew we opened our eyes and awoke in Paris! HAHA. JUST KIDDING. The night didn’t really go like that. Actually, we woke up around four times throughout the middle of the night to (what reminded us of the noises the Dementors make in Harry Potter) our window FLYING open. Not just jiggling, or coming loose. Not just rattling, or some annoying sound. We legit had the only window in our room, (conveniently next to both of our heads) completely freak out and roll up FOUR DIFFERENT times throughout the night. And each time we would freak out and wake up, and then in our sleepy haze, have to jostle the window BACK DOWN and lock it. It makes for a good story but on the other hand, having to relive it almost gives me hives.

We arrived in Paris on time and got off the train in a coma. I was alarmed to see that Aidan

hadn’t emailed me back UNTIL I looked up and saw him waiting perfectly at our platform! IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE HIM!!! Omg I freaked out and the sleeper car turned into a distant memory as we headed for the metro to his work. Aidan tried to give us the run down on the Parisian metro, trying to convince us that it “is not that confusing.” That was funny. He showed us his metro stop for work, took our bag, and set us loose out into the city until we were supposed to meet back up with him at six. Immediately butterflies of a new city flooded but it was more exciting than anything. I called Nickie and we decided to meet in front of the Louvre (easy enough?) and LJ and I could barely contain our excitement to see their pretty faces!!!!!

The reunion was amazing, it was so great to get one of my favorites back in my life (even if only for the weekend!) They totally ambushed us and came at us from behind and I couldn’t stop hugging them both! We made our way to the entrance, got free admission for being students, and toured around really neat exhibits. We got hungry and took advantage of our surroundings and set out to find a cute café to eat at. We ended up at this very Parisian restaurant, I ate the most delicious hamlet EVER and we were looked at funny for not speaking French. What’s new.
We went back to the Louve, (I could live in there!) and then followed the tip of the Eiffel tower like the sun and made our way across the entire city to see the incredible thing. OMG I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it! I told the girls this when I saw it and I know it makes me sound like such a, well I don’t even know, but the first thing that popped into my head was Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. Haha. We were all so happy to be together, it was sunny, we were in Paris, and I honestly didn’t have anything in the world to complain about. It really doesn’t get much better.

We were late meeting Aidan at the metro stop. Of course we were late. The Eiffel tower was so freaking amazing we couldn’t tear ourselves away! Once we met up with him we made our way to his apartment and got to take showers (amazing) and get ready for dinner. We met up with Hil and Nickie and went to this really yummy place on the cutest street ever. We caught up, enjoying wine, told stories, and had a great night. It was capped by wandering over to the Eiffel tower (of course we needed night pictures J) buying some wine and finding a bench to sit at and just stare. At midnight it lit up all pretty and sparkled. It was then that I fell in love.
We didn’t waste any time the next day. We conquered Norte Dame, this really well done Holocaust memorial, saw the Bastilles, went souvenir shopping, CLIMBED UP TO THE TOP OF THE EIFFEL TOWER, ate delicious crepes, saw many beautiful churches and took pictures of scenery I thought was fake my entire life up until now!

Sunday we were supposed to board a train to Munich and then head home to Salzburg but all that is EURORAIL traveling, you can count on plans changing! We thought the sleeper car was a story. Hmmmm. Well we basically had the day from hell, but when you put LJ and I in any situation were bound to make it as sarcastic/funny/lighthearted as possible. We changed trains four times. Four times. Our last leg was from Strasbourgh to Salzburg (8:45pm-4:15am) and we did not get a sleeper car. I REPEAT: WE DID NOT GET A SLEEPER CAR. I’m not even going to try and describe this in any better detail because I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. But for comedic relief I will just throw some things our there:
- LJ and I (picturing that is funny enough, yea?)
- + 2 guys (around our age) –They spoke 3 languages each and when we said we were studying German the switched to that language and then looked at us like, WTF? And then nervous laughter ensued.
- AKAà language barriers
- seats that slide out (but do not recline)
- 8 (ish) hours in this room
- German quiz that morning… aka at 9am THAT morning. SO… German studying!
- new facebook friends
- rolling into our room at 4:45am… setting our alarm for 7am…sitting through 3 classes the next day in disbelief that only 6 hours prior we were in hell.


Paris was…
INCREDIBLE
Amazing
scenic
entrancing
BEAUTIFUL
foreign
& classy.

I bought a shot glass that says Paris in cursive on it with gold stars and every time I put it to good use I’ll think of the city that stole my heart♥

Next stop: OUR 10 FALL BREAK!!!! We leave tomorrow.
On the agenda: train into Munich tomorrow, staying there for a night with Abbie and her amazing parents! Friday, flight out at 4pm to BARCELONA, SPAIN!!!! Staying with Liz and Gillian for 4 nights!!! and then a little place called Dublin, Ireland….
I know what you’re thinking, do you go to that thing called school?

“No, I’m just here to take pictures and drink.”

**totally kidding, but that’s kinda priceless, huh? : )