Au Revoir Paris... For Now

This past weekend, the group took a trip to the City of Lights. It was incredible at times and it was stressful at times but overall I would consider it a success.

BACK IT UP: The week leading up to Paris was nothing out of the ordinary. The highlights of which were going to see the movie Four Lions (a satirical comedy about wannabe jihad terrorists. It was really funny, but very controversial); going to Barfly in Camden with Tessa to see an up-and-coming band called Kassidy perform (it was amazing. They are so talented); and, finally, seeing Henry IV at the Globe Theater on Thursday (I had a hard time following it, but it was funny).

Anyway, Friday we woke up bright and early (5:45 a.m.!) to leave St. Pancras station around 8 a.m. Going through customs was easy and I got myself an orange juice and a blueberry muffin for breakfast. I slept the entire way to Paris, due to staying up late to write a paper due Monday. We arrived in Gare du Nord station in about two hours. We all received one metro ticket to get to our hostels. Unfortunately, no one really planned this well enough and we all ended up all over Paris. A group of about 12 of us were in the Garden Hotel. I mean, it was a pretty cheap hostel and I suppose I got what I paid for but it was kind of ridiculous. The shower didn't have a hook to latch the shower head into so we just had to wrap it around the metal bar. I was washing my face at one point and bent down to reach for the head and I nailed my eye right into the shower dial. I thought I was going to have a black eye. No joke. I don't know why I thought finding it with my face was a good idea. Fortunately, no bruising- just pain.

We then made our way the Musee d'Orsay to view some impressionist art from the likes of Monet and Van Gogh. It was so cool to be standing mere feet away from some of the great works I studied in Art History Freshman year. It was really cool. We went through Notre Dame, which I think was the best part of the day. When I walked in, I was just in awe. I literally just sat down to sink it all in. I didn't even take pictures. It was incredible. Then, we made our way to the Louvre (of course) to some more great works. JMU paid for all of it and we got in almost straight away. We went around and saw basically the most famous stuff- the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. We walked around a bit more and were then free to get dinner before heading to the Eiffel Tower. Mary and I had a lovely dinner by ourselves that consisted of good French wine, Roasted Chicken (for me) and Creme Brulee. It was absolutely delicious. French meals take a really long time and we were almost late to the Tower but we managed.

We got to go up the Eiffel Tower and see the city in its entirety. It was really cool because it was at night so we could see all of the lights. It was so gorgeous. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't have a very good night setting so most of my pictures are pretty blurry. After that, everyone was pretty beat from such a long day that we decided to head back to the hostel, only to realize it would take us like an hour to get back.

The French metro is insane. It is so complicated. It's a combination of colored lines, numbers and actual stop names which makes it difficult for a group to navigate around because everyone is shouting completely different things. Also, we bought single pass tickets but it was weird because some you could use more than once but sometimes the machine wouldn't take a brand new one. It was absolutely ridiculous. I think I finally figured it out on the last day though- you have to flip the ticket around so that it can't stamp twice on the same side. I wish I would have realized that sooner.

Saturday morning was an optional outing with my CBD professor, Jay, and the Art History professor, Rachel. After enjoying a delicious nutella & banana crepe, we started out at the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum that looks very different from traditional French architecture. The outside it made to look like the building is still under construction or something with what appear to be giant hamster tubes running along the outside that consist of escalators to the top floor of the museum. We didn't go in, we were just observing the architecture. We then went to the Eiffel Tower to discuss its architecture and why society has given it such a significant meaning of the word "Parisian" and what the people of France actually think about it. Basically, the Tower is more Parisian than French, as people in the countryside don't necessarily identify with it. Then we went to the Musee du Quai Branley to look at some old cultural stuff. It was pretty cool, but I honestly couldn't tell you what I was looking at because it was all in French.

Lunch was a Croque Monsieur (essentially a grilled cheese with ham on steroids) and a chocolate eclair. YUM! We spent the rest of the day just wandering around. We went to the Opera House that Phantom of the Opera is set in and we saw the Moulin Rouge (we didn't actually see the show of course). We then made our way over to the Arc de Triomphe which was probably my second favorite landmark in Paris. It's huge and you can walk right under it. Some people paid to go up it but I didn't. I was perfectly happy from my vantage point.

Saturday night was one of the best memories I'll have of my entire summer in London. It was just so perfect-one of those moments that you'll never forget. A small group of us sat out on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower as the sun went down to watch it light up. We had a dinner of baguettes, brie, and French wine and just sat around talking and laughing as the sun went down behind us. At times, I'd just look up at the magnificent view in front of me. I couldn't really grasp that this moment was actually real. It felt too perfect. Anyway, we stayed there for a while and some people had a little too much fun so getting them back to the hostel was interesting.

Sunday, we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. Macki, Mary and I went to Mass at Notre Dame that morning. It was incredible. It was the international mass so a little bit of it was in English- the second reading to be exact. The rest was in French and I was trying to keep up, saying the prayers in English. It was a really great experience and I'm super glad we did that. We then met up with Jackson and Rob and went to Sacre-Coeur, a church at the top of a huge hill that overlooks the entire city. It was such a great view and it definitely made the hike up (with our bags) worth it. We meandered through some of the shops up there for a while and then just decided to head near the train station to go back to London. We sat down for a drink at a cafe across the street from the station, where I tried escargot for the first time. It was...interesting to say the least. The flavor was good but the texture got me a little. We had baguettes and cheese for dinner again (cheap and delicious) and boarded the train. I slept on the way back and was so relieved to be back in the London Underground instead of the French metro. I never thought I'd miss a subway system that much.

The rest of my week will consist of my last few days at Can of Worms and a whole 'lotta homework. So much to do before Dublin on Thursday!!!

-APC