Le Jour Onze (Day 11)

Dude. Paris wore us out. With four hours of sleep once again, we woke up super early (6:30), checked out of our room, checked in with our T.A. (sweet Brady), and pigged out at breakfast. I was sad to have that chocolate cereal for the last time; I wish we had that in the good ol’ states. Oh well! With three hats on my head (so they don’t get squished, of course), my large T shirt, Nike shorts, and chacos, I was ready for another long (10 hour) bus ride to Avignon! My friend Garrett (who is the blond dude in all my pictures) told me I was wearing my booger shirt; apparently it’s a bit dirty. Don’t be too embarrassed mom, he always picks on me, and I don’t think it’s THAT dirty… but Kelly and I agree it’s time for a good washing of our clothes in Nice in our bathtub, which is our next stop!

Getting this whole travel routine down, Kelly and I settled into seats at the front of the coach this time, with Brady and our friend Ryan in front of us, and Sydney and Allison behind. I was out immediately, and only woke up whenever we had to stop. I think I slept a total of 7 hours on the bus; no exaggeration. I was POOPED! Before taking off, Dr. Mac presented a presentation of some of the funniest sleeping pictures so far on the trip, and I made it to his #1 favorite. He showed the ENTIRE bus, and it was me with my neck pillow, mouth open, and I had fallen asleep with gum in my mouth because you could clearly see the blue. GREAT, hope that sells people next year to want to go on the trip! And apparently I slept so hard this trip that (well, besides always sleeping with my mouth wide open anyways) my eyes would occasionally open half way and were rolled back in my head so that only white was showing. I know, creepy. I woke up whenever we were almost to our lunch stop, and literally about 10 people sitting all around and in front of me were staring at me, and Dr. Mac was hovering over me with his camera, and they were freaking out. I was so confused. That’s when they told me about my eyes doing that weird thing; take me or leave me I suppose! “Glad I’m some sort of entertainment for you all! Dr. Mac, I’m going to get you!”

Once awake at 5:00 p.m., our Nice group (Kelly, Syd, Allison, and I) worked on our rap for our presentation then admired the beautiful scenery outside our windows for the rest of the way. France is so green, hilly, and I love looking at the little cottages and villages sporadically placed throughout. We arrived at 6:30 in the beautiful, quaint village of Avignon, and I immediately became obsessed. There were small market stores everywhere, the selling of lots of lavender, and it looked like something picturesque. Our hotel is located in the center of town, and right outside is a square of restaurants, gelato, markets, a carousel, and a river. It’s literally the cutest place I’ve ever seen in my life. In our room, we even have two queen size beds! Our Nice group decided to go to dinner together to talk about our presentation (because it’s tomorrow night), and we went to the restaurant that the man downstairs suggested. It was called Odepi, and it was half inside and half outside (no wall separating), and the chairs there were gold and princess-like! I got Spicy mustard, poppy seed marinated chicken salad in olive oil, and it was WONDERFUL!

Brady and Drew

The people here are the friendliest I’ve encountered in Europe. The waiter LOVED us and kept talking to us, a French retired couple talked to us and asked questions for a good 15 minutes, and an even older couple came up and said in French that she is so happy to see such young people so lovely and happy and traveling the world! People here are very smiley J

Afterward, I changed back into my booger shirt and Chacs because we wanted to go climb trees and walk the river. BUT FIRST we had to get gelado! And oh my word they had about 50 flavors! Of course, it took me forever to decide. I ended up with Strawberry Basil; obsessed. Then, a large group of us went on a walk, hammicked, climbed trees, danced, laughed, and took pictures. It was quite beautiful. We also don’t need to be anywhere until noon tomorrow, so we have all morning to go on a walk, eat breakfast, shop at the little market stores, and eat more crepes before heading to Nice! I actually feel like I’m on vacation here; it’s pure bliss. I would totally live here in a heartbeat. Kelly feels 100% better, and the Lord knew we all needed rest. Avignon is giving us this rest. Praise Jesus! This place has already CAPTIVATED me!

Le Jour Dix (Day 10)

Today was the first day we were able to semi sleep in. We didn’t have to be dressed, fed, and ready to go downstairs until 9:30 this morning! It was nice to sleep in, and Kelly needed it I know. This morning they didn’t have crepes out for breakfast, so I had that yummy chocolate cereal, yogurt, and fruit again; still so good! Today we had all of our Paris company visits, and the first stop was to Hard Rock Café, Paris, and today was the first day we got to dress in business casual instead of business formal, which is SO NICE because it is very hot here in Paris, and for some reason, the French don’t really believe in cool air conditioning, so pretty much everywhere is a little warm, including our hotel :/

 

The presentation at Hard Rock was so interesting, and the atmosphere is so cool, edgy and different, and one can see that the same atmosphere is displayed in every restaurant world wide! I learned that every single piece of clothing, every guitar, and every signed picture is the REAL THING, which means the decorations are different in every Hard Rock Café. These people really know how to appreciate music, rock, and they love being unpredictable and edgy. After the presentation, we all received free cheeseburgers and ate a big lunch together; it was so fun and SO good. I can’t remember the last time I even had a REALLY good cheeseburger like that; it was definitely a treat. We had about two hours until we had to be at the Galleries Lafayette for their presentation, which was right down the road, so we killed time by browsing stores. I went back into H&M and found the CUTEST navy, cropped capris like they sell at J Crew, except these were much cheaper and just as cute. I’ve been looking for some for so long and meant to order some specifically for this trip, but I never got around to it. Guess they were just waiting for me here in Paris J and then I bought me another fadora because I just couldn’t help it. I’m only in Paris once. (We’ve actually all been saying the phrase YOIEO, which means you’re only in Europe once, or more recently YOIPO, which means you’re only in Paris once…we got this from the “college” phrase YOLO, which means you only live once!) so… YOIPO!

So then we had our visit with Galleries Lafayette. It was way more casual, less structured, and way less impressive than Harrods in London by a long shot. We just didn’t get that wow-factor like we previously had at Harrods. However, they DID give us a runway show, where about 5 women models and 1 male were practicing for the real deal we think, and that was super fun! Paris is known for fashion, and the Galleries definitely cater to this. The male model was probably one of the most beautiful boys I’ve ever seen in my ENTIRE life. all the girls were fanning themselves (half from the heat and half from looking at him), and a couple of boys behind me said, “Wow, he’s making ME blush!” At one point down the runway, he stopped, looked directly at me and smiled (I was on the front row), and turned and walked back, and everyone around me patted me on the back and embarrassed me.

We took a group picture on the rooftop overlooking Paris and then came back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so. After about an hour and a half, we put our dresses on and met a large group of about 15 to go grab wine wine and fruit across the street, and then we immediately headed to that same crepe place we went to last night; we were craving one. Once there, we ran into 5 French college guys, two of which were from Chicago but are receiving their masters in Paris. They were SO cool and stuck around to chat with us for about an hour. This is where we did our Paris interview (we have to interview one local from each city and write a page report on them, so it was convenient that this happened). They were so much fun! It was interesting to hear their answers to some of our questions, and some of the answers were similar to British answers. For example, we asked their opinion on America, and they said that they thought Americans knew a lot about their own country and nothing about any other country. I took it as we come off a little arrogant and ignorant in general about the world around us and don’t take the time to appreciate other cultures. So interesting… In the meantime, Kelly and I ordered a dinner crepe (I got egg ham and cheese), and then we split a dessert crepe (nutella, banana, almonds, coconut). We were STARVING, and they were the most delicious crepes in the world. The same little men who owned the place were still there, and they were so excited to see us.

 

It was about ten, and we realized we needed to get going to the Eiffel Tower, although our cool new French friends wanted us to stick around and hang with them. However, it was our last night in Paris, and we all wanted to sit on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower and watch its light show for the last time! So that’s exactly what we did. Great company, great food, lots of pictures, and lots of bonding. I absolutely love the group I am with, and I am so blessed to have the community I do on this trip. It’s especially encouraging to have the friendship of the guy friends we have made; they take such great care of us girls, are fun and spontaneous and classy, and have become like brothers to us. It was a perfect last night in the city of Paris, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. You all may be wondering if I’m smitten with this city since you know I know the language, appreciate the culture, and have been dying for the past two years to visit. The answer is not really. I thought parts of it were beautiful, and I was CAPTIVATED by so many things here; however, it simply was just not what I pictured. I didn’t like the dirtiness, all the smoking (it’s everywhere!!!), the feeling of loneliness and isolation, a strong sense of reservation, sketchy people lurking around pretty much everywhere, and nothing TOO exciting going on here. I could never see myself actually living here; maybe just another visit. Overall, Paris was awesome for t his short time being, and I LOVED getting to practice my French language, but it will be a little easier to part with than with London. London blew me away, and I would for sure live there in a heartbeat! Puis, bon soir, and HELLO Avignon bright and early tomorrow morning for a 10 hour trip!

Le Jour Neuf (Day 9)

Rise and shine! Nous sommes à Paris! It’s a beautiful morning to ride bikes…yes, again! Groups 1-7 had a 9:30 appointment with Fat Tire Bike Tours once again, but this time, it was to tour the city. Today our guide was from Australia, and his name was Johann. This time, Kelly was with me, and I loved the group we had; everyone is so fun and sweet. We saw many beautiful buildings and bridges, the Louvre (which is the largest museum in the world and home of the Mona Lisa), and best of all: the Eiffel Tower. It was a four hour bike tour, and as a break, we stopped outside of a beautiful garden and ate outside at this café in the shade. I sat with three of the sweetest Tri Delt girls and my friend Brady, and I ordered this yummy ham and cheese toasted sandwich. It came with a salad that had this awesome vinaigrette that tasted like salt and vinegar (or sort of pickly). It sounds gross but it was SO GOOD, and those of you who know me well know that I love pickled things. Don’t judge. My friend Sarah got an incredible quiche that had feta, tomato, spinach, and ham in it, and she gave me like a fourth of hers to eat and I gave her a fourth of my huge sandwich so that we could have the best of both worlds. Best quiche I have ever put in my mouth, Oh my word. We all enjoyed our blissful, enlightening morning in Paris, and soaked in each sight, the weather, and the company. It was incredible. Our last stop was of course to the Eiffel Tower, where we took a TON of pictures playing around on it. We even build a pyramid! What a fun morning.

After arriving back to the hotel, we rested for a while, and Kelly slept because she got dehydrated today :/ She took a two hour nap while I worked on my blog stuff for you all, and it was extremely restful. Around 4:30 we got ready to leave to go to the galleries of Lafayette. We put on our cute outfits for the evening (I wore my new pink dress I got before the trip), and the two of us headed out with our big brother/dad, Brady, who sweetly volunteered to stay behind with us and go while a bigger group went ahead. Also, we were supposed to meet up with Jennifer once there! We arrived, and we immediately decided we liked Harrods WAY better. The galleries were beautiful, but they were a little more chaotic and sketch (there were like Chinese black markets all along the side of it that reminded me of China Town in New York) and lots of pick-pocketer looking people, if that’s not being too judgmental. It is what it is, as mom always says. 

Anyway, we walked around on the inside for a bit, and after browsing through two whole floors, decided we couldn’t afford any of this Prada and Gucci stuff, so we made our way across the street to a store that catered to exactly what we were looking for in a shopping experience today: H&M, which is just a cute clothing store. Brady was so sweet as he followed us around, gave us his opinions, and held all our purses and such; what a great shopping buddy (although he may not want me to put it quite in those terms; he’s all male, people…just patient with girls and their needs, and he is solid in his faith and devotion to the Lord, and merely looks at Kelly and I as his sisters, for he has a very serious girlfriend back in College Station! He’s an answered prayer for protection, parents. We are so thankful.) ANYWAYS, I bought the CUTEST, stylish royal blue flowy dress that is long in the back and shorter in the front and some earrings for so cheap! It’s gorgeous, and I can’t wait to wear it! It shall be my Paris Dress. 

After shopping, we grabbed the quickest bite to eat I’ve ever and left to meet up with the whole group to go on a cruise in the Seine River at sunset! It was beautiful, and we all had such a great time together; we even got to watch the Eiffel Tower light display! We laughed, joked, and took lots of pictures, and I’m feeling like I’m getting to know these people so well, and I love it. I know so many of us will remain great friends back in College Station. When that was over, I was STARVING, and I had wanted a crepe all day long, and still hadn’t had one. 

 

So, I proposed we all go get crepes before heading back to the hotel! A group of like 30 ended up all wandering around together in a huge pack on and off the metro; geez, we were probably so loud and obnoxious, but we just love each other’s company!

By the time we got to almost our last stop to where the crepes were, half the group decided to go back to the hotel. However, I was set on getting my big o’ chicken crepe I had been craving all day long. It was literally a miracle that we wandered upon an AWESOME crepe stand that cooked and served nutella/banana/coconut/rum/strawberry/jelly/chicken/ham/egg/cheese…. On and on and on and so many more kinds of crepes! We were SO PUMPED. I spoke to the two cool men working in French, and we communicated so well! He thought my French was great, and he helped me say more sentences and words. Lots of my friends got nutella, coconut, and banana crepes or just plain nutella, but several of us were starving and needed the ones with meat, so I ordered spicy chicken and cheese. Heaven. That’s all I have to say, plain Heaven. We were loving these crepes and decided to do this again tomorrow night for dinner AND dessert and hang out under the Eiffel Tower since it’s our last night. Family, wish ya’ll could have been there; I know you would LOVE these things! I have a new favorite food. YUM! 

Le Jour Sept (Day 7)

This is Sydney. she likes to be
referred to as Madame Dubois.

Dear London, I fell in love with you and will miss you dearly. You
captivated me in so many ways, and I am so thankful for the
time I got to spend here. One day i will return....

It was an EARLY morning in London.  We had to be packed, dressed, and fed by 7:00 a.m. to meet in the lobby for departure to Paris! I slept four hours the night before, so basically the entire coach/bus ride (which was a total of about 9ish hours) I slept. Mom, my neck pillow works like magic; thank you for getting me a good one, although it doesn’t keep me from sleeping with my head back and mouth wide open; you know I can’t stop that attractive habit. And people are apparently getting a kick out of it by snapping pictures of me while I’m asleep. I think that means they love me..? Anyway, we finally arrived in France and stopped at this big airport looking station to grab a bite to eat, and that’s where reality set in that we were in a totally different country: a whole new culture, people, food, and language. My heart was racing as we walked in because all the practice I’ve had all this time with French is finally going to come in to play. About 30 minutes before entering, Dr. McDaniel had me come up to the front of the bus and give everyone a basic lesson; guess he really wasn’t joking about doing that. So arriving in the mall place, everyone was kind of freaking out and all my friends depended on me to help them order. I was a little overwhelmed with questions, but it turned out okay. No one knew what any of the food they had out was, and I ended up having this pasta salad type thingy. It was weird. And… yeah, just weird. However, looking around, I noticed that I could pretty much read most if not all the signs and advertisements! Eek! This made me so proud, and I felt at least a little more prepared for what was coming than the others.

I took this one for you in London on the tube, Papa.
Unfortunately, Mr. Right was not beneath that ad. 

Driving into Paris, it was way different than what I had pictured for some reason. It was a really big city with lots of close together and small restaurants and hotels, sort of like London but had a slightly more lower-class feel and sort of smelly and dirty. I suppose I pictured beautiful, really open streets and carts of flowers and crepes and really friendly people all surrounding the Eiffel Tower. Still beautiful, but definitely a reality check. We arrived at our hotel, changed, had an orientation, they showed us how to work the metro, and then they turned us loose in this huge outdoor restaurant and entertainment area that reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of Tokyo, Japan or something.

Nine of us who I have become the closest with on the trip went to this random restaurant that looked decent, Kelly tried escargot, and I enjoyed talking to the waiter in French. I’m getting better! We were all pooped and delirious so it was an interesting night needless to say. After being fed a portion of culture for the day, we all just needed to sleep…again. Kelly and I are constantly reminding ourselves to take mental pictures and videos, to enjoy literally every single moment about this trip, to do as much as possible, and to find Jesus in everything we see and in every interaction we have. I am so glad she is my roommate; we spur each other on and give each other so much rest and encouragement. I have not regretted one activity or moment since being on this trip. I am so thankful and appreciative, and I literally cannot believe I am waking up in the mornings to the Eiffel Tower right outside my window for the next four days…. I will for sure be CAPTIVATING each precious minute that ticks by.

Le Jour Huit (Day 8)

Bonjour! Je suis à Paris, et j’adore c’est ville. Today, I went on an 8 hour bike tour to Versailles. Kelly and all my closest friends that I’ve been hanging out with thus far decided to do a walking tour of Versailles instead, and I had already signed up and paid for the bike tour, so cheers to bonding with new people! There was a group of about 30 of us that went, and there are about five other girls that I have become relatively close to (or at least click with) other than my closest girl friends, and I went down and ate breakfast with them at 8:00 this morning. HOLLA FRENCH FOOD. I pigged out: a huge bowl of flaky plus some sort of chocolate cereal all mixed with yogurt, two crepes with mushrooms, pineapple, grapes, and an apple. Great way to start the day! I knew we were going to be biking for a long time. We then headed to Fat Tire Bike Tours, Paris, picked out a bike, and were on our way to Versailles! On our way there, i decided i don't really like the Paris metro and that i like the tube A LOT better. it just seems cleaner and less sketchy. It is really far from our hotel, and we even had to take our bikes onto the train with us, whew! I have become really close with the precious girl named Victoria, who is the cutest, sweetest thing; ah, I just love her, and she sort of looks like Selina Gomez. I stuck by her side all day long.

Before arriving at the Gardens and the Chateaux, we stopped at this huge, open market place to buy bread, cheese, fruit, and wine for the picnic we were going to have on the lawn of Versailles! The French eat bread at pretty much every meal, and they almost always have wine and cheese for dessert at least once a day. It was one of the funnest things all day, and it was HOPPIN’ with people! I got a huge chunk of fluffy, brownish, homemade bread, awesome cheese (with the help of the little dude behind the counter who spoke French with me), an apple, and strawberries. Victoria got the same. We still had about 10 minutes, and we spotted something cold and yummy that would just hit the spot for this beautiful, hot day in Paris: yep, you guessed it. Ice Cream. Inside the shop, everyone in there thought we were so cute for trying to speak full sentences in French, and I’ve learned that if you at least try to immerse yourself in the culture and speak their language, they are WAY more friendly and respectful to you. They treated us like princesses! Whoever said that the French are rude must be really obnoxious, loud, prideful American tourists who have no respect for their culture and are not even trying to learn the language or adapt to their surroundings. No wonder…. Stupid Americans. J The French are quite lovely people! I got strawberry mint flavored, and it was the best thing since fro yo; maybe better! MMM!! We arrived at Versailles, had our picnic, were breath taken by the scenery, toured the infamous Chateaux of Maria Antoinette, and awed at every room filed with intricate art, paintings, architecture, mirrors, and chandeliers. 

Then came the best part: the view of the back gardens from the top. And here I was. At the very sight I have merely seen pictures of. There, actually there! Looking up, I saw rays of sunshine coming out of the clouds, and I was reminded to simply soak this moment in, to just be there, and to take mental pictures, CAPTIVATED by the scenery and majesty around me. It was incredible. After lots of walking and biking, my feet were throbbing and whole body aching by the time we arrived back. On the way back to the hotel, I realized everyone around me either had other plans for the evening that I would need a ticket for, or I simply didn’t want to go where some were going. I was honestly sort of tired of being energetic and intentional with all my new friends (girl’s gotta have a break), and I just wanted to rest, but I was bummed at the thought of being by myself in the hotel room, assuming Kelly and them were off having dinner together somewhere else, and there was no form of communication. I'm glad I was with a new group of people today though. This gave me the chance to be very intentional with everyone and I almost know everyone's name! I decided to head back to my room anyways to see if she was there, and prayed the whole way that she was. I missed her today… a lot, and I just wanted to rest with her! Jesus heard me because she was there, dressed up all cute, screemed when I walked in, and said,j “I’ve been waiting as long as I could for the past hour for you to get back! I’m about to leave to go eat with Jennifer (our roommate and best friend who is in Paris interning); COME!! What an answered prayer. I changed really fast, excited to see Jen, and we headed out…on the metro…in Paris…by ourselves…to meet Jen for dinner. Oh, I am SO grown up.

Captivated by Versailles.

Seeing Jen across the way with her cute outfit and new hair cut, we screemed and ran across the street to embrace her! And what a sweet dinner it was. The company was just what we all needed, and we were freaking out it was actually happening. We all shared our adventures so far, and I learned more about the french culture from Jennifer, which i appreciated and loved. I ordered grilled salmon with buttered, sautéed vegetables, bread, incredible red wine, and yummy lemon butter sauce stuff to go with the salmon and bread. Best meal so far in Paris, and I scarfed the entire thing. It was the perfect evening with beautiful friends. On our way back to the hotel after dinner, Kelly and I caught the light show the Eiffel Tower was displaying for about a minute, which it does at night on the hour every hour, and we marveled together, arm and arm, at the fact that we’re here, we’re really here…