Paris... the inspiration of my blog.

This trip was the inspiration for me to begin blogging... as you read you will understand. I doubt I can even do this weekend justice but take it for what it’s worth! Haha okay so a crew of us took off for Paris at 3:30 in the morning on Friday. We had to catch a bus down the street at 3:40 that would take us to the EuroStar station. I got to bed around 11 that night but really didn’t sleep that much because the other side of our room was awake; since they could sleep in. Finally I crashed and the next thing I knew Anne babe was waking me up at three. All of us were running around getting ready and grabbing last minute things. Now let’s just say there are many different personalities in the group that was going. Most of them are rather punctual and don’t screw around when it comes to being on time. In other words-Annie and I were the last to leave our room. There was already tension and we were getting scolded and told multiple times that it was 330. Hahah. I already knew I was in for it for the weekend. Almost everything that could have gone wrong did. Carly, Annie and I ran down into the Kitchen to grab something to eat but everyone was gone. In panic we all ran out to try and catch up. Luckily right before I headed out the door, I realized I didn’t have my stinkin coat. Typical. I sprinted up the 500 flights of stairs while cute Anne babe waited for me. We starting running down the street, dropping water bottles, and everything else we owned and had no clue where anyone was. We looked down the street and the bus stop was literally two seconds away and we ended up waiting 10 minutes for the bus anyways. You can only imagine my thoughts at this time! Annie and I were crying we were laughing so hard but really more ticked than anything. -Keep in mind that Annie and I shared a backpack to put all of our stuff in-

Our bus finally decides to pull up and we all starting scanning our Oyster cards and getting on. Sharon’s card gets denied. Hahaha. Of course right? Three in the morning and there was nothing we could do about it. Luckily the man finally let her on and we were on our way. Emotions are a little tense at this point but we all talked about it and laughed it off. As we were driving towards the station, the bus in front of us had a few boys maybe around our age on it. Obviously they needed a little attention because the next thing I saw was one of their butts. Hahah they decided to moon us. Keep in mind that this is all happening before 4 o’ clock even hit! We were dying, it was hilarious!!! Just writing this makes me laugh out loud.

We went and checked in and waited for the Eurostar. As we waited we met some girls from New York doing a study abroad over here as well. They were heading to Paris too. Then our train arrived and off we went - Paris. The seats in the Eurostar were wonderful. Ten times more comfortable than an airplane in my opinion. The head rests stick out super far on the side so you can actually lean on them-if that makes any sense. It was only a two-hour ride and if you know me, you already knew that I slept the whole time. Periodically I’d wake up, mouth wide open of course, and Carly was the only one awake… reading her Oxford! Hahahha. That’s our history book that I have already read five times………

Feelin pretty exhausted, we were in Pari! I won’t lie I was super stoked and couldn’t wait to get out of the station. First thing we did was hit the ATM and got our metro tickets. K let’s talk about the metro for a second. The tube is SO MUCH BETTER! Not to be explicit but seriously the tunnels all smelled of Urine and were extremely dirty. Super nast! We hopped on and were off to our first sight the Lourve. Luckily Liz and Carly knew what was going on or else we would have been a little lost ha.

At this point, picture a crew of American girls, who know hardly any French (Besides Carl) were out and wandering around in Paris… on empty stomachs.  We all know each other pretty well now so most knew that I shut down when I am hungry. Ha we stopped and got chocolate croissants, which made life much less miserable! Haha.

The Lourve was HUGE. I have always been told that but words don’t do some things justice. I couldn’t believe how it went on and on.. and on… and was even below my feet! Totally unreal and I loved walking around it. Of course we all took the pyramid picture and then went on towards the gardens. We then went to Saint Chapelle and it was gorgeous. It was an old cathedral with the most beautiful glass stained windows I have seen yet. It was covered with them and I loved it. Right down the street from there was the Notre Dame. I was craving the movie at this point! Haha. All of the restaurants and cafés were all named like Quasimodo and Esmeralda. We walked to the top of the bell tower-400 stairs. Europe is obsessed with stairs I swear. It had such a pretty view of the city, it was amazing.

Following the Notre Dame we went down into this underground exhibit right across the way. We thought they were the catacombs.. hahah. Nope it was some ancient crypts thing. Super cool but not quite what we expected. Then we finally went to what I was looking forward to most. The Eiffel Tower! Let's be honest, it's just one of those attractions that you hear about and want to see all of your life. We had seen glimpses of it all day long because it's so big, but when we got out of the metro and it was right in front of me- I was bloooown away! Ah just stoked. Haha it was awesome and I was lovin life. We walked around it for awhile snapping pics and what not.

Now let me throw out there at this time we had literally been walking ALL day long. For lunch we grabbed baguettes and cheese and ate them on the go. French style..whatever. Also let me give the reminder that we were running on four hours of sleep. Cute Carly has a friend doing a study abroad in Paris and had contacted her to meet us at the Eiffel that night. She was with a few of her friends and they invited us to some "YSA institute crepe party." Free crepes and cute french boys we were told. Okay now let's be real here. If you know me at all I am a pretty religious person and appreciate the gospel more than anyone would know. But an institute party while i'm in Paris?!? Gag me. So what, I had a bad attitude; i'll admit it. The fact that the girls leading us there were s p r i n t i n g didn't make it any better. Long story short, by the time we arrived at the building there were a few choice words said, limits reached and emotions shot. (Getting handed a hymn book brought tears to my eyes..ask Annie and Ash).

Turned out to be a fireside that was in French the whole time. Haha the nutella and banana crepe helped my attitude I won't lie! And as for the cute french boys, zero. We said our thanks and were out of there.  Little did we know what was lying ahead of us.