Paris thus far

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So I made it to Paris. So far we haven't really done anything, and it's almost 6 pm and we leave tomorrow night. I really wanted to hit the town, but some people aren't feeling very good and everyone is tired. I only slept 3-4 hours last night, but I'm still kickin' pretty strong (ok, so I'm kinda tired, but I'm not going to take a nap because I'll want to stay up all night then). Everything is still really expensive (the internet was like $36 for 24 hours of usage. It was that or $7.50 for a half an hour. However, Julie and I met some cool guys on the train on the way here. There names were Andy and Christian. We ended up talking to them for a couple of hours and they let us drink some of there cheap wine. I will say that it was very strange to drink any sort of alcohol at 9 in the morning, but they told us we were in France and pretty much had to 😊. Christian was from Cape Town, South Africa, so he had some really cool experiences to share. Always fun to hear how it would be to grow up somewhere so different from yourself!! Oh, I also finally bought my Eurorail pass (that was extremely expensive, buy it in the states, seriously) and I had my first rude encounter with a frenchman. He was really really mean (even though I couldn't understand what he was saying). I waited in a certain line for like an hour to get my pass, but the guy didn't know how to sell one, so he made me go to a different window. I had to go in the back way to get there, and then the guy in front of this other line just started yelling at me. I tried to tell him I was sorry, but he just kept yelling. I don't know what his problem was. I was really nice the whole time, but it made me question why I am so nice when people are so mean to me. I know it's the right thing to do, but he was being so mean I wanted to flip him off or something :0. I wouldn't do that, but still... Like the other day at the changing of the guards these people who did not wait by the gates for hours (like some of us did) would shove their way to the front of the gates. Then, this one guy stood up on the gate so that no one behind him could see. He wasn't even there when everyone else already was. So, just because he's some butthole and has no personal space he gets to shove everyone out of his way? But the worst part was this kid behind me. He was a little overweight and he kept pushing me from behind. I wanted to turn around and sock him a good one! I'm not usually this mean, but come on people, show some respect! Anyhow, I hope that we actually get to go to the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe tonight, as that would be really cool, not only to seem them, but to actually do something. It kind of sucks but some of the people we came with had a different mindset than I did about this trip. They're coming for a shorter period of time and have a lot more money and think of it as a vacation, whereas, I'm trying to spread my money pretty thin and see as much as I can instead of spending my time/money eating. I decided that I would much rather go up the Eiffel Tower than eat dinner. I know eating is very important to getting in the culture, but I'm in paris for less than 48 hours. I don't want to eat as much as I want to see. For instance, it's now just after 6 pm and they're all asleep. I seriously didn't come to Europe to hang out at a Best Western and watch tv... It's funny, I'm not usually a complainer, and don't care, but seriously let's do something. Perhaps I'll go for a walk and come back in an hour or so. That's probably a good idea. I'll try to upload a picture or two and then go for a walk. And, if any of you are waiting for a phone call, I haven't been able to get the skype thing to work. And, I think I lost my gps receiver, or left it in Atlanta. Oh wells. Hope everything is going great for you all, and I wish you all a great weekend!

Russell

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