Paris, France

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This past weekend I ended up traveling to Paris, France. I say I "ended up" because if you had asked me at the beginning of studying abroad if I would go to Paris I would have starkly responded with a no. Paris just wasn't one of the places I wanted to visit. However, my friend Bridget really wanted to go and I had a free weekend. It also helped that the plane tickets and the accommodations were very cheap. So, I took back my words and I planned a trip to Paris. I will say this; I did enjoy the time I was there. I was a ver nice city with tons of history and definitely worth seeing. However, will I go back again? Probably not. I saw what I needed to see and that's it. I don't feel like I need to return, and that's okay. I'm sure people feel the same way about Scotland or London, which I would travel back to in a heartbeat.

Our flight out of Dublin was at 6:25am on Saturday and we would arrive in the airport about an hour outside of Paris at about 9:05am Parisian time. Fun fact, Paris is an hour ahead of Ireland. Because of the times Bridget and I had to take a 1:45am bus from Galway to Dublin. Let's just say we didn't get much sleep, if any at all. I was sick, but I was trying very hard to deny it. I had a sore throat and a headache, but I was not going to let that ruin my trip. Looking back now I definitely should have taken something, but it all worked out in the end. When we got to the airport we were honestly lost. Neither of us spoke a word of French and it was very confusing. Luckily there was a bus that we bought tickets for and it took us straight to Paris. Once I got on that bus I fell straight asleep. I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Once we got to Paris we knew it was time for food. I was really nervous about how French people were going to treat us seeing as we were Americans. I'm not going to say I was proven wrong because I wasn't. I got a lot of condescending looks and tones from people everywhere we visited. People would roll their eyes at us when they realized we couldn't speak French, and a worker on the train spoke to me like I was stupid. I tried not to take it personally, but it definitely affected my trip. Nonetheless, I was determined not to let the rudeness taint the beauty of the city, because it truly is beautiful. After we got to the BnB and had a quick nap, believe me it was needed, we got ready and headed to the Eiffel Tower. You really can't capture the beauty of this piece through pictures alone. It is so imposing all I could do was stare. At that moment we both decided we had to travel to the top. By the way props to the French because their Metro System is wonderful. It is both color-coded and numerically organized so that even those who didn't speak French could easily manage it and make it to their destinations. The lines were crazy long to go up to the top, but it was our only activity of the day and we knew we'd regret it if we didn't do it. So we got in line, despite the bitter cold and waited. I'm not afraid of heights, but going up that elevator made my heart beat faster than normal and I did get nervous. The view was absolutely spectacular. Seeing Paris from that high up was a once in a lifetime experience.

Once we got down from the tower we walked through the little park area to try and find somewhere to eat. Outside of the tower itself there are always men who are trying to sell tourists little statues or keychains of the Eiffel Tower. They are usually displayed on pieces of cloth for wicked cheap. It is sketchy, but there are loads of them so it doesn't matter. Well, we were walking, mind you it is dark out, and this car pulls up. The driver starts yelling and all of the men around selling stuff start running. We got nervous, we had just entered this city so we started walking quickly away. These two men on bikes starting pointing and laughing at us and telling us to run faster. That kind of stuff makes me so upset. I'm in a foreign country so of course I don't want to get involved in something like that if it truly was a bad situation. That aside, we find a nice little spot for dinner that actually quite nice, you know except for the waiter ignoring us for the entire meal.

That night I fell asleep instantly. I woke up feeling better, but definitely still sick. Jess and her parents were also in Paris so we had this great plan to meet up with them and go to the Palace of Versailles together. Unfortunately that did not seem to work out for us. First, we got their hotel wrong so we couldn't find them, and without wifi it was difficult to get in contact with them. Then, once we realized our mistake we were too far away to make it worth while to go. So, we told them to head there and we would follow. Or at least we thought we would. The Parisian public transportation system has two lines, the metro and the RER. To get to the palace we had to take the metro and switch over to the RER. Lucky for us the RER we were supposed to take at the Metro stop was closed, so we tried to find another stop to get to the appropriate RER line. Well, as we were a couple of stops away from said station, the train stopped for a while, then turned around. At that point we admitted defeat and realized that the palace just wasn't in the cards for us that day. So, after three hours on the train we got off and got crepes by the Eiffel Tower and ate them on the River Seine. That made up for the mishaps of the day. After that we found this museum-looking place and decided to check it out. We got free admission because we were students and we were studying from outside of the EU. It was crazy though how much security we had to go through just to get in. Our bags and our person had to be checked and scanned before we could go in. Even right now I'm not sure what it was, but the inside was gorgeous and the gardens around it were stunning.

After that we walked down and found the street the the Louis Vuitton store is located on. I definitely didn't want to go in there. It makes me sick thinking about the prices of these material items, but my mother wanted me to check the prices so I had to do it. I was stunned by the sheer wealth of it all. How could one piece of clothing cost more than my college tuition? I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that.

The store itself is located on a really cool street with lots of expensive stores. We had some time before we met with Jess and her parents for dinner, so Bridget and I had fun going in these stores and just looking around. When it was time we met Jess and her parents at their actual hotel and we had a wonderful dinner. They are such nice people and it felt nice to just talk.

Monday morning we woke up to no water in our BnB. Good thing we showered the night before! We did have to brush our teeth with water bottle water though. Although our flight wasn't until 10pm we had to check out of the BnB by 11:00am. Just as well since we planned on visiting The Louvre and needed an early start. With all of our stuff with us we stopped and got a baguette for breakfast. Let me tell you, I truly believe the best thing about my time in France was the bread because it was just utterly amazing. I will only dream about bread that good from now on. Then we walked a little to a Starbucks and got our coffee. The morning before I tried to get coffee from the place we got the baguette, but they gave me a shot of expresso instead. It was a little odd. Then we got on the metro and went to The Louvre. The place itself is beautiful and absolutely massive. We were nervous because of the extent of the security and the fact that the signs said no backpacks would be allowed. Fortunately they were small enough to pass inspection. This was another place that we got into for free and it was great. There was even a complimentary room to lock up our belongings while we looked.

I can't even begin to describe the extent of the pieces showcased in The Louvre. We spent two hours walking around and we got to see the Mona Lisa, but I know for a fact we barely dented the amount of work in that place. To truly appreciate it all one would need days to spend in there. Each piece is gorgeous and I wish I could read French to understand the meaning behind the various paintings and sculptures. After two hours in there we were thoroughly exhausted. Notre Dame was our next stop. We arrived and it was gorgeous. The only problem I had was the fact that mass was going on while we were touring. I felt disrespectful taking pictures, but the inside was just so nice. I lit a candle and said a few prayers of apology.

We were told to try macaroons while in Paris, so we then began a search for some. We ended up going to this little place that sold them. While the macaroons themselves were delicious, the woman working there was terrible. She was so rude to us and acted like we were bothering her by buying her products.

I was expecting how bitterly cold Paris was going to be, so we had to find another Starbucks to warm up a bit before heading to catch our bus to the airport. Once we got to the airport and through security we had time before our flight so we sat and chatted and grabbed a little something to eat. Our flight was pretty quick and we landed in Dublin at about11:05pm. Once we got through immigration it was 11:40pm on the bus. I fell in and out of sleep from Dublin to Galway and was more than happy to make it back. I finally crawled into bed at about 3:00am on Tuesday morning. Thankfully I didn't have class until 1pm the next day.

Overall, my trek to France was a positive experience.

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