PARIS/the nutella crepe weekend

---

So i know this is a little old because it is the 3rd weekend in February and i went to Paris the first weekend but! i haven't had time to blog until now, so this will have to do 😊

So we left for Paris Friday morning at 7 am..which meant we had to wake up at 330am which meant that yes i only got 2 hours of sleep..as you all know, that did not sit well with me. But we flew with a company called ryanair, which is located out of dublin. They have the cheapest flights over here so most of the trips im going on im flying with them. everyone speaks badly of them and says that they are sketchy but they really arent. but what is cool over here is that instead of walking right onto the plans, we have to take a bus out onto the terminal and then we walk onto the plane..yeah thats pretty cool. So yeah we got into Paris at 905 and the flight went fine. i actually slept most of it and seconds before we landed i woke up and opened my eyes and then literally 3 seconds later i shot forward nearly bashing my face into the seat in front of me bc we landed so terribly. So after we landed we got off our plane and all that fun nonsense and then had to take an hour and a half bus trip to Paris. There are two airports in France (well major airports) and we flew into the one that was farther away because it was less expensive, but because of this we had to take a bus, which actually wasnt bad at all.

so then we finally got to PARIS! it was immediately different from Rome, but of course, a good different. The architecture was so different and just the way people interact. Paris is a lot more modernized than Rome is. So it was nice because a lot of people spoke English (although when i would try and speak i tried to use all the French i remembered from high school and i actually did really well!!) but im glad that im studying abroad somewhere that is totally 100% different from the states. i mean Paris even had Starbucks! it was a luxury haha

anyways, so we got dropped off at the bus station which ended up being walking distance from where we were staying! but when we first got there we didnt realize how close we were. well we got off the bus and started walking in the general direction we thought we should go. our hostel was located right off the champs elysees. side note: the champs elysees is this huge amazing street in Paris, its basically the Michigan ave of Paris, so our hotel was ultimately in the heart of Paris which of course was amazing. Also, the marker of the champs elysees is the Arc d'Triumph..google it. its huge. so ali told us that we needed to find this street and we were having a real hard time finding it until i just happened to turn to my left and said "ughh..hey guys..?" and right to our left was this MASSIVE structure, which was none other than the arc d'triumph. so we started in that direction and from there finding our hotel was super easy. It was literally 3 block off the champs elysees!

when we got to the hotel we looked haggard. we hadnt looked in a mirror since we left at 415 am, we took a plane and a bus and hadda walk to the hotel. although our room wasnt ready they let us use the bathroom and we freshened up (btw, i traveled and stayed at the hotel with ali and madison). they also let us leave our bags there because it was around 11ish and our room wouldnt be ready until 2. since all of our friends had gotten into Paris the night before, before they left school we made a plan to meet at the Louvre at 1. so we left our bags there and headed off to the Louvre!

We ended up reaching the Louvre around 115ish because we kept stopping and taking pictures and just marveling at our new surroundings. There was so much to see! and since our hotel was located perfectly, we were able to walk everywhere! we finally got the the Louvre and spent around 3 hours there. the Louvre is absolutely amazing. Its ginormous and has such a huge collection its almost overwhelming. if i remember correctly there are 3 different wings with paintings, sculptures, pottery, ruins, just everything. we of course saw the mona lisa (which i think is overrated) and then a bunch of paintings that i learned about in my Baroque class which was so cool being able to learn about something in the classroom and then seeing it in person- words cannot describe how amazing that was. but yeah we saw the mona lisa, venus de milo, winged victory of samothrice, cupid and psyche and just so many other gorgeous sights (if you dont kno any of the sculptures i just mentioned, shame on you..GOOGLE IT)

then after that the group was all together (me ali madison charlie luke matt sameer) and we went to NOTRE DAME. the walk over was of course beautiful, although it was gloomy out and a little chilly it didn't really phase us. so yeah we saw notre dame and it was just, absolutely amazing. we got to go inside and walk around and of course it was beautiful but we werent able to walk up and view from the to because it was closed :/ then we found a park and played like little kids for a bit and then we split up and went back our separate ways. for us girls, the walk back was long and tiring. we had to take a few breaks. my shins felt like someone was sticking a knife in them every time i took a step bc i had shin splints from after walking home from the roma calcio game, and ali's knee hurt and we were just all exhasuted haha BUT on the walk home was when i discovered that every hour the eiffel tower starts GLITTERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! literally, the most beautiful thing i have ever seen in the whole entire world. needless to say, it got me pumped for the next day.

instead of eating authentic Parisian food, we were all craving hamburgers. and in our defense it was because we had gone weeks without ANY kind of american food and enough was enough. we went to a chain of restaurants called Quick and ate there..most satisfying meal ever. afterwards, i had my second nutella crepe of the weekend 😊 - there were MANY more to come. after we ate we got back to the hotel showered and were asleep by 945..we get alotta shit for this but i mean WE WERE UP SINCE 330AM THAT MORNING and we had traveled and walked and yeah, i definitely passed out.

the next morning we met charlie and matt (and it was supposed to be the rest of the boys but SOME of them got a little to drunk and didnt get home until 500am...) at the church called Sacre Coeur..its this gorgeous church up on a hill top and you see the most breath taking views of Paris. once again the weather was cloudy and cold but the views were of course still gorgeous! BUT at this church are the most pushiest sales men i have ever met! okay so basically all over rome and paris and just europe there are these men who sell useless shit on the street. for example in paris it was stupid little eiffel towers, or magnets, or purses, or sungalsses etc. and they just set up blankets anywhere and layout their merchandise and honestly expect people to buy their stuff. its actually amusing. but ali's italian speaking partner told us that those people have to do that because they owe money to the mafia, so never buy anything from them! but usually they will ask or try and talk to them and then u yell at them twice and they leave u alone. well to get up the hill to the church there are like 5 of them and they block you form going up and they say "baby oh baby let me see your wrist, cmon sweetie" and they want your wrist so they can try to sell you this bracelet thing/pickpocket you. but they literally all rush you and dont let you pass and its actually kinda nerve racking.

but so after that we decided to walk around the surrounding area of the church bc there are a bunch of little souvenir shops and markets and thats where I FOUND MY HAT AND GLOVESSS. i had been freezing while i was there and needed something for my ears and hands. so one of the shops i walk into i find the most perfect hat that matched the burgendy in my jacket so i first bought that. and then i walked in the shop literally 2 shops down and i found perfectly matching burgendy gloves! its awesome bc ill have it forever with that jacket and after that i was warm all weekend, and it was of course adorable 😊

then we got directions and found moulin rouge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (where i ate a bananna nutella crepe) ahhhhhh, i wanted to go to a dinner and a show there but it was a whopping 150 euro and that just was ridiculously out of my price range but yeah it was so cool seeing that and then we just walked around there and then took the metro back to our hotel. WHICH BY THE WAY, Paris' metro is NICE..like really nice. it makes the CTA look like a joke, which i mean it is but yeah Paris has a real nice metro.

then we got back shopped and relaxed 😊

at night we met back up with the guys and we went to the EIFFEL TOWERRRRRRRRRRRR. as we were approaching it i actually had to take a step back to soak it all in. ive wanted to see the eiffel tower since my first day of french class my freshman year in high school and i finally did!!!!!!!!! it was unbelivable, it was absolutely the most breathtaking view ive ever seen. just so gorgeous. ahhh, just thinking about it now gives me the goosebumps. so we went all the way up to the top! and it was freezing up there but so so soooo worth it. the view of Paris at night was unlike anything else in this whole entire world! after that we went and got food, said bye to the boys who were leaving in the morning and walked home. we went home a different way though and stumbled upon a street that was all louis vuitton, chanel, gucci, prada, burberry etc etc. madison literally, died.

the last day (sunday) we had a night flight so we still had all day to mess around. our bus didnt leave for the airport until 545ish so we decided to all do our own activities that day and then we met up at the hotel at 4. well, i decided to walk more up and down the champs elysees. i went into the disney store, h &m, and a bunch of other boutiques. then i headed off in the direction of the louvre and walked around past there, which was a whole different side of the city. i walked through markets and all the stands which were on the side of the river! the sun actually came out that day to smile and i was so warm i took off my jacket! i had another crepe that day ( i averaged two nutella crepes a day) and then just shopped around in the little shops.

then we got back to the hotel, ate, took the bus early to the airport. at the airport we had more than 2 hours to kill so we sat in a little airport restaurant and ali me and madison all drank some wine 😊 perfect ending to a perfect trip!

😊 😊 thanks for following meeeeeeeee!!! love and miss you all!!! <3

---