Exploration

Yesterday afternoon after finishing our rest time Tasha, Myself, our friends from HPU, and a French student from the school took a trip to Paris. The student, Alice offered to take us into Paris and was so sweet. We walked around for about 6 hours while she showed us many of the sights and then we treated her to a fresh fruit smoothie at her favorite cafe in Paris. The drinks were a little expensive but totally worth it because they were fresh fruit smoothies. We visited the Catacombes first thing when we got into Paris and made it just in time before they stopped letting people in for the day. It was really nice because we didnt have to wait in line to get in and we were allowed to take pictures, which you really arent supposed to do because the light deteriorates the bones, but we got away with it so we got some really great pictures. It was an amazing sight, but it stumped all of us as to how and who the bones were stacked so neatly and high. After the catacombes we walked through the streets looking at all the neighborhoods the Seine River, the Fountain of Saint Michel, Luxemborg Garden, Notre Dame, Sorbonne (university of paris), and the tip of the Eifel tower from far away. The Notre Dame cathedral was so beautiful both inside and outside. I personally felt really emotional in the cathedral for some reason. The statues were so beautiful as well as the cross with jesus on the wall. We had a lot of fun wandering the streets of Paris, but by the time we were done we were all exhausted. Sitting on the train on the way home almost all of us had droopy eyes it was pretty funny.

Today was pretty relaxed although our first class this morning was a bit on the tiring side because we were listening to a lecture on french history in the dark so that we could see the powerpoint that seemed to have a million words per slide. That was 3 hours of listening to Miseur Eve lecture about France and we only go through 4 points out of 6. We had a lunch break, which I believe was the first time that we actually ate all of our food. After lunch we ran off to our french classes and unfortunately we all got split up into different classes. Tash and I were bummed that we werent in the same class, but its probably good because it will make us expand out of our HPU comfort bubble. We learned the alphabet and a few basic questions in french today, but nothing to exciting. Tonight there is a music festival all over France, mainly in Paris that several of our friends and classmates are going to. Tasha, myself, and mariah decided to stay back because of the big crowds that will be in Paris and so that we can get a good nights sleep, but we can still hear music from our windows that is being played in Evry Square. Maybe we will go walk around to listen to the music up close. Tonight will be a relaxed night because we will go to see the Louve tomorrow evening because it is free for students under 26 in the evening. For us FREE in Paris is pretty hard to find so we will take advantage of it. Check back later for more stories and adventures.