I have oh so much to share with y’all about what’s been going on in the past couple of weeks, so I’m going to get right to it!
Last week was super exciting because my roommates from Arkansas FINALLY landed in Valencia!! It was so great to get that taste from home and to get to share this place that I’ve come to love with them. For one of our two weekends together, we decided to make the trip up north to Paris, where our roommate from the fall semester, Estelle, lives!
They landed on Wednesday and we left Thursday night for Paris, 3 nights and 4 days in total. We stayed at an airbnb which Gabby failed to mention was on the sixth floor of the apartment building with no lift because apparently those are not a thing in Paris??? And I’m still a little mad about it but looking back on it, the situation was actually hilarious because she kept that minor detail from us on purpose and we cursed her every time we made a trek up the miserable six flights.
Our first night we got settled in pretty late so all we did was have dinner (pizza, French food was too unfamiliar) and met up with Estelle for drinks in the Champs-Elysees afterwords.
Before I get too deep into this post, let me mention the language ordeal in France. So one of my concerns with traveling to any foreign country is the language barrier. I think its pretty scary to be in a foreign place and not be able to communicate with anyone. Paris is pretty international, but the first time I was really challenged with this was in Rome.
Now, lets not forget that Gabby and I took 3 years of French in high school and we were confident in our abilities to communicate together since we still recalled a few key phrases such as Ou est le toilette? Or Puis-j’alle a mon casier? Enough to get us around, right? Madame G- I hope you’re reading this and laughing. I promise we learned a little more than that. The thing about languages is that they are a use it or lose it kind of deal and it had actually been four years since we had studied it, but after being around it again I was reminded of how much I love the language and the culture and I really do have the desire to study it again.
Sorry sorry, back to my trip.
So we were up bright and early on Friday morning and started our day out at the Palace of Versailles, said to have been a project so massive and luxurious it helped ruin the French economy, but there’s no citation of this on my part so correct me if I’m wrong. I had seen the palace on my previous visit to Paris but since then, Kim Kardashian had visited it for her wedding rehearsal dinner so how was I going to miss the opportunity to go back? Plus the place is covered in gold, definitely a must see.
We left Versailles pretty late so we needed something that allowed us to see as much of the city in as little time as possible, so what better solution is there than another cheesy bus tour??? Yup. We did it. No regrets, again, besides the fact that it was raining and we all thought it would be an excellent idea to ride around on top.
The weather was not in our favor this weekend but we still got to see all the major landmarks in the city and didn’t have to walk, so no losing there. The bus left us in the heart of the Champs-Elysees (like the Times Square of Paris), which is where the Arc de Triumph is located. It was right before the sunset and we thought this would be the perfect time to climb to the top and 80 flights of stairs later (I killed all of my Fitbit goals this weekend), we found what I thought to be the best view in the entire city.
The next day we were up bright and early again and this time we split
in two to conquer the two most attractive museums in the city. Gabby
and Evelyn saw the Louvre, and Ali and I went to the Musee d’Orsay,
where Blair Waldorf met her prince/devil husband (We were 100% super
tourists throughout this entire weekend and I was so happy with it).I also found my new favorite artist, a man by the name of Edgar Degas who focused a majority of his work on sculptures and paintings of dancers.
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| Silent night- Van Gogh- I had no idea this painting was here!! |
Next up was a lunch cruise on the Seine river, an activity recommended to us by our host mom. This was another thing I had not done on my previous trip to Paris and it was probably one of my favorite things that we did (although wine + food + boats don’t mix too well) and if I ever go back to Paris, this is one thing I will make sure to experience again.
We had some free time after this, so we went to find the Birkenstock
store because a pair is literally half the price here that it is in the
U.S, and went to meet Estelle again. We wandered around, got about 100
more pictures of the Eiffel tower, got on a bus to St. Germain and
skipped the stop because it was pouring rain, and eventually ended back
up at the tower to watch it sparkle again because honestly it is one of
the best things I have ever seen. The night ended around 12 and we had
another very early start for our short last day in Paris. |
| The tower was lit up for the Eurocup- how cool??? |
Thanks for an amazing weekend Paris, and I will most definitely be back.
Au revior mes amis ;))
Bless,
Kassandra
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Read more from Kassandra at https://salazarinspain.wordpress.com/
Take a look at http://studiesabroad.com/programs/country/spain/city/valencia/duration/17 for more information about the ISA Valencia, Spain: Hispanic Studies Honors Program.
