Life is Beautiful... and this is a long post (but you have to read the end!!)

Soooo the first school block started this week, my class is International Affairs and I am learning all about the European Union...I really like it!  Now that I'm waaayyyy more interested in politics and governmental issues, it probably would've helped for me to pay attention to classes relating to these subjects in high school. Anyways, I've really enjoyed it thus far. Monday, we had class and then a bunch of us girls walked around random streets of Paris and window shopped. A man followed us that day for a solid 15 minutes. There's a lot more to that story... but it's a kind of a "you had to be there" thing. Tuesday, after class, we went to Champs-Elysees and L'arc de Triomphe and stopped at the Starbucks near where a scene of "Taken" was filmed. Then we went back home and a bunch of us watched Taken :) My favorite movie right now. Wednesday, we watched a video on numerous historical events involving the city of Normandy, since we are taking a weekend trip there starting tomorrow. Then we went to the Catacombs and saw the bones of all of the bodies stored underground in Paris from all of the deaths in the late seventeenth century. It was creepy. Afterwards, we went to this awesome street about a 35 minute walk from the Catacombs and had dinner at "Paul's"...fun fact: Paula Deen apparently suggests going there. The waiter sucked. But the food was great. Then I decided to take off by myself to go shopping at Zara...brilliant idea...i found myself extremely lost for a few moments, then i figured out i had walked approximately 30 minutes in the opposite direction of our humble abode. Cool. Once I made it home, after making a few fashion purchases, my roomie (Maddie) and I decided to go for a run through the streets of Paris. We went all the way to the Seine River and watched the sunset there. As we sat on the bridge overlooking the river, the eiffel tower, the pont neuf, and a few incredible museums, we noticed a huge boat with an open top carrying a couple hundred people headed our way...so we sprinted to the top of the bridge (literally, no one else was on the bridge) and waved to everyone underneath us on the boat. They apparently thought we were celebrities. Every single one of them was waving and taking pictures and videos of the two of us... the asians held up peace signs, and the creepy old men blew us kisses... it was a moment to remember. Then we ran/walked back, passing by Les Invalides Museum (where Napoleon's tomb is located) on our way. We hurdled a few sidewalk posts and made it home. Then we got ready and went out on the town. We met some really great french people, a cute australian bar tender, and a bunch of students from UF in the same bar as us. It was so much fun. On the way home we took the metro... and i had the privilege of seeing a homeless man sleeping on the metro bench pull out his ween and (without getting up) pee ALL OVER the waiting area and metro stop seats. As if that wasn't enough, he pulled down his pants even further and scratched his butt to full satisfaction, pulled up his pants (did not zip/button them) and proceeded to use the back of his hand to wipe the urine off of the part of the bench where he was sleeping and onto the floor.....  he continued sleeping. That image will forever be implanted into my memory. That's my novel for the week... Normandy this weekend!!!! I'm sure I will have another one after that experience... sorry. Au revoir!!!!

First Detailed Blog :)

Day 1 (Wednesday): Visited Eiffel Tower during the day, went to our first French cafe, napped for a solid 3 hours and stayed at the L'Hotel Mayet 

Day 2 (Thursday): The rest of the group came in, we walked around the city, ate at a quaint little cafe with all 8 Phi Mu girls, and then went to bed very early.

Day 3 (Friday): Breakfast then Orientation with the entire "UGA a Paris" group. Then we toured the city on a bus and saw Le Tour Eiffel, Le Musee d'Orsay, Le Louvre, L'Arc de Triomphe, The Ritz where Princess Diana was right before she died in the car accident, The Pantheon, L'Hotel des Invalides, The Seine River, and every museum/monument that means anything in Paris. We had dinner and then called it a night because of our early adventure in the morning.

Day 4 (Saturday): We woke up at 7 a.m. and hopped the metro and the r.e.r. to get to Versailles. We spent the day looking at the entire city including Marie Antoinette's humble abode. It was awesome. Then we ate lunch in the gardens at Versailles and left around 2 p.m. We napped then got up and went to dinner at a really great cafe, came back, got dressed, bought some wine on the way to the Eiffel Tower and hung out at the Eiffel Tower all night....in the rain. It was great. 

Day 5 (Sunday): Do absolutely nothing besides read, eat baguettes and visit the local grocery store called the "Shopi"....school starts tomorrow...great.

The Eventful Trip Over...

So we get checked in at the Atlanta airport, we're ready to go and we start checking into gate E14. Maddie and I soon discover they have rejected our requests to sit together. So what would be more appropriate than for me to walk down the aisle searching for my vacant seat, just to realize that it is right in between two fat, smelly, Russian men who were staring at me with creepy eyes and exchanging mutual laughter as I went to grab my seat. Great. Not only did I have to endure 8 hours of actual flight time with the overly friendly Russians but we ended up sitting on the runway for two hours prior to take-off. As we begin to take-off the captains conveniently realize we have a fuel leak. Ambulances surround the plane. We get taken back to the terminal...after another hour and a half of waiting around we finally get in the air and make it to PARIS!!! Since the arrival, Maddie, Caroline Coarsey, Phillip and I have gone to a french cafe, walked in the Paris rain and checked into our hotel with a great balcony that overlooks the city. We're about to leave to take a walk to the Eiffel Tower. Legit. 

On Our Way To Paris!

Finally leaving for Paris today! Maddie Taylor, Caroline Coarsey and I are flying to Charles de Gaulle tonight and we will arrive in Paris around 8 a.m. their time. Our friend Phillip is meeting us there and we are all staying one night in a hotel near the university that we will be studying/living at for the next 6 weeks. The blogging for this entire trip officially commences....now :)

True Life: I leave for Paris in 5 days

but I just failed my French final....so maybe I shouldn't be our group translator.