Thursday, May 21, 2009

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!!!!

5 comments:

  1. was the homeless man attractive?

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  2. you and homeless men, caroline.

    i really liked reading this, fyi....i'm pumped to hear about normandy

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  3. laughing uncontrollably right now. only you caroline :)

    useful tip from mom libby: when blonde girls are walking alone in strange new places (i.e. paris, harlem) do not stop and look like a stupid tourist when lost. always walk with a purpose.

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  4. Somehow the story of the homeless man in the metro does not surprise me... I was scared back to my hotel by strange men in the Paris metro at night. Haha Sounds like you are having fun... be safe ;)

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