IN SHEER EXCITEMENT

THIS HOUSE IS A PALACE AND I AM IT'S NEWEST PRINCESS HOLY COW

DO YOU SEE

SO EXCITED

In Another Airport

Though boarding was supposed to be at noon, my flight has been delayed till one.

 

You know how difficult is is just to fly in the first place? Imagine doing that in a foreign language. When you've never been to the airport before. And you're alone. And 17.

The struggle's been real, that's all I'm sayin.

Anyway, I'm sitting in the little waiting seats at what I hope is my terminal. My flight is only a bit over an hour in length, so I should be in Toulouse by 2:30.

In Toulouse, I will be "received" by a staff member from my CIEE program and presumably taken to my host family's house. This should be interesting and the other American I'm staying with might just beat me there.

(The waiting lounge area)

Also, they were selling cups of cheese in the food area and it cracked me up.

(Cups of soft white cheese for sale)

I took a taxi here, and (despite the fact that he was very openly texting while driving) it was quite nice. He exclusively listened to English music (a real trend here) and said things in an accent that I could understand. AND when I tried to tip him, he just shot me this "oh- you poor, confused child" sort of look and handed me back the extra money. Okay, France okay.

In The Interest Of Amusement

So, there have been times in my life that I've seen some surprising thing. Today was one of those times.

The picture above is a couple of people walking their donkey through a garden I saw today. And the best part was the woman walking the donkey was eating ice cream all the while. We were in the middle of Versailles. Versailes is an urban city. How did they transport the donkey there? Why did they transport the donkey there? Why do they have a donkey? 

I have some other stories from France thus far, but they're not too exciting. In my defense, I've only been here like 6 days. 

At one point, I saw the most French thing I will ever see. As I walked the streets of Versailles: there was a very blonde couple both wearing stripes and dress shoes, making out as the man held not one, not two, but three enormous loaves of bread in his hands. Please use your imagination and understand how amusing this was because wow.

That's the best I've got for now, but I'm working on it.

Photos in Paris

I have enough photos to form some sort of large shrine to Paris, so I'm going to dedicate a post to them. 

Warning: the actual place is actually even cooler than the photos make it look.

A snazzy street

My view from the first floor of the Eifel Tower (there are three floors in total)

Pictures of me by the River Seine in Paris (taken by master-photographer Sarah)

The tower from a street view

The view from the lower steps of the tower

Some girl being dumb and laying on the translucent floor of the tower for a photo

A very excited me, almost 281 meters off the ground, at the Summit

The French Squad and I at a mirror on the tower's first floor (selfies are, in fact, universal)

A picture that I managed to not get run over while taking

Arguably my favorite picture of the day, as an onlooker is caught behind me in sheer disappointment of my tourist ways

The River Seine from yet another bridge

So, a big shoutout to everyone who made my trip possible. I appreciate y'all. A lot.

Also, a special shoutout to my cousin Rachel who checked my AP scores for me while I'm out of the country (the results of the tests we take with our high schools to try to test out of college classes). I appreciate that with the entirety of my being. 

In Paris

PARIS!!!! OUI!!!!!! (Or for those without

French accents: PARISSS!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!)

So, today, my French Squad (pen pal Sarah and friend Lola) took me to see Paris!

(From left to right: Sarah, Me, Lola)

We took a bus to Lola's and then another bus to Versailles, where we then took a big subway-ish train to Paris.

(The train)

 The first thing we did was the Eiffel Tower (6,000 stairs). My lovely friends waited for me as I went to the very tippy top. Along the steps, on the fence, were engraved locks (the kind you'd use for a locker)  perminanently (or somewhat permanently) locked there by couples. Their engravings would say things like "Joe i Emily 15/3/2013". Also, at the top of the tower, the air smelled like fireworks. Why? I'm not sure at all. And the view was perfect, of course.

(The view from the Summit)

We could see into the apartment Mr. Eiffel had, had for himself in the Summit. There were these creepily realistic statues of him in the appartment, too:

(See Eiffel and, if you look closely, a woman there with him)

After the Eifel Tower, we walked to the Arc De Triomphe.

(Embracing my inner tourist and posing for a photo at the Arc de Triomphe)

We walked around for a good while longer and ended up home around 8 pm (20 heures). We ate some food (Sarah's mom's dinners are to die for) and now I shall sleep 12 hours. Touring at its finest.

In A State Of Surprise

Everyone always loves to hear about the differences between America and other countries. I made a list that is nowhere close to all-encomposing of some differences that are somewhat surprising. Also, I'm sure that all the things on this list are not true for the all of the country. But I've been here like two days, so obviously I am an expert.

Things that surprised me:

Milk in little bottles 

Willingness to walk places

Toilet and sink/shower in seperate rooms

No mounted shower head, just a hand held kind of thing

No shoes in the house

Late Bedtime and dinner

Busses are ridden by almost exclusively kids

So, so many attractive men

Small cars

Less friendly to strangers?? (Maybe just less meaningless pleasantries)

Lots of nice parks

Their schools don't have cheerleaders... Or even mascots

In Versailles

I am going back to Versailles today and was there all day yesterday! Pretty cool. Pretty cool.

Yesterday, my French homies (pen pal Sarah and brother, Samir) took me to see the Palace of Versailels. We took so many photos that I had to make an entire post dedicated to them (see last post). Very beautiful and very enormous. There were a lot of tourists and a lot of them spoke in English. Even though I've only been here for like a day, I had really, really missed eavesdropping on strangers' conversations. I don't know what that says about me as a person, but hey.

We walked around the garden for a good while. It kind of poured on us, but I like rain so no complaints. Here's a picture of some very distraught boaters in the storm:

That lake is actually shaped like the crucifix, interestingly enough.

Anyway, we finished our day with a meal at McDonalds (yeah, I know) and a visit to a local park. The parks here are lovely and plentiful.

Very nice, very fun. And now we return to Versailles for some errands. Hooray!

Photos In Versailes

The street

From the window

One of the many buildings

Sarah and Me

Another of the buildings (there were a lot of buildings)

Fountain 

Room of the palace

Bushes on fleek