Tuesday: Had off of working due to a power outage, slept til 1pm (glorious!), went to PoundWorld (aka dollar store) for some little stuff and then did laundry for the first time (not terrible or too expensive luckily). A lot of kids from my house then went out to an American sports bar which, I think all Americans in the city of London also decided to go to. It was actually really fun, some of my housemates had friends from high school there and such and they had great drink specials (the cheapest beer we could find so far).
Wednesday: I had my first full day of work. It was a little rough because the power was partially out so I couldn't use my computer half the day and my boss had to use one across the office so I was randomly bored, but I get a nice hour break for lunch and get reimbursed for it which is cool!
Thursday: My first class was a walking tour of different parts of London, I got to see the restaurant where its dark and the waiters are blind like in Chelsea Handler's book and a bar where Stalin and Lenin met! We finished the class at the museum of London, which I now realize why I loved this museum when I was 9: there is so much archaeological stuff and not a lot of paintings! I enjoyed it a lot but then had to run back to campus to go to my Modern Brit class where we basically watched a really funny BBC video on the Attlee/Churchill years. Then I rushed home and had to eat and gather all my stuff to depart to Paris....
I went with my two roommates, Tara and Emily. Let's just say we learned a lot of life lessons in Paris. For starters:
Lesson #1: Never take a 10 hour bus ride to Paris, no matter how much money you think your saving.
It left at 9:30pm and got to Paris at 7:30am so we thought we'd just sleep on the bus and then have a nice full day in Paris. Welllllll 2 hours in we had to go through customs. Then wait an hour. Then get on a ferry (which was actually really nice, Emily and I got Strongbows and Tara snoozed on a couch) and then we had about a 5 hour bus ride straight to Paris. The problem...the seats were not meant for sleeping, we were so uncomfortable that it was basically terrible and we maybe slept for 30-45min in total.
Friday: Oh, and the bus got there at 6:30 (an hour early) and we then took the metro.
Lesson #2) The Paris Metro really is gross compared to the London Tube.
We then had to find our hostle (luckily I google mapped from the metro to the hostle before hand so we didn't have much trouble and it was only like a 5 min walk) but we got to the hostle at 8am...
Lesson #3: Never stay at a hostle. Its just weird. We were in a 5-person female only room, meaning there were two random ladies...they were nice its just awkward. And its not like a hotel, especially the showers.
Check-in wasn't til 4pm and I already thought I was gonna pass out from exhaustion at 8am. We legit took a nap on the tables there before finding something to do and they guy told us we could come back at 2 (I think he felt bad for us because we looked like death). So we took the metro and exchanged money.
Lesson #4: exchange money before hand, its such a pain, and England has to be annoying use the Pound when the rest of Europe uses the Euro.
We then got tea at this place and relaxed/warmed up on comfy chairs before heading to the Lourve, which we got in for free since we're EU students.
We then walked through maybe one hallway before I thought I was legit gonna die because my back had been hurting so bad. I felt bad tho because Tara and Emily were okay and I just kept sitting down and hunting for tylonol.
Lesson #5) Always carry some sort of pain reliever with you while traveling.
We left the Lourve after like a 1/2 hour so I could go to a pharmacy to get advil and then got lunch at this cute french restaurant and I got lasagna and a waffle with nutella and ice cream
it was then time to head back for our much needed nap so we went back to our hostile and slept til like 530pm.
After regrouping we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower and then get dinner and call it a night. The Eiffel Tower was GIGANTIC! So much bigger than I expected and so much prettier. We went to the second level and took lots of pics
and then on the way out saw it twinkle which was so cool! We then got dinner at this little cafe around the corner and called it a night, got a little lost but made it home and legit, I've never slept so well.
Saturday: We woke up around 9, had breakfast, and then went to Versailles.
Lesson #6) Not speaking the language is so annoying. Most people spoke English but a few times we had issues and we all just felt dumb not knowing French
Versailles was BEAUTIFUL. We were also baffled at the size of the Estate itself. We also got in free with our visas which was really nice. We explored and got to see Marie Antoinette's bedroom and the Hall of Mirrors.
We then went to a cafe for lunch and had burgers and nutella crapes (yes, every dessert I've had since I've got to Europe has had nutella in it). We then headed back and went to Norte Dame which is soooooo much bigger than I thought it would be. It was like St. Patrick's Cathedral on steroids.
We walked in during the start of mass which was cool and very pretty. We then went back, changed, and headed to dinner with 3 girls from our house in London who were also in Paris for the weekend. We met them at this fondue place that Tracey recommended to us, it was really good (mainly because I'm obsessed with cheese), they also serve wine in baby bottles haha
It was so nice seeing them and catching up on our adventures even though it had only been like 48 hours haha. We then made the best decision ever - we took a cab home. We were so sick of the gross metro, so cold, and so tired. It was great tho because we got to see beautiful views of Paris that we missed out on the metro and it wasn't even that much. We then slept wonderfully again.
Sunday: We woke up around 9, had breakfast, and then made our way on the metro back to the dreaded bus. I'm currently writing this from my blackberry on our way back, its like noon here and we should be back around 6. We had fun this weekend but we can't wait to get back to London, away from Metros and back to the Tube, away from hostles and back to our own room, and back where everyone understands us (even if we are American).
(I'm writing this part today)...I spoke too soon after writing this...because right after....our BUS BROKE DOWN! Yupp. Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse. We had to wait 3 hours for the next bus to come with the CRAZY Romanian Gypsy family and their 7 children RUNNING around the bus, eating smelly foods, picking up coins off the ground, oh..and BEATING THE SHIT out of their children (I cried...I've never seen someone hit their child, nor been unable to stop it because we didn't speak the same language). We finally made it back to lovely London around 9:30, showered, and ran to McDonalds (in sweatpants, which is a big no-no fashion wise here).
Yesterday (Monday): I worked from 9-1 and then went to Greenwich for Art class where we went to the Queens House which was originally part of a Palace (that burned down...like the rest of London apparently?) but Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were born at said palace, and the Queens palace was really cool and we could see the Observatory built by Christopher Wren from the backyard.
We then proceeded to stand outside and learn about architecture but all I wanted to do was kill myself because I was still sick and freezing. After trekking home I took a 3 hour nap, ate a bagel, and went back to sleep, woke up for like an hour between 12am-1am...and fell back asleep.
Today: I decided when I woke up for work that I still felt like death so I called in and...slept til 2pm. So I have basically been the biggest bum ever today. I watched "What a Girl Wants" with some of the girls, went to an internship program meeting that was pretty much a waste of my time, and watched some Gossip Girl Season 1 with like half the house. Now I'm getting some rest because I'm working 9-5 tomorrow and I'm determined to go and feel better. Tara's currently dying and not going to work tomorrow and Emily has a nasty cough and I keep feeding her Robitussin. SO...
Lesson #7: Expect to get sick after two 10 hour bus rides in one weekend (one with a crazy gypsy family), staying in a hostle, and walking all over Paris.
Overall: I enjoyed Paris, I wish I didn't feel like death warmed over for the majority of Friday, but hey, it happens. I still got to see the Eiffel tower and lovedddddd it. There was some great art and architecture in the city (my teacher for my art and architecture class would be so proud that I could identify types of columns everywhere we went after 2 weeks haha) but overall, the city of Paris was a bit...gross? Maybe I'm spoiled because London is beautiful, and clean, or maybe Paris needs to pick up their game. They had so much graffiti and homeless, it was not something I was expecting. I'm glad I went, we have some funny stories (like this 40 year old couple MAKING OUT on the elevator down the Eiffel Tower while everyone else looked on horrified because it was so awkward) but if anything, the trip really reaffirmed my decision to come to London for the semester. After two and a half weeks I already feel like its my home and I couldn't wait to get back. This coming weekend we're going to Galway, Ireland to visit Kelly Murphy and I also get to see Courtney Kaska who will also be visiting so I'm really excited to be reunited with them and get a feel for Ireland: oh and we're taking a plane there, thank the lord!!!!! Also, HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAYS ASHLEY CRISO & JESSIKA MAS :)
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