"We Make Party Three Time!" -- Paris

Paris was the most unreal weekend of my LIFE. Not kidding. But I'm a little far behind so lets bring it back a few days...

Last week was a normal week until Tuesday night rolled around. I usually go out on Tuesdays but wasn't feeling so hot (thank you fetticini alfredo-- at least we cooked it ourselves!) so I stayed in and watched some very cheesy movies that I'll refrain from stating to avoid being mocked in the future. Around 2:30ish am I hear "RING RING RING"-- our downstairs doorbell ringing. Hoping someone else would get it/that I was dreaming it, I stayed in bed until it got so annoying that I got up to buzz my friend in. Obviously the second I get back into bed my friend Steph buzzed our front door so I let her drunken self in and let her provide me with some entertainment for the next few minutes. She asked if my roommate Lauren was there, I said no until I realized there was a buzzing noise coming from the bathroom.. it sounded like a blow dryer? Apparently my friend likes to blow dry her body when she's cold and she passed out on the bathroom floor while doing so. I didn't even hear her come in! So Steph and I attempt to get Lauren to unlock the door (because yes, she locked herself in the bathroom), but she was completely passed out. Steph decides Lauren can "only understand Italian" so she starts scratching at the door saying, "Mi dispiace, mi dispiace." I wish I had my flip cam out because as tired as I was, it was still the funniest thing I had ever seen. Eventually we all went to bed, Lauren pealed herself off of the bathroom floor, and it all became just one hilarious story-- minus one small detail: Steph lost her keys (again) and her phone. The phone is no big deal but our school is very strict about losing keys and making the students pay for the locks to be changed themselves (which Lauren and Steph already had to do when they're stuff was stolen, and now Steph has to potentially do again-- by the way it costs about 300 euro).

The keys being lost has caused some drama in the apartment... long story short someone in our apartment told the administrator that she lost her keys and phone and now she is getting in a lot of trouble. If one more thing happens they are kicking her out of the program. It's RIDICULOUS! There has been some tension in the apartment now and it sucks but when it comes down to it, as much as you would hope that people treat you the same way that you treat them, more often than not, you are very dissappointed.

The Louvre!

ANYWAY... the rest of the week was nothing crazy we just spent our time doing out work and preparing for PARIS!! The trip to get to our hostel was a bit intense.. we had to walk to the train station, take a train to the Pisa Airport (that we thought we were going to miss...), take a plane to Paris, take a bus to the metro station, take a metro to our area, and wander around to find our hostel. It was a verrry busy day (considering it was after a day of classes).

I was really happy with our hostel. It had great rating/reviews so I wasn't too worried but it was pretty nice. We had 6 of us in one room, each of us had our own key card and our own locker, and we had a sink and mirror in our room.. oh and we each had our own outlet (we didn't have that in switzerland) which was sooo convenient. Plus, they had a bar, decent free breakfast, "club", and no curfew (still so surprised that some places have them but whatever). Overall I would say it was a success.

The 5 of us at the Notre Dame

SOOO Paris! I don't even know where to start! We did a very touristy (but great) day on Friday. We started off at the Notre Dame, headed off to the Louvre (went to my fav-- the Ancient Egypt section), down Champs Elysses (where my friend Justin bought his mom and sister each a Louie Vuitton wallet... after which I offered to adopt him), through the Arc De Triomphe, & eventually wandered the streets of Paris to find a place for lunch and ended up in this cute little restaurant that turned out to be AMAZING. We had a whole list of places/thing to eat from Steph's friend who studied abroad in Paris, so we ordered the "Croquet Madame" which is an opened faced toasted ham and cheese sandwich with an over easy egg on top. It was incredible!

Croquet Madame

That combined with splitting a bottle of wine for the table, we were feeling fantastic. Although we are still convinced they put something in our food because we were waaay too happy when we were leaving. After lunch we went to the BEST pastry shop I have ever been to. Her friend recommended it and we thought it would be a hole in the wall place but it was along the Champs Elysees so it was anything but. It was a little pricey but 100% worth it. They are said to have the best macaroons in Paris, and oh my god they were NOT lying. It was the best thing I have ever eaten... well actually it's tied with the chocolate praline thing I got from there. Everyone told us to eat everything we saw so we felt like it was necessary... which it definitely was. Post lunch we walked over to the Eiffel Tower at it was of course, incredible.

We went back to the hostel after that, it had been a very long day, and took a nice little siesta before getting up and ready to go out! We just ordered some food downstairs because by the time we were hungry it was really, really late, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with their food. Anyway after a little pregame we went out to meet our friend Ben's friend. FAIL. Actually, fail is an understatement. It was a monstrosity. We were all having a good time but Ben was just waaay too drunk, he wasn't allowed in, and we ended up coming back to the hostel. It was really disappointing.. we were only in Paris for the weekend and the night was basically ruined. My friends went out in the hostel but I was too exhausted so I ended up passing out around 2:30 when they went downstairs.

BEST PASTRY EVER

The next day we were debating between going to Versailles and going to do our own thing. We ended up doing our own thing because Versailles would have taken the entire day (luckily I have already been so I didn't mind skipping it), and we really wanted to go to certain places, such as the Orsay Museum. Before we went to the Orsay we were on a HUNT for chocolate crossants! We of course found them, but fortunately/unfortunately there was a LOT of delicious looking food in there that it was impossible to only get a crossant! I ended up getting a quiche as well and as overly full as I felt afterwards, it was worth it to eat every last bite! Whatever, we walked all over the place! Next stop: the Orsay. It was a little upsetting, we weren't allowed to take pictures like you can in the Louvre! And most of the Monet pictures were currently in a different exhibit for the time being, but overall it was still awesome. It's so much more exciting when you are walking around and you recognize some of the paintings! I'm really happy we decided to go... after that we knew we wanted to wander over to the jewish quarter but we took our time to get to know some more parts of the city and found ourselves in a really cool vintage shop! The boys were actually the ones that wanted to go in so it was perfect... there is nothing worse than when you want to shop and you see the guys sulking and whining in the corner. Steph, Lauren and I all got really cool old sequin shirts. Very retro. We were looking for a cool souvenir from Paris that wasn't too cliche, and what's better than a one of a kind shirt? It was a great success!

                                                

My new best friends...

Our delicious falafel!

We did make it over the jewish quarter after a little more wandering and a brief stop in a PUPPY store! I wish I could say I'm kidding and I didn't actually spend a half an hour in a pet store playing with puppies/taking pictures but then I'd be lying. I don't regret a second of it! Puppies put you in the best mood... when we walked out of there we were all ecstatic!  After a tearful goodbye to the puppies (even got a picture of a baby pug for you Ash!) I got my very first falafel! It was SO good! Apparently there is a great falafel place in Florence that I have to find so I can get it again! (If you can't tell... the theme of this weekend, similar to my entire abroad experience, is food) Again, we thought it was imperative to nap before the rest of our night so we came back for a little while before our "Big, Fancy Dinner" later that night. After getting completely lost, we made it to the restaurant a half an hour late, but it wasn't a big deal. The rest of our party was already sitting down eating their first course, so we just hopped right in. The Onion soup (aka French onion soup, but obviously they don't need to say that it's French..) was awesome, and I even ventured out of my comfort zone and got DUCK! It was pretty good... not my favorite thing in the world but I'd recommend it. Unfortunately my friend Ben was too drunk (notice a theme here?) and didn't realize he underpaid by a pretty sufficient amount which turned into the rest of us paying extra since he was an idiot. Whatever, it happens, its done, but it was frustrating at the time since it was already a 30 euro a person meal. OH WELLLL When we left the restaurant we realized we were at one of the hightest points in Paris, the Sacre Couer, and it had the most amazing view. With christmas-type lights hanging everywhere, it looked like we walked onto a movie set. It was beautiful to say the least.

My attempt to play the bagpipes!

We got back REALLY late, but we figured, you know what? We are in PARIS! This is the last night we have to go out, WE ARE GOING OUT! We didn't end up leaving the hostel until 2:15 am (Mom, Dad, any other adult... remember, this is a judgement free zone and I'm not planning on leaving anything out...). We went to an area where we knew there were a bunch of bars, and just our luck, there was a bunch of Scottish people in kilts and their bagpipes wandering through the street! If you know any of my friends, well, we like to make more friends, especially those from other countries (although, not so much Italians... they creep us out). So we made friends with some Scots and decided to spend the next 45 minutes-ish dancing around the streets to the bagpipe music, and trying to play it ourselves. Bag pipes-- NOT easy! Actually they are extremely hard. We could make about one little noise if any. I have a much greater respect for anyone dressed in a kilt now that I know they can play those. Since we were clearly having so much fun, a group of 6 French girls and guys joined us and we all became fast friends. They obviousy knew where the bars were so we all wandered over to one particular bar that looked like a pub on top, but when you went downstairs it was like a mini techno rave! The pictures are all over the place because of the numerous strobe lights. What a success...

Best Group Ever :)

So the bar was closing at around 4:30 am, and our new French friends asked us if we wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower. Well it didn't take much convincing.. about 2 minutes later we were off! So now we are a group of 12 (don't worry we had our 3 guys friends with us) walking around Paris at 4:30 am to go to the Eiffel Tower! They must not have been thinking very straight, well obviously, but it was SOOO far. I don't mean I'm being a baby far, I mean walked for an hour far! As far as it was, it was totally worth it. I talked to a bunch of our new French friends along the way and we decided to teach them some of our phrases that we have been saying way too often like "Sorry for partying," and "Sucks to suck." Well they were just having a field day with those.. and as the title states-- they say "we make party" instead of we party/partying, the entire thing was just entertaining. When we got to the Eiffel Tower we layed down on the grass in one huge group and just loved life. It was around 5:30-5:45 am when we got there and so cold but it was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever done. When will I ever get to lay on the grass just staring at the Eiffel Tower again? Probably never. The metro started up again at 6 and we made our back to the hostel to end what will forever be known as one of the best nights of my entire life.

Laying on the grass looking at the Eiffel Tower at dusk!

Sunday was a nothing day... all traveling for the most part, and as un- American as it is, I was way too tired to watch the superbowl and I could care less haha we are all getting sick and it didn't start til 12:30 am here and the weren't even showing the commercials! What fun is the superbowl without the commercials?!

Now onto another week of classes.. first Italian exam Thursday! Eek! But that's okay because I found out that I only have midterms two days so I have a few extra days to travel somewhere ! Andddd Lauren and I did a work out video and went on a short run outside ahh I feel GREAT!

Ciao for now!