Mom and I have now been up for well over 24 hours so it is an early bedtime tonight but not before I share the adventures! The flights to Paris were really good. The 8 hour flight was a drag because I did not sleep a peep, too excited and anxious but I watched some good movies, thank you Delta for the free OnDemand! After sitting that long my butt hurt really bad too so that was some of it, I now have a flat a#$ (sorry grandma and grandpa) ha just kidding guys like that would happen. We arrived in Paris around 8:15am which would be about 1:15am Central US time. That part was pretty uneventful except for the awesome bathrooms they have!
We decided to take a taxi to the hotel, since I cannot lift anything and we had 5 bags, including my mom’s bags people, it was just easier on us. It did take an hour to get there but traffic was not that great, I assume people heading to work and all that early. Checked in smoothly, I have decided my all time most used phrase is “parlez-vous anglais?” That means do you speak English. Usually I got a “Oui” which is yes or “un peu” which is a little so that made things easier. I am definitely here to learn French and discover the culture but today with no sleep and this huge new place 4700 miles from home, I was a little intimidated. However my French did improve this evening since our server did not speak much English so that was fun! My mom cannot seem to make the switch from English to French she was saying “Excuse me, please, thank you and sorry” all day HAHAH! We got such a kick out of that and lots of laughter 🙂 I will tell you it is hard to make that switch in language though.
People always told us even though you will be tired from the jet lag the first few days try and stay up. Well that was a fail. We checked in around 10am and were sleeping by 10:30 BUT we woke up 2 hours later so it was just a nice mid morning nap and honestly that has kept me running all day. Hungry, we went in search for restaurants around the hotel. Found one a couple blocks down that intrigued us so we went inside and just people watched, ate of course too! By the way the most exciting part is this
this is the view from our hotel room! How magnifique!!!!
We came back to the room and decided to go check in to my dormitory and take my bags there. That was a hassle! When we arrived to Cité Universitaire we had to walk through out the campus and find it. After we found Maison du Cambodge (Cambodia house) we got checked in and headed off to my room, or so we thought. Could not find my room, come to find out there is a “secret” hallway, not really I was just had not gone that far to check. Well we then tried opening my door and I swear it was dummy proof and we could not even get it! So once again I headed back downstairs to tell them something was wrong with my door. Turns out something was wrong with my key so phew I can read directions! We got in finally and let me just tell you, I bet my room altogether is as big as my bedroom when I had an apartment lol. Trust me I was expecting small but I got XXS. No actually it is just fine! Mom and I started unpacking and got things situated to help give it that homey touch and it is great! I forgot to take pictures so I will upload that later this weekend. By the time we got all of this done, travel time take up a lot of the day here, we decided to take the train back to the hotel because my hotel is close to school so I wanted to get familiar with how I would be transporting daily. If anyone has been to New York you know how confusing the train system can be. Well we are in Europe now and trains are on steroids, they are everywhere. That took some time to figure out but now that we have done it I think it will be a lot easier.
Today was like an initiation I feel like lol. I cannot quite wrap my head around this new reality of mine. I assume with time that will sink in. Tonight we went to a lovely, small Italian restaurant across the street from our hotel. Let me just say I am a pizza fanatic and this trumped anything I have ever ate! My mom ordered a bolognese and that was amazing as well. For dessert we had tiramisu of course!
BEST PIZZA EVER
And for DESSERT 🙂 mmm mmm
Tomorrow I will update on things I have learned about France that is completely opposite from the US. Might read some interesting things let me tell you lol. Catch you on the flip side! Orientation for school starts tomorrow.
Kels
Live Love Wander 