TGIF people! I have successfully completed my first full week in Paris. Through all of the new experiences and changes things are beginning to settle in. However, I do miss home every single day. This is a huge step for me in my life and I know I will cherish it forever but being away from home really makes you see everything from a different perspective. This week has been full of emotions. The sense of loss, uncomfortable void, lonely, and feeling out of place. All of these are good ofcourse because when we feel uncomfortable and are experiencing so much change, that is when we grow the most. Usually when I wake up it is the hardest, a hole in my heart aching to be back home where I am comfortable and that pain in my throat desiring for surrender, letting go and acceptance into the unknown. Definitely easier said than done. Right now I am trying my hardest not to get lost in the feelings. It is easy to feel sad and then more sadness comes and more and so on but I am doing my best in feeling that and letting it go. Needless to say it continues to pop up everyday but after time I know it will dissipate. After all I am meeting new people, making new friends and living a new life.
Yesterday (Thursday) I had class that lasted until 7:15pm and then a few of us made our way to the ERASMUS party that was being held for the new International students. We arrived at the bar and it was a sauna! People were shoulder to shoulder, it had to have been around 90degrees in there and getting a drink was pretty much impossible. I still managed to meet people from all over the world, share some laughter and enjoy a night out with everyone! After the bar we headed to a nightclub on a boat on La Seine river. It was much much cooler there so a lot of us were happy about that. I checked my bag and my purse for a whopping 6 euros and headed to the dance floor. I decided to skip the drinking (yes mom and dad I skipped it) because another 6 euros for a miniature solo cup of a mixed drink just is not my cup of tea. Speaking of tea that would be nice, I miss Iced tea! After an hour or two of listening to some good oldies, I can’t believe I am calling 1990s music oldies, a couple of us headed back to Cité U. I showered and got in bed and Skyped my dad and then my mom. I have to say one of the greatest challenges about being in Paris and my family and friends back home is definitely the time difference. Paris is 7 hours ahead of Kansas and that really puts a damper on communication. When I get my phone working over here and have the freedom to get a hold of my parents or even friends here and back home that will be nice.
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That was from Friday, I saved it and meant to add to it and publish later but here I am going to add on 🙂
For those of you who do not have Facebook and could not keep up with me this weekend on there I went on a spur of the moment trip to Bruxelles, Belgique (Brussels, Belgium)! Let me just say was that fun 🙂 My fellow American friend I met here, Valerie (she is from Louisiana) and I decided to getaway for the weekend, I know most of you are thinking “but you just got there!” Well yes indeed I did just get here but I have 4 more months to explore Paris and travel Europe, I am definitely making the best of it 😉 We left Saturday morning around 11am and arrived around 2:30pm. Not too bad of a ride, I slept most of the way actually and then Val and I chatted throughout! It was also nice to ride through France though, I have been seeing so much gray around here lately that the green fields and grass definitely helped me feel more at home.
Shortly after we arrived, and ate, we made our way through town to find our hotel. Took a little bit longer than expected, having gone in circles a couple times but that’s the adventure of it all right!? Since it was getting dark soon we decided to venture towards Grand Place, a main tourist attraction in Brussels filled with stores! Halfway there we saw a little ride that took you up high to where you could see throughout Brussels so we paid some money and headed up top with a beautiful view of the land.
After, we went on to Grand Place and man was it beautiful (sigh)!
We stopped in at Stella Artois and I had an amazing steak. Good meat is hard to come by in Europe, atleast the kind of meat we are used to (Filets and hamburgers), but wow was this one a winner!! Again sorry for any vegetarians. A mushroom cream sauce to top it off and may I just say ’twas magnifique!!!
Not sure how but after we finished our meals we walked through stores and enjoyed the scenery and then we stopped for a Belgium waffle. We were in Belgium, of course we had to!
Made our way back to the hotel to get some rest for the fun filled adventures we had planned the following day. Woke up the next morning around 9ish and got ready and headed down for breakfast. Headed out to the Atomium around 11am and boy was it cold and windy, brrrr. For those of you who have never heard of this here it is!
We were deeply disappointed when we found out that Mini Europe was only open during March-October. I would have loved to venture through and take pictures of all the miniature artifacts that are famous throughout Europe, a good excuse to go back though! I however did take a picture of Mini Europe from the Atomium.
After that we headed back to Grand Place to discover so more shopping and the beautiful landmarks during the day. I will tell you one thing, Belgium is known for its chocolate. Altogether I bet we saw 40+ little chocolate stores in Grand Place and all of them were swarming with people! Never in my life have I seen so much… CHOCOLATE 🙂 After quite the afternoon we headed back to the room to relax a little before we decided to go to the movie. How could I not go to the movies in Europe!? hahaha. We went and saw “That Awkward Moment” and it was hilarious! Then we headed back to Grand Place, which was one metro stop away (and walking distance back to the hotel for when the metro stopped running) and found ourselves a place to eat the infamous Moules and Frites (Mussels and fries), Belgium style! I have never tried mussels before so when in Brussels 🙂
Surprisingly they were quite nice, a very light meal. The last adventure of our day was to the famous Delirium Café/Pub. I was told by a couple friends here in Europe to visit this bar while we were there. It was packed and has over a few thousand beers, Europe really does know how to do it lol. So of course I got a beer (apple cider, that counts right?) and tried to enjoy some girl time however, a guy just managed to sit with us the whole time we were there and he had other plans. Do not worry though, we left shortly after, as for we did not get good vibes off of that. Took the route to the hotel and enjoyed being off our feet and a good nights rest ahead.
Left on the bus ride back around 1130am and returned back to my dorm, did some laundry, went to dinner with a friend and came back to hang at my place and finish up my blog 🙂 So far Europe is a huge success! I feel a whole lot better and less homesick after this weekend and getting out and about. This week I have all of my classes so I will be busy again keeping up with school, the adventures of Kelsey and so on!
Hope everyone had a great weekend, à bientôt!
Kels
Live Love Wander 