This morning - missed breakfast. I was busy doing homework, looked at the time, and realized that I was going to be late for class. I still had 30 minutes before I was officially late, so I decided to take the metro. BAD IDEA. The metro, I learned, is slower than the bus. It takes about 30 minutes by the bus (plus it has the bonus of having a pretty view and fresh air). The metro took me 45 minutes. I was all frazzled and harried by the time I ran into class. It was a great lesson, though, about Charles d'Orleans and Marie de France, and also a bit about the Moyen Age (Middle Ages).
After class, Sutton and I wandered a bit looking at all the shops in the area. Eventually, I bought my first article of clothing on this trip - shoes. Since my flats seem to be falling apart, I went ahead and bought these. They were only 15 euros, anyway, so I think it was a good buy. I need to buy a coat, though. I left mine at home because I didn't think it would be necessary until October/November, but it gets pretty cold here, especially at night, and it's kind of hard to go out the door without a sweater until it gets to midday.
Then we met up with a group who were going on a Paris walk (also, for anyone who doesn't know, Paris walk is a class, where we follow this set guide to see some sights, and then we have to write our thoughts on it). We did the same thing that I had done yesterday, but it was no less amazing. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my memory card (again). Anyone seeing a trend here?
By the time we finished, I was too tired to do the wax museum at the end. It was something we had missed yesterday, and I was excited to go through it this time around, but honestly, something about walking all day everyday without fail really gets you deep in your bones. So Sutton and I went home and took a break.
Eventually, we got out of the house again to go eat. (We really need to go grocery shopping, soon!) I guess Sutton was really craving American food, so we went to McDonalds, which was better than I was expecting. I guess that's what will happen if you give the
French American food, they'll only make it better. I also had my first Coca Cola ever. I had forgotten to ask for water instead of a soda, so that's how that happened.After we ate, we hopped on the bus to la tour Eiffel! And here's what I get to see every day on my bus ride every day - albeit during the day. And holy mushrooms, this thing is MASSIVE. I don't think you can truly comprehend HOW huge it is unless you're actually there. I mean, it took me completely by surprise when I saw how big it is. In fact, I had never really liked the Eiffel tower until I had gotten here. To me, it was ugly, but now... now it's a masterpiece! What genius was it who had the idea to build something as big as this? If Eiffel had never built it, would someone else have done something similar? This really is breathtaking, though. It's a big tourist stop, but no wonder. You have no idea what it's like to stand under the grand majesty of this impressive architecture.
We didn't climb it, though. The stairs were closed, and we didn't want to wait in line for the elevator. For future reference, for anyone planning on visiting Paris, when you go to the Eiffel tower, take the stairs to the first level - it's cheaper - and then you can take the elevator the rest of the way up. A great loophole. Mme. Sprenger told us that one. You also get to skip the long lines (mwahahaha!) We decided to wait on that some other time since we knew that the others in might want to go up, and we could easily go with them. Also, I could get some pictures during the daytime, mostly so I can see if I can actually show how huge this is.
Speaking of pictures - everything you see on here is mine. I haven't gotten anything off of the internet.
Ok. So we walked through the park to the peace memorial. It's got peace written in every language - hence: Peace Memorial. Then we walked around, found a few gorgeous buildings, then turned around and headed back. Oh, speaking of which, did you know that every hour, the Eiffel tower starts sparkling like a Christmas tree on steroids? It's absolutely stunning.
Then we got home, talked to our host parents for a bit, went upstairs and completed our plans for tomorrow - we'll be going to Disney Land. They have great student prices, and our host parents told us that the RER would take us straight to Disney Land, so we won't need a taxi. That really helps, since taxis cost a buttload of money. And then I talked to Mom (I'm an even bigger fan of the video chat, now. Although I'm not such a fan of finishing the call.)
Now I really need to get to bed, now. I have to get up at 7. Phew! I'm tired just thinking about it!
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