"I Feel Like Cookie Monster"

Bonjour mes amis!
   I have finally returned from Paris and have caught up on sleep and homework. Therefore it is time for yet another blog post! Lets go back a bit...

Thursday, June 28th
Arthur, Anna, Adara and I departed right after class to go to PARIS. The train was easy, and when we got to the hostel, we were pleasantly surprised. Most of the hostels in Paris were about 99 Euros/night, so after booking this one that was about 31 Euros/night, I was prepared to get comfy for the night snuggling between a strange Turkish woman and a cockroach the size of a small house cat. But no! This place was great! It was about a 2 minute walk from the Gare de Nord train station, which was super convenient. It had a fun little lobby and a kitchen on the first floor where people from all over the world were hanging out. Our room had 2 bunk beds, which was perfect for the four of us. We had a private little balcony which we spent most of the time drinking wine on, and our own bathroom, which was shocking and awesome. It was also right near this little crepe shop, which was may or may not have eaten at 4 times...

Once we got settled, we bought out metro tickets and took the underground to this little cafe that the lady at the front desk recommended. It. was. so. good. It was not in the super touristy area, and most of the people there seemed local, so just walking in I had a suspicion that it was going to be wonderful. I had duck with potatoes, and the duck was literally falling off the bone it was so tender. For dessert I had this vanilla mousse type thing with fresh berries. I almost cried when I took the last bite because it was empty. Oh, and I had a mojito, because I was in France, and why not.

After I recovered from the tragedy that was finishing my dessert, we decided to walk around a bit. We wandered by the Bastille, and up the streets until we made it to the Notre Dame. Paris is so gorgeous. It is so cool, because there will be these modern, new looking buildings incorporated with these pieces of architecture that are hundreds of years old. It was really neat being at the Notre Dame at night too, because there were only a handful of people there, which is a huge difference from how it is during the day time.

Friday, June 29th
BEST DAY EVER. I was the annoying girl who made everyone wake up at 7:00 in the morning so that we could take the 45 minute train to get to DISNEYLAND PARIS the minute it opened. The entire day I was just smiling like a crazy person. We got there around ten and started the day by going on Space Mountain.

So here's the thing about Space Mountain. One of the girls who was with us, Anna, does not like Roller Coasters. She decided to sit out on Space Mountain, and immediately the three of us started to try to convince her otherwise. We told her about our experiences on Space Mountain in the US- how it's pretty tame, and geared toward little children, and doesn't even go very fast, and there is absolutely no going upside down. Finally we convinced her, and she decided to come with us. As soon as we buckled into the coaster and started moving, I realized that Space Mountain Paris was not going to be the same as what we were used to. And as soon as we hit the first double barrel roll and went screaming down the steep hills, I started screaming apologies back to Anna (of course, I had made us ride in the front row, so that didn't help). Thankfully, she survived, and has still continued to talk to us the rest of the trip.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle!

But Disneyland was awesome. After Space Mountain we decided to change parks and do all of "Walt Disney Studios" first since it closed earlier. The park was really cool- very similar to Disney's Hollywood Studios, so naturally I felt like I was home. We hit up Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster, and even some ones that were native to Paris, like Stitch Live (think Turtle Talk w/ Crush or Laugh Floor but with Stitch. Obvi I was freaking out like a 5 year old).

We then moved back to the main "Disneyland" park and went on a bunch of the classics- Small World, Haunted Mansion, etc. We split up for a bit while Anna and Arthur waited to meet the princesses, and Adara and I decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. Big mistake. We make it to the room where the town is "burning down" and our boat stops. And we sit. And we wait. About five minutes later they tell us there is something wrong (something... very clear) and to remain seated. 5 minutes later we hear a panic-y voice say over the intercoms "BLU BLAH CE VOUS JU BLAH" (that is how French sounds to me) and they shut off the music, which was very eerie. It was strange hearing only the creaking and mechanical noises of the animatronics. Then the same loud freaked out voice comes on and states "JE NE PAW BLU VOUS HOMARD" (mind you that is just paraphrasing what they actually said) and the lights turned on. I start chanting excitedly "EVAC! EVAC! EVAC!" (as in evacuation, for you non-cast members) and clearly no one else on the ride was a Disney Cast Member from America because they just stared at me like I was mad.

We started moving backwards and by this time we'd been stuck for about 20 minutes. Everyone is getting a little nervous and trying to figure out what's happening and I'm just sitting there having the time of my life because this was like a super cool backstage tour, and the looming possibility of an evacuation left me giddy. I am such a cast member.

We finally made it out (sans evacuation) and ran to make our reservation at the Agrabah Cafe. Sehr lecker. After we stuffed ourselves to the brim with Mediterranean food, we rolled our way to the castle, where we watched the amazing firework show. It's called Disney Dreams and is kind of a mix between Wishes and The Magic, Memories, and You (the two shows at Disney World Florida). The whole time I watched it, I just thought of how lucky I am to work for such an amazing company. Seriously, I am one lucky kid.

Still frame from the Disney Dreams show

Saturday, June 30th
After our 16 hour ordeal at Disney (13 hours at the park, 1.5 hours there and back travel), we did not sleep through the night. Instead we coma-ed through the night. The second our heads hit our beds we were gone until 11 am the next morning.

Finally, we hauled ourselves out of bed, and we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. Just as I was the last time I saw it, I was just in awe of its huge-ness. What really captured our attention, however, was the epic battle that took place underneath. This group of younger women in gypsy-esque clothing came tearing by us with a gaggle of cops behind them. One of the policemen managed to knock one of them down and she laid on the ground crying and wailing while the other gypsys ran back and started hitting and kicking and screaming at the cops. More cops came and they managed to move the women away from the tower, but we could hear the screaming and yelling from all the way down the street. It was like nothing I've ever seen! Kinda scary!

We meandered around Rue Cler, a recommendation from Dr. Z. It's a really cure shopping street with small cheese and book shops. We grabbed some lunch (Mom- I had pasta w/ Truffle sauce in your honor!) and then went on about a 4 mile walk to do some more sight seeing (and a bit of shopping, naturlich).

That night, although we were exhausted, we continued to experience Paris. Arthur, Anna, and I decided to check out the nightlife in Paris, and chose to go to the Banana Cafe. I'd never been to a gay club before, and I had no idea what to expect. I figured I'd be open minded and go with them. It ended up being so much fun! We danced and danced and danced! It was so cool to be able to dance and hang out without having any creepy guys come try to get in my business. We had so much fun!

Sunday, July 1st
The next morning, we did not have fun. It was hangover city in Paris, and we struggled to climb out of bed and pack before our 11am check-out. But we pulled it together (not gracefully) and trekked to the Lourve. The line was enormous, and we had to catch a train later that day so we didn't have too much time, so we opted to just walk around the outside and check out the gardens. It was so pretty!

We moved to the Notre Dame next and walked around the inside for a while before grabbing some lunch and heading to the train station.

The Notre Dame

Paris was amazing, I had such a great weekend, and not even my level-5 hangover could ruin my day!

What DID ruin my day, however, was our train being cancelled.

You know how Joshua said "it's not an adventure unless something goes wrong"? Well, if thats the case, this was definitely an adventure.

Our train was supposed to leave from Paris at 7:30 pm. We were then going to take a direct train to Stuttguard and then change and take a short one to Freiburg. The best part was that it was going to be a night train, and after an action packed weekend, we were pretty excited to catch some z's in our extra large, fully reclinable chairs.

But no. Our train had been canceled, and France tried frantically to figure out a backup plan for the 100+ people who were now screwed. And naturally, they made it as complicated as possible.

We boarded our new train at about 9 pm. It was not a night train, which was a bummer, but we accepted it. We took that train to Schlossburg, and then everyone transfered and squeezed into three greyhound-sized busses. The busses schlepped up to Mannheim, where we arrived around 2:30 am. They threw us out of the busses and took off. All 100 of us wandered over to the station, groggy eyed and half asleep, only to discover that the station was closed. Everyone started to get angry and scared, and I just started cracking up. I turned to my friends and said "Let me recap- We were supposed to take the night train to Stuttguard and then a train to Freiburg. Instead we took a train to a bus to a train station where we are NOW ABANDONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!" We looked inside the station where it said the next train wasn't supposed to depart until 4:45 am, so people started to get comfy and sleep on the ground.

Eventually, someone came out and told us there was finally a train that could take us somewhere. We took it to Stuttguard and arrived around 4 am. We waited in the station until 5:45 when we took another train to Karlsruhe, and then finally one to Freiburg. We arrived at the Freiburg train station at about 8:30 am. Yes my friends, it took me four hours longer to get from Paris to Freiburg (about 3 hours away) than it took for me to get to Europe from America.

If you feel so inclined to look at a map, you should look at our travel route. Paris to Schlossburg to Mannheim to Stuttguard to Karlsruhe to Freiburg. You will notice that this is the most inefficient route ever created. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

I finally got back to my dorm at about 9 am. I did my homework, took a "nap", and went to class. Ah... life of a study abroad student.

Nonetheless, it was totally worth it. We had an amazing time in Paris. I still find myself looking at my life in disbelief. I look back on this weekend thinking how lucky I am so have been to Disneyland Paris and to have seen the Eiffel Tower twice and to have eaten such good food and made such good friends and to have laughed and laughed.

Now its time for me to study. Yuck :(

Until Next Time-
Meggie