Passport to PARIS.

This past weekend I went to Paris! And got the flu. The last time I was in Paris I was nine years old and the Spice Girls were popular. A lot has changed since then and I was really looking forward to seeing the city again.

I had big plans for Paris, aka recreating the Olsen twin classic “Passport to Paris.” This would include meeting cute French boys who work at flower shops, befriending French fashion models, dodging a stiff chaperone whenever possible, having dinner on a roof near the Eiffel Tower and getting in trouble with the French police, helping pass a law about clean water, and doing amazing shopping. Alas, none of my “Passport to Paris” dreams became a reality.

I got to Paris Thursday night around 8:30pm and took the OrlyBus from Orly Airport. After finding a cab driver at Denfert Rochereau who “spoke English” I got to the hotel and checked in. The hotel (Hotel Eiffel Park) was really cute and in the 17th Arrondissement, near the Eiffel Tower and Invalides. The room was comfortable and I could adjust the temperature of the room to something other than freezing. It was nice to be warm for once since my apartment is the temperature of the arctic tundra.

Friday, I slept in a little and had lunch with Kate! She’s spending the semester studying abroad in Paris with IES. She found us a cute restaurant for lunch near the hotel where the waiters insisted on speaking to us in English even when she spoke to them in French. Apparently this is a Paris thing, always speaking to Americans in English. Definitely not the case in Sevilla, although sometimes it would be extremely helpful. I ordered a “tartine” with goat cheese and it was fantastic. Halfway through lunch Ben came and ate with us.

After lunch Ben and I said bye to Kate and started walking toward the Eiffel Tower. We took some pictures there but decided to wait to climb it until the next day. Then we took the Metro (so French) to the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around the Arc de Triomphe for awhile and then walked down the length of the Champs-Elysees. It was a beautiful crisp, clear day.

Friday night we had dinner with our friend Pat who is abroad on the Tufts Program with Ben. We went to a trendy Italian pizza place and made friends with our waiter. After dinner we hung out with other Tufts kids for awhile in one of their apartments.

And Saturday is when it went from a great trip to a “what is my life” trip. I woke up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy (thanks Ke$ha). That is, if P. Diddy has some sort of stomach flu. Spent all of Saturday sick in bed, except for a twenty-minute walk around the neighborhood that Dr. Mom insisted I take. The good news about being sick in bed all day Saturday (if there is any) is that I didn’t spend any money on food since all I ate was a yogurt from the hotel. Brightside.

Sunday morning I felt better so we went to the Louvre for my remaining hours in France. I would have loved to spend the whole day there, but my flight left around five so we couldn’t. After looking through some exhibits we had a traditional French lunch of McDo (that’s McDonald’s if you weren’t sure) in the food court nearby. Tres authentic.

I was happy to go back to Sevilla even though my trip to Paris wasn’t exactly what I’d planned. It was nice to be in a country where I “speak” the language instead of one where I feel useless and understand nothing.

Already planning my return trip to France for sometime this semester. Oui!