My friend Martine came to visit at the end of March! She was a foreign exchange student at my
high school my Junior year and we have kept in touch since. We had so much fun shopping, watching soccer, and satisfying her intense Starbucks addiction. I was sad to see her go, however, she will be coming to Kansas this summer, can't wait!
Well our Uni's Spring Break officially kicked off on April 2! Hannah and I were pretty much alone in Hatfield from Thursday to Sunday before leaving for Paris. We spent our days walking around a deserted town, making mass amounts of pasta, and packing and repacking our bags using all types of folding methods to reach maximum capacity of a single backpack. In the end I had 8 dresses, 2 cardigans, 2 pairs of flats, a pair of heels, a couple t-shirts, a pair of shorts, couple tank tops, some tights, and a hair straightener in that bag. Just call me Houdini.
For further preparation on our travels, I jotted down a couple French phrases that I knew I would need to refer to upon the trip:
"Excuse me, I'm lost"
"Where is the..."
"Where am I?"
"Where is the nearest bar and/or icecream shop?"
Upon arrival into Paris around 10:30 pm, we found the train that would take us to our hostel. When we got to the 3 Ducks Hostel, We were greeted at the front 
desk (which doubled as a bar) by a very friendly staff. We checked in and then enjoyed our first glass of French Wine.
On Monday morning my friend, Kevin, from Kstate who is studying in Paris this semester met us at our hostel to take us on a tour of the city. Jannah and Kevin wasted no time, and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. I loved it!
We then spent the rest of the day wandering around and taking in more of the sights including Luxembourg Gardens and Notre Dame,
That night we all met up again to head out to a pub that advertised Beer Pong on Monday nights.
We met some guys from Chile at the bar, and when introducing ourselves I told them my name was Jane, and thinking that it would be real cool to do so, I informed them that I also knew my name in Spanish was Juana. Then for the rest of the night, they referred to me as Juana. After trying to correct them the first few times with no success, I just gave in and accepted it.
Chilean: "Hi Hannah! Hi Juana!"
Me: "Oh umm, my name is Jane."
Chilean: (totally confused) "Hokay, Juana."
Later, the Chileans challenged us to a game of beer pong, however, about half way through they lost interest and left the table (which I am sure had a lot to do with the fact that they were losing by 6 cups)
After the pong massacre, Hannah and I went upstairs to the bathroom. On our way back down, I guess I lost track of the stairs and thought that it was okay to skip 3 stairs and just take one giant step. Mistake. This resulted in a spilt drink, Hannah laughing uncontrollably, me laughing at first and then soon realizing I had rolled my ankle. (Awesome!) I spent the rest of the night putting the drinks Hannah ordered on my ankle since ice is nonexistent in France. (which is al
so the sole reason my little brother, Paul, has no interest it coming to Europe: "They don't use ice.")
When Kannah (Kevin, Jane, Hannah) returned to the hostel that night I hobbled to the front desk to ask if they had any ice I could use on my ankle. Shockingly, the answer was "no" but he did hand me a can of Sprite out of the refrigerator? Thanks? I guess R.I.C.E. doesn't exist in France, just R.A.C.E (Rest, A can of cold pop, Compression, Elevation)
The next morning I woke up to a swollen ankle and some sweet bruising, but that wasn't about to hold me back, no way. So Kevin, being our trusty tour guide, set off for a Pharmacy to find ibuprofen and an ace wrap. He exceeded all expectations when he returned within 30 minutes with horse-sized ibuprofen, ace wrap, AND pan au chocolat (croissant roll with chocolate chips in it!). We were ready to hit the town.
It was another beautiful day in Paris! Kannah went to Moulin Rouge and Sacre Couer Cathedral (which was quite the hike that I successfully conquered with my gimp and then rewarded myself with ice cream) We spent the rest of the day touring more of the city. That night, we ended our sight seeing with a 3 course dinner at a nice French restaurant that was so good!
After dinner, Kevin took us to a French college bar where we had a couple pints and just hung out for a while. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs.
Me: "I wonder if I could bounce this 1 euro coin into your drink, it's about the same size as a quarter."
Kevin: "No, we've tried. They really don't bounce that well."
[I then proceed to bounce the coin directly into his full pint of beer on the first try.] Owned.
On Wednesday, we set out for Notre Dame. We had visited the church earlier in the trip but hadn't had a chance to go inside. I'm so glad we went back, it was absolutely beautiful! At one point I got really excited because I thought I spotted the Hunchback! Upon closer inspection, it was just Hannah bending over to tie her shoe. Huge let down.
Next on the agenda was the Louvre. The artwork that we saw was just brilliant. There were so many exhibits I didn't know where I wanted to start. We saw pieces from the Renaissance all the way back to Ancient Greece and Egypt. We were there for around 3 hours, and hadn't even made a dent in all there was to see. It was magnificent.
From the Louvre, we headed to the Arch de Triumph and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where we went up to the top (194 stairs to be exact, I think my ears popped during the climb.) The view of the city was gorgeous. We were able to see the tops of all of the sights that we had seen earlier in the trip and got some amazing pictures. This also made for some exciting times due to Hannah's intense fear of heights.
It was getting late, and Jannah had to make it to the airport because we had a very early flight the next morning. Under normal circumstances this would not have been anything difficult. However, the French train station was on strike this day, peachy. There were not even half as many trains running as normal. But I was not about to leave Paris without capturing the ultimate photo opp...a jumping picture in front of the Eiffel Tower! So Kannah had to make a pit stop, and fulfill my dream. THEN it was off to the train station.
We spent the last hour navigating the French Underground to find a stop that had a train heading to the airport (by "we" I mean Kevin and then Hannah and I following on his heels) We finally found a train that was headed for the airport. It was the last train, and we caught it about 45 seconds before it was going to depart. Perfect Timing. We quickly said our good-bye's and Jannah was off to the airport.
Paris was one of my favorite cities we visited! We were able see so much and had a wonderful time. Thank you so much, Kevin, for showing us around. We seriously couldn't have done it all without you.
I actually have nick-named Kevin "Sacajawea" due to his uncanny sense of direction and navigating abilities. Hannah thought of her own name for Kevin as well...."Chachi" To be honest, none of us know the relevance of this gesture, not even Hannah. But she likes it, and he responded to it, so it stuck.
Here are a few more pictures from the trip, enjoy!
cheers!
jane
desk (which doubled as a bar) by a very friendly staff. We checked in and then enjoyed our first glass of French Wine.On Monday morning my friend, Kevin, from Kstate who is studying in Paris this semester met us at our hostel to take us on a tour of the city. Jannah and Kevin wasted no time, and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. I loved it!
We then spent the rest of the day wandering around and taking in more of the sights including Luxembourg Gardens and Notre Dame,
That night we all met up again to head out to a pub that advertised Beer Pong on Monday nights.
We met some guys from Chile at the bar, and when introducing ourselves I told them my name was Jane, and thinking that it would be real cool to do so, I informed them that I also knew my name in Spanish was Juana. Then for the rest of the night, they referred to me as Juana. After trying to correct them the first few times with no success, I just gave in and accepted it.
Chilean: "Hi Hannah! Hi Juana!"
Me: "Oh umm, my name is Jane."
Chilean: (totally confused) "Hokay, Juana."
Later, the Chileans challenged us to a game of beer pong, however, about half way through they lost interest and left the table (which I am sure had a lot to do with the fact that they were losing by 6 cups)
After the pong massacre, Hannah and I went upstairs to the bathroom. On our way back down, I guess I lost track of the stairs and thought that it was okay to skip 3 stairs and just take one giant step. Mistake. This resulted in a spilt drink, Hannah laughing uncontrollably, me laughing at first and then soon realizing I had rolled my ankle. (Awesome!) I spent the rest of the night putting the drinks Hannah ordered on my ankle since ice is nonexistent in France. (which is al
so the sole reason my little brother, Paul, has no interest it coming to Europe: "They don't use ice.")When Kannah (Kevin, Jane, Hannah) returned to the hostel that night I hobbled to the front desk to ask if they had any ice I could use on my ankle. Shockingly, the answer was "no" but he did hand me a can of Sprite out of the refrigerator? Thanks? I guess R.I.C.E. doesn't exist in France, just R.A.C.E (Rest, A can of cold pop, Compression, Elevation)
The next morning I woke up to a swollen ankle and some sweet bruising, but that wasn't about to hold me back, no way. So Kevin, being our trusty tour guide, set off for a Pharmacy to find ibuprofen and an ace wrap. He exceeded all expectations when he returned within 30 minutes with horse-sized ibuprofen, ace wrap, AND pan au chocolat (croissant roll with chocolate chips in it!). We were ready to hit the town.
It was another beautiful day in Paris! Kannah went to Moulin Rouge and Sacre Couer Cathedral (which was quite the hike that I successfully conquered with my gimp and then rewarded myself with ice cream) We spent the rest of the day touring more of the city. That night, we ended our sight seeing with a 3 course dinner at a nice French restaurant that was so good!
After dinner, Kevin took us to a French college bar where we had a couple pints and just hung out for a while. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs.
Me: "I wonder if I could bounce this 1 euro coin into your drink, it's about the same size as a quarter."
Kevin: "No, we've tried. They really don't bounce that well."
[I then proceed to bounce the coin directly into his full pint of beer on the first try.] Owned.
On Wednesday, we set out for Notre Dame. We had visited the church earlier in the trip but hadn't had a chance to go inside. I'm so glad we went back, it was absolutely beautiful! At one point I got really excited because I thought I spotted the Hunchback! Upon closer inspection, it was just Hannah bending over to tie her shoe. Huge let down.
Next on the agenda was the Louvre. The artwork that we saw was just brilliant. There were so many exhibits I didn't know where I wanted to start. We saw pieces from the Renaissance all the way back to Ancient Greece and Egypt. We were there for around 3 hours, and hadn't even made a dent in all there was to see. It was magnificent.
From the Louvre, we headed to the Arch de Triumph and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where we went up to the top (194 stairs to be exact, I think my ears popped during the climb.) The view of the city was gorgeous. We were able to see the tops of all of the sights that we had seen earlier in the trip and got some amazing pictures. This also made for some exciting times due to Hannah's intense fear of heights.
It was getting late, and Jannah had to make it to the airport because we had a very early flight the next morning. Under normal circumstances this would not have been anything difficult. However, the French train station was on strike this day, peachy. There were not even half as many trains running as normal. But I was not about to leave Paris without capturing the ultimate photo opp...a jumping picture in front of the Eiffel Tower! So Kannah had to make a pit stop, and fulfill my dream. THEN it was off to the train station.
We spent the last hour navigating the French Underground to find a stop that had a train heading to the airport (by "we" I mean Kevin and then Hannah and I following on his heels) We finally found a train that was headed for the airport. It was the last train, and we caught it about 45 seconds before it was going to depart. Perfect Timing. We quickly said our good-bye's and Jannah was off to the airport.
Paris was one of my favorite cities we visited! We were able see so much and had a wonderful time. Thank you so much, Kevin, for showing us around. We seriously couldn't have done it all without you.
I actually have nick-named Kevin "Sacajawea" due to his uncanny sense of direction and navigating abilities. Hannah thought of her own name for Kevin as well...."Chachi" To be honest, none of us know the relevance of this gesture, not even Hannah. But she likes it, and he responded to it, so it stuck.
Here are a few more pictures from the trip, enjoy!
cheers!
jane
