The Day I Fell in Love With Paris

Last weekend, I was in a place where I couldn’t very well manage to write about anything but the terrible attacks on Paris. I want to start this post off by saying that I have moved past that place, and that I am happy. I have mourned and thought for a long time about those affected by the attacks, but after being sad, we must move on with our daily lives. I don’t know a single person who died, but I am sure that most of them would want me to laugh and enjoy yummy food and leave the house. Terrorists want people to be scared and hide away at home, but many people I have spoken to and I have agreed that we shouldn’t give them that satisfaction! So I have been living very normally over here in France. I know a lot of you are still a bit worried for me, but you should know that if anything I am much safer now than I was before the attacks were made. There is a lot of security all around Paris now and I see soldiers marching the streets with big guns all over the place. I hate seeing guns, but I know they are there to protect my friends and me. I am being safe and my host family is awesome and life is still beautiful after ugly things happen. :)

 

 

I was going through the pictures on my phone this morning to see which ones I should post on my blog and I realized that because of that sad place I was in last weekend I completely missed out on telling you about the day that I fell in love with Paris! I have been living here for almost three months now, and I have made some amazing friends and I feel very comfortable with my French family, but until the Wednesday before last, I didn’t think much of Paris. I mean people are always going off about how gorgeous it is and how romantic everything feels and how there is no other place like it in the world. And they aren’t wrong! I mean yeah, the buildings here are tall and adorable and you see people who seem to be extremely in love all over the place, but I never seemed to appreciate this city as much as the rest of the world. On that one little Wednesday, however, something changed. After work on that Wednesday afternoon, Jess and I decided to meet up and visit Notre Dame. I would like to say I was excited to meet her, but I honestly felt more relieved than anything. I was relieved to find someone who wanted to go somewhere with me in the middle of the day in the middle of the week who I could just walk around with and talk to. I posted a blog the weekend before that Wednesday talking about my realization that clubbing and big nights out are not for me, and I couldn’t wait to have a refreshing and healthy afternoon with my 18 year old Canadian buddy. We walked through Notre Dame and it felt like we had taken steps back in time! It was a scary sort of beautiful and it made me feel so small. We walked around that part of the city and decided to get a Starbucks so that we could have a little taste of home as we talked about home. I told her about how sad I had been when I moved here, and how that sadness lessened with time but never seemed to want to go away. I told her about saying goodbye to Caleb and about my grandma and about how so many things in my life were changing that I couldn’t seem to keep up with anything. And you know what Jess did? She listened. And then she told me about her life and the things she misses and I listened. And then we were walking along the Seine and we sat down on a bench and I let my eyes see what was actually around me and Paris was brilliant. It was a foggy day, but I saw how delicatley the bridges arche up over the canals and peacefully the swans floated along, hoping to get some snacks from tourists, and how even though it is a big city, it knows how to look so still.  I told Jess “PARIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL” and Jess, who was a little ahead of the game and had already realized this said “I KNOWWW SOMETIMES I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE IT” and we laughed and moved on to tell happy stories and funny stories. It grew dark, and arm-in-arm we made our way through a garden and back to the metro. We decided that our moms should be friends and that we should take walks like that one at least once a week. That was the day that I fell in love with Paris. 

 

Back to this past week, now! It was a good one. I was very happy to see my friends back at school again. I love them all so much. Nothing too crazy or interesting happened during the week! After school we always go get a 1 Euro coffee at this Australian/French couples cafe that is right near our school and we try to speak together in French. This is very entertaining for the Australian/French couple, but less entertaining for everyone else in the cafe hahah. On Thursday after school, Olivia, Monica, Maddie, Cameron, and I decided to go visit one of the memorial places from the attacks. When we arrived, I was shocked to discover that it was right where I had gone with my German friend Julia the first time I had ever gone to a bar! There was a pretty big crowd of people there to honor the victims. There were also a lot of TV cameras. I walked slowly around the display, reading notes and poems and letters that people had left there. It really was an incredible sight. Seeing it didn’t make me sad, it made me feel like none of us were alone in our suffering. I am very glad we went there, I will certainly never forget it. 

 

Yesterday morning I met up with Jess at Musee D’Orsay because we decided to “go get ourselves cultured” hahah. We wandered around the museum (WHICH IS FREE WITH A STUDENT CARD HECK YESSS) and admired the artwork and statues! I don’t know much about art other than a bunch of painting words I learned from being an expert witness in mock trial. Jess and I tried impressing each other with our educated opinions on certain pieces, but mostly ended up giggling and saying the colors were pretty. At some paintings, however, we didn’t want to giggle or talk. The art was so detailed and thoughtfully put together that we had to be quiet and just stare in awe. The museum used to be a train station, which I think is pretty cool, and it had a big wonderful golden clock which was, to me, a piece of art itself! After about 2 hours in the museum, we went and got some sushi and then met up with Cameron and Olivia and Olivia’s friend and Monica and Kieran. It was a good day! I came home at about 7pm and ate dinner with Fred and Cecile and told them all about my day! 

 

 

So here I am! In bed on a Sunday morning, blogging to you all about my fantastic life in France. I will be 19 soon! That’s exciting hahah. Later today I will make my momma’s banana chocolate chip muffins and clean my room and run and then go to the movies with Jess and her German friends! It will be a good day and a great week and a fantastic rest of the year, I’m sure. 

As for Prune, well, she is doing well! LOOK AT THIS 2 THAT SHE DREW THE OTHER DAY! I am so proud omg. Look at that. HOW!