I see London, I see France!

Hey Everyone,

I had the craziest day/weekend! You would not believe what I did these past couple of days. I'm surprised we made it back alive... well let me tell you what happened....

I woke up really early and met about 40 of my classmates in the lobby. Our moron of an activities chair (shes 22 years old and an airhead) was already in Paris? so we had to get there ourselves. We all walked to the tube and took that to the train station. It was a three hour ride, but it wasn't bad at all.

We met the activities chair at the Metro station where we bought tickets to get to our hotel. She gave us the worst directions ever ("just go left/right at the church, and then um... a right or a left at the next street over"). Needless to say, it took us a while to get there, and of course it was in a really bad area of town. Me, Katie (who I met my freshman year) and this girl Shannon were crammed in a double on the SIXTH floor! We didn't care it was cozy. It was just funny that everyone else was on
the first or second floor.

From there a bunch of us took the metro to Hotel De Ville and then walked to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was really stunning. In the courtyard there we a bunch of Parisians walking around giving "Free Hugs". We took it as they were just trying to mug us so we clung to our bags as they tried to hug us one after the next. After that we walked over the bridge to the Louve. I've waited my whole life to go there, ever since that Alvin and the Chipmunks movie where they race the Chippettes around the world and Alvin says "I wanna go to the Louve in Rome!" and then Simon corrects him. The entire school happened to be in Paris this weekend so we all met in the courtyard and ventured inward. The sun was shining as the temperatures neared 80 degrees! There was a perfect breeze, and we were all still in a little bit of shock that we were actually in Paris!

We went into the giant glass pyramid and down the spiral staircase into the greatest museum in the world. Katie and I headed right for the Mona Lisa. We made our way through the crowd and right up to the front. She was in this giant glass case on her own wall that shoots into the ground if the place gets attacked. It was funny when I waslooking at her eye to eye. I swear, with that half smile of hers, she was saying "I'm glad you finally made it."

We moved on to Venus (that statue of the naked lady with no arms) and then on to the wing of Napoleon's Apartments. It was all these red velvet rooms with HUGE Chandeliers and chairs and oh jeez, it was beautiful. We stopped to have a baguette and then made our way into the gardens.

The sun was setting so we headed tower the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It looked a lot close then it was, and as we got closer, we kept losing sight of it because the other building were so big! When we finally got there we couldn't believe how amazing it was. There were tons of people just laying in the grass in front of the national building, and a line wrapping around all side of the tower.

We got chocolate banana crepes (Mmmm, my favorite) ... and like the climax of a breathtaking movie, I went to take me first bite and then the most spectacular thing I've ever seen happened as the tower started to sparkle and flash brighter than the stars in the sky. Of course, this distraction caused me to get chocolate all over me, but it was totally worth it. After a few minutes it stopped and we started our long trek home.

At night, all the creepers come out trying to sell cheap trinkets just like other cities, but in this one there was a creeper every three steps and they kept trying to grab me?!?! I was less then thrilled at getting molested the whole way home, and was happy to get near our hotel. We walked down the street and there was this gang of rowdy guys. I was praying they didn't see us, but they did. At first they just were like Ohhh La La ( EVERY french guy) but then they started to follow us and yell obscene things. Then some guys on motorbikes circled us, and the rest started running after us. We took off running, and they followed us into the hotel (there was no security)and we booked it up SIX FLIGHTS of stairs and locked the door. I could still hear them yelling in the streets when I fell asleep. At four in the morning I was woken up by what sounded like five gun shots, then lots of yelling, then police sirens, then quiet. I was panicked , but talked myself into trying to just sleep. Then I heard fire sirens and loud banging and the room started to get smoky. I looked out the open window and across the very small street were three parked cars completely up in flames, torching the building next to it. They fire men took care of it after a few hours, but I had trouble sleeping to say the least.

The next morning, we went back to Notre Dame and went inside. I didn't see any hunchbacks, but I bet he was in there somewhere. We made our way up to the Pantheon and got the best Ice Cream from the nicest French girls ever! We made our way down the street to the Luxenberg Palace and Gardens. It was amazing. We just sat there for a while with all the French people just relaxing.

We walked back to the Louve and then started toward the Arc de Trimumphe, which we could see in the distance at the end of the tuileries. It looked so close, but it took us an HOUR to speed walk there. We climbed 287 spiral steps to the top where we could see the entire city. Absolutely stunning! When we finally came back down, there was some kind of memorial ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. CNN was nearby so it had to be pretty big.

I must look very European because every country I go to people come up to me and try to talk to me like a local... several times. Its so weird. I may look like a local, but I definitely don't know my way
around like one because after we left the Arc we guessed the general direction of the Eiffel Tower. I was going the right way...but I made a wrong turn and kept going, so we got lost for about an hour.

When we got to the Eiffel Tower we saw some friends from Regent's and indulged in another crepe (I shouldn't' have but it was calling my name) We laid down on the giant lawn and waited for the Tower to go crazy glitzy again. Everyone cheered when it did and it was truly a sight that will stay with me forever.

We walked home and decided to try take a different street to get to our hotel, but there was no one around and there were a few French guys that had been following us for a few blocks. We turned down a street and there were more guys that spotted us and started toward us. We just walked back to the maid road and had a cab take us two blocks just to ensure we made it back alive.

It was hard to leave the next day. It was absolutely gorgeous and everything was in full bloom. The city is just more beautiful then you could ever imagine. We took he train home and slept the entire way. When we got back I went to the gym and then got ready for CHURCH!! That's right! Me and
Kaite went to Westminster Abby for the Evening service. It was absolutely breathtaking!! I couldn't' believe the inside. The minister was the typical British old man, but he spoke so intelligently and was
very interesting (quite the change from what I'm used to).The Hymns were a little tough seeing how I didn't know them, but it was okay. We walked past Big Ben and Parliament and down to the Thames River. We walked back up the street to Trafalgar Square and took the bus home. We were so wrapped up in the two most adorable little blonde British boys that we actually missed our stop, and their mother was helpful in telling us how to get back!

We walked through Regent's Park as the sunset and back into the school building which has ivy and flowers blooming on the sides of the building walls. Its then that we realized, we've really grown up here. We're finally used to being here, but yet we're very ready to go home.

11 days and the adventure is over.

Jimminy crickets!

Love You All,

JJJJJJJJenna (that's how the French say it)