Versaille and Moving In

As you can see from my the name of this blog post I really have given up on creativity with this. So I believe I left the last post off with my adventures in the Louvre. So Saturday we had another really busy day planned. We were off to Versailles to see the kings palace and gardens.

The weather didn't seem to want to cooperate with us at first. When we woke up it was raining, then when we went down to breakfast it was snowing, then we left for Versailles it was sunny. Nevertheless it was freezing out most of the time. When we first got there we went to the nicest McDonalds I had ever seen before. It was so clean and so beautiful...not exaggerating at all. After our french fry fix we headed towards the castle. It is absolutely enormous and so beautiful. We got audio guides and were free to roam around on our own for while. Some of the highlights of the castle were the hall of mirrors and I thought the bedrooms were pretty cool.





Very interesting fact I learned- The queen had to give birth in public so everyone would know there was a true heir to the throne. Gross right?

After wandering the castle I met up with a few people and we went out to the gardens. I would've enjoyed them a lot more if I wasn't shivering. They are beautiful and HUGE. I definitely plan on coming back and exploring more when the weather gets nicer.




After the gardens we went for lunch...where at you ask? McDonalds! I was never more happy to eat chicken nuggets and french fries. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy the copious amounts of carbohydrates I eat every day, but I do miss some protein. After McDonalds we took the train back to Paris (only about a 25 minute ride). It is a system called the RER and you can get to it via the metro. During that 25 minute ride we decided to go to the Gallarie Lafayette. This is a giant seven story high department store. When we got there the music they were playing with a techno dance remix to Party in the USA- I really felt truly in Paris at that point..NOT. The store looked great but was super crowded because of the weekend. Caroline, Erin, and I were totally overwhelmed so we went across the street to the home goods department to get BLOW DRYERS!!!! That was very exciting. The mall was really overwhelming but I will definitely be back there during the week when it's not prime shopping time to see what they have to offer.

Across from the Gallery Lafayette there is an opera house where the Phantom of the Opera takes place in. It really does have underground tunnels and passageways just like the musical. Pretty cool I thought.




Once we got back to the FIOP we enjoyed our last meal together. Plain noodles...fantastic. Then me and Caroline went up to our room to pack all our stuff together then went over to Erin and Beth's room for a little wine night. Two euro bottles of wine are hard to pass up. It was nice being together with everyone for the last time because from now on it will be very lonely at night :(

Now the big day...Sunday Morning! I woke up more anxious than ever. Ate my typical croissant and then grabbed all my suitcases. We all met up in the lobby and Dr. Costello and Sean were there ready to help us with cabs. They ordered a ton of cabs for us and then sent us on our way to our host families. After a very quick cab ride I ended up right in front of the door I had stared at many many times through google maps. When I got in I was so thankful because I saw an elevator (the apartment is on the fourth floor (third actually but the first floor is always 0)). I pressed the open button and I saw the elevator was about the size of my closet and realized there was no way I was going to use it. I dragged two of my bags up the stairs and meetings Mme Riz at her apartment. She looked at me like I was nuts (maybe because I was speaking the worst broken French ever or maybe because I was holding two bags and still had one more to come) and told me to take the elevator next time. So that's how I got my third bag up there.



Once I arrived she showed me all around her apartment. It took a while to unpack all my stuff but once it was finished I was so relieved and so exhausted I took a nap. When I woke up we had a salad for lunch together (she's only speaking to me in English today so we had a good conversation). Then she left to go out Tango dancing for the night. I left as well and went to go see Lauren's apartment which is so nice! Then I met one of her roommates and we went and got ice cream, coffee, and hot chocolate. The most important part of my whole afternoon was that I made it from my house, to my metro stop, to the transfer metro stop, then to Laurens without getting lost!!!! Very exciting stuff.

When I returned home I skyped with my family and Brian for a little while and then wrote this blog post. I really want to include pictures in this but the internet isn't the best and isn't letting me do it. Maybe when I bring my computer somewhere else I will. Thanks for reading!!

Ma Chambre-->