Sunday, March 23, 2014

I'm still in Paris

I haven't said much about Paris in a while because I've been traveling so much! Trust me it's still ah-mazing. The initial "omg I'm in Paris" thing has worn off. I almost wish it was still like OMG LOOK AT THAT OMG LOOK AT THIS! WOW OMG! But at the same time, it's a relief that I adjusted well and still love everything! I'm very busy with school..exams and papers and such (I have to remind myself I'm here to go to school..). It's weird to see everyone at home on spring break and I only just started school a month ago. 

The Jardin du Luxembourg is right by my University, and I've been there about 3 or 4 times in the past week or so to study/have a picnic/do homework. It's perfect. 


This picture doesn't exactly capture the mood because you can't see the millions of people who are actually here. There are groups of people every 5 feet trying to soak up some sun on their lunch break. It has been so packed every time I've come. And I love coming here because it's one of the few times I've seen Parisians forget their "class," and by that I mean they're all lounging around, taking off their sweaters and scarves, pulling up the bottom of their pants to expose pale legs, laying down on benches, sleeping, eating, laughing, being LOUD for once. It's so interesting. Who would have thought Parisians are actually just like you and me?? 

This was my first weekend in Paris in a while and it was sooooooo nice, I forgot how crazy the weekend get here. Tourists everywhere. There's nowhere better to people watch than the streets of Paris. The other day I was waiting for my friend outside of a store, probably only 5 minutes by myself, and 3 groups of tourists with maps and hats and sunglasses asked me for directions. Love it. 



I'm not sure if you remember me talking about Galaries-Lafayette, but it's a department store filled with designer brands that I wish I could actually shop at. But a few weeks ago my friends and I signed up to go to one of their fashion shows! So we went to it on Friday, and it was pretty cool if you think wearing socks with sandals or mixing cheetah print and camouflage looks good. Everyone in the audience was so obviously tourists as well; taking selfies in front of the runway and whatnot. Another really strange thing about it was at the end when they had all the models come out in their last outfit, they played a line spoken by Obama to a techno beat. He was saying something about accepting all races and backgrounds, and they just played it over and over while the models stood their to our applause… 

After the fashion show we kinda just wandered around, and the fun thing about wandering in Paris is that you always find something awesome. Like the Moulin Rouge..
 

The last time I saw the Moulin Rouge was my first day in Paris, so being jet-lagged and zombie-like I couldn't exactly appreciate the significance at the time. Again, tourist-central. My friend and I were trying to take pictures and we were asked by probably 5 groups to take theirs. 


Random things:


I went out to dinner on Friday night to an Italian restaurant and paid 20 euros (~$27) for wine, pasta, and tiramisu. This is an awesome and rare price for restaurants here! It was delicious, and a nice treat because I hadn't been to a restaurant in Paris in a couple weeks! I was feeling great about it until the next day when I did some grocery shopping, got enough for about two weeks, and that cost also 20 euros…. merp. 

Another weird flavor I found…tastes just like a McDonald's cheeseburger. Yum? 

I can't believe I haven't talked about dogs yet! Paris is so dog friendly and you'll see them everywhere. I mean everywhere. They're welcome inside, outside, and anywhere public. There are always dogs on the metro. I've even seen a couple people holding cats, maybe going to the vet? Gotta get there somehow. This dog in the picture was inside H&M. Also, dogs in Paris tend to be "purse dogs" and I think this is because Paris is so condensed and there's not much room for exercising a big dog. But what was interesting was that in Madrid, we saw tons of big dogs, probably because they have more space! 



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