Bonjour from a cold, cold Paris! I finally made it! We caught the TGV on Saturday, spent a lovely 5 hours looking out the window at the beautiful rolling green hills, only to arrive to an overcast, rainy Paris.
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| Ashley, me, and Natalie waiting at the train station to catch the TGV |
Our driver pulled over at the corner of Marceau, 1 of the main streets leading to the Arc de Triomphe. In disbelief, we exited the taxi, noticing the massive, royal blue doors in front of us, just a block down from the Arc de Triomphe! After entering through 2 layers of security doors, we walked into a fancy, antique looking, white-walled building with a white spiral staircase leading up around the metal barred, 19th century, wooden interior, miniscule elevator. Deciding that the elevator would be the best idea, as we were on the 6ème étage, we sent each individual up one-by-one with their bags.
At the top to meet us was our sweet host mother, Madame Boury. We began to take our bags through the door on the right which she had open for us. Sidenote: I signed up to live with a host family, where the expectations were as follows: minimal access to the kitchen (maybe 1 hour per night), a section in the fridge for food, limited access to all other appliances in the kitchen, wash 1 time per week (but make sure you ask), you will have a room they've provided, limited access to the public area (aka: don't take over their living room). When we walked in, Madame Boury informed us that this was now our apartment. Separate from hers. Her apartment was on the left. Ours is on the right. With our own front door, separate set of keys, and doorbell. Yes, we were just handed keys to our own apartment in Paris. UNREAL. We enthusiastically began to explore the apartment where we have 2 bedrooms (a single and a double), a bathroom with a large mirror, shower and bathtub, toilet, walk-in closet that is the dressing room, and a bidet, and our own full-fledged kitchen where she had already semi-stocked it with some food for us along with: new refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, toaster, hot water pot, tea pot, stove, oven, sink, dishwasher...oh my goodness! We also have our own washer to do laundry as we please. Natalie has her own single, which is kind of small, but does the job. Ashley and I share the double which also is used as our living room, as it has 2 beds, a couch, a large coffee table, rug, fireplace (not to be used though), dresser, table and lamp. As we continued to explore, we were estatic to find out that our 2 sets of big, bay doors opened up to our BALCONY. As we stepped out on our balcony, we were all speechless as we saw the Eiffel Tower standing tall and illuminating the night. THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE.
So yes, we live in our own apartment on the 6th étage (7th floor for Americans) which is higher than the other buildings so we can see over them, with the Arc de Triomphe to our left, the Eiffel Tower to our right, and the Champs-Elysees in front. I feel like I'm living in a dream, as Paris has been a passion of mine since I was young.
Sadly, I don't have time right now to write all about WHAT shenanigans we've been up to in this city of love for the past 3 days, but I will write again soon. Below are some pictures I took the first night in the city, where we went exploring by following this landmark's light in the sky. This must have been what the wise men felt when they were following the star to Bethlehem. It was big, it was bright, and there was no way you could miss it.
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| Approaching the Eiffel Tower |
Hope you all are doing well. Know that as much as I love America and my friends and family, I wouldn't trade this for anything. Making dreams a reality!
French word for the day: "Éternuer" which means "to sneeze" so if hear someone sneeze today, don't forget to say "A tes souhaites!"
Lots of love from the 16th arrondissement in Paris,
Mary Catherine
