Well life has just been a whirlwind of fun! In the past
month, I have had some of the most wonderful people pass through Paris.
Kicked off the month right with my best friend from high
school, Virginia, coming in town!
It was a blast to have her around and to frolic around the city of Paris
in tennis shoes and eating ham panini’s at every possible opportunity.
Bonnie came to play soon after for a week. Luckily, the sun
peaked out for the first time all year for her! It was beautiful and warm…something
I had yet to experience in Paris. We saw LOTS of monuments and museums, with
just a few being Musée d’Orsay, Notre Dame towers, Pere Lachaise, Saint Chapelle, and the
Catacombs. Busy busy week but so fun to have someone stay in our apartment with
us and as usual, Bonnie is always a joy to have around. Love love love her.
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| Piles of skulls and bones in the Catacombs |
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| View from Notre Dame towers |
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| Grave of Edith Piaf |
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| Chopin's grave |
Soon after, Austin came to Paris! Crazyyyy and so fun! He
showed up ready to hit the ground running, literally never blinking an eye from
exhaustion or jetlag. It was amazing! Bonnie and Austin overlapped for a day or
two, so they explored the city and visited the Louvre while I was in class.
After Bonnie left, Austin and I spent majority of our time exploring
second-hand stores and flea markets, as thrifting is one of Austin’s favorite
hobbies. Although the weather wasn’t so great when he was here, we still spent
fun afternoons stumbling across presidential rallies and relaxing on the steps
of Montmartre for hours enjoyed baguettes and wine.
Saw Natalie Brickman, Shelby Strodel, and Arden Hare at
sporadic times in the month. 2 friends from HP and 1 from Clemson…all SO
wonderful to see and just a blast to be around!
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| View from the Eiffel Tower of Paris |
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| Dinner on our balcony |
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| Rooftops at night from Montmartre |
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| He climbed the Bastille along with the rest of the political rally participants |
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| Montmartre |
Stacey flew in about the 3rd week of March, sadly in the middle of midterms for me. SO good to see her, and she’s a champ as she took Paris by storm and explored some of the most exciting places while I studied/attended class/took exams. We had fun evenings spent with Arden and Ashley Holt in Italian restaurants practicing our French, biking around Paris at night seeing sites while ending the evening with a boat tour and red wine, and enjoying a simple but delicious dinner on the Seine then attending my favorite jazz bar on Monday nights. She rocked and rolled with all the bumps in the road that classes created, and was so refreshing to have around.
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| Dinner on the Seine |
That’s just skimming the water on all the friends…wish I
could elaborate more but I need to jet out the door to phonetics and then catch
my train to Aix-en-Provence for the weekend! I’m going to spend Easter with
Shelby Strodel, Claire Smith, and some other friends in Aix…it will be a nice
break from the city and fun to see familiar faces again! About to jump head
first into traveling season, so there will be a lot to share. For now, these
pictures will try and touch on how wonderful it was to have my amazing friends
come visit!
French phrase for the day: “Je t’aime beaucoup” which
translates to literally “I love you a lot” but is what the French say to their
friends. There is no way to say “I like you” casually for someone you have
romantic emotions for, so you say “Je t’aime beaucoup”. If you were to say “I
love you” in a romantic way, obviously you would just say “Je t’aime”.
You are all wonderful…know I miss the states dearly but will
thoroughly enjoy and live it up here in my last couple months! It will be June
before we know it!
Je t’aime beaucoup mes amis.
