Welcome to Paris

Well I've already been here for two days but this is the first time that I've found time to sit in front of my laptop to give you all an update on how I've been doing. I know I promised a vlog at the airport but there was barely any waiting time in between flights that the only things I did were go Facebook and tweet. My parents, my best friend/roommate Beatriz, and I arrived to Paris at 11:35am on August 16th.

My first encounter that made me realize that my French isn't all that great was when I had to call Super Shuttle's toll free number. I spoke to the lady in French and well it was just a bit too fast and soft that I didn't understand a thing so she hung up on me twice. Luckily there was another Super Shuttle car there so they called the headquarters to let them know that we needed to be picked up. We got dropped off at my parent's hotel room and then I had to call the apartment owner's mother so we could meet up with her and get the keys. I had an easier time speaking French to her since she was aware that mine isn't perfect and she spoke slow to me on the phone and also when we met up with her.

The apartment is small but that's Paris, I can't expect things to be super-sized here. I liked it but my parents were not used to Parisian apartments- they have very high expectations and were also comparing the place to apartments back home. But since they're not the ones that are going to live here, Beatriz and I gladly took the apartment. We had to clean it up a little since it was dusty but I don't mind those minor chores and after that it was time to make the apartment our home and start unpacking. We passed out by 10pm and yesterday we woke up at 9am to begin our first full day in Paris.

Our neighbor brought a repair man because the toilet and bathroom sink weren't working yesterday evening. After that we headed over to my parent's hotel room where I met a little American girl visiting Paris for her first time. After talking to the little girl we went to go some grocery shopping at Carrefour. Carrefour is basically the French version of la Comercial Mexicana because it has everything. There were a lot of brands (both Mexican and American) that I could recognize which as a good thing and I also applied for their "carte de fidelité" or their club card similar to Vons Club. Which was very easy, all you needed to do was fill out a sheet.

Since I don't want to make my parents miss out from doing the traditional touristy things in Paris I told them to pick a place to visit so we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. The line for the elevator was HUGE so we decided to walk up instead. You'll find out how out of shape you are within the first 5 minutes! But nevertheless I made it all the way to the second level, after resting for a while in between levels. I had forgotten how large and beautiful the Eiffel Tower is in person, I swear I wanted to shed a tear when I first saw it. Especially at night when you see it sparkle. The Eiffel Tower will never stop taking my breath away.

Paris is great so far, I'm falling in love with it once again. Even getting stressed, frustrated with my French, and ending up at a "McDo" (McDonald's) on our second night here won't bring me down. Hey at least the guy who took our order looked a lot like Branco from Phoenix. Well its almost 2am which means I better rest up for tomorrow. Bonne nuit!

PS. I'll try to edit my vlog documenting my journey here tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. :)

3 comments:

  1. Love this! I hope you can update as much as you can.

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  2. Nicole: I'll try my best to keep everyone posted. :) I'm already brainstorming upcoming blog posts.

    Sara Louise: Thank you! :D

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