Arriving in the City of Light

On Tuesday, we arrived in Paris after an 8 hour flight from O'Hare.  We met a few other friends at the Charles de Gaulle airport and took a shuttle van to our apartment.  Driving into the city, we dropped off an older couple in the 1st arrondissement, and thus drove past le Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, le Museé d'Orsey, and down the famous Champs Elysees.  Although many of us have been to Paris before, we were all glued to the window in awe- I don't think visiting Paris could ever get old.  Upon arriving at our apartment, we met our landlord, Phillipe.  He was very kind and showed us around.  Even though our apartment is centrally located in Paris, it is literally an oasis from the craziness of the city.  There is a gated entrance, and our apartment has large windows overlooking gorgeous gardens.  The apartment itself is quite large, except we have all had trouble adjusting to the miniscule bathroom.

We walked around a bit and ate lunch at le Plein Soleil, a cute cafe about a block away from our school.  It has been raining on and off the past few days, but it was warm enough to sit outside at the cafe.  Greg and Meghan cooked a delicious pasta dinner, and we celebrated with no less than 6 bottles of wine!  It was a fun bonding night.

On Wednesday, Chelsea and I ventured to a nearby market, which sold everything from cheese to octopus to eight different types of olives.  Our two final roommates arrived, and we spent the majority of the day settling into the apartment.  For dinner, a group of us went out to a great Italian restaurant, where we had the BEST margharita pizza.

Today, we slept in and had lunch at a nearby brasserie, or restaurant/bar, called Chez Gudule.  It was a typical Parisian restaurant, but was really cute with bikes and tables hanging from the ceiling.  We initially stood outside the restaurant for a good minute trying to figure out where the door was/ how in the world we get in.. and we almost left because we didn't want to make a fool of ourselves.  Eventually Ali mustered up the courage and pushed this thing that looked more like a wall than a door, and we were in.. there is never a dull moment with our group.


Our apartment is ironically on the edge of Paris' Chinatown, and we ventured around for a while looking for a store to buy European phones… we were unsuccessful.  We decided to take the metro to Rue de Rivoli, a ritzy street near the Louvre with lots of shopping.  Two minutes after getting off the metro, a twelve-car motorcade passed us, and we're 99% sure it was Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President.  We later passed the Hotel de Ville, the city hall, which was lit up gorgeously for the holidays- there was an ice rink, carousel, and lots of glittering lights. After twenty minutes of walking, we finally reached the Orange store, where we were able to buy phones to talk to our fellow Europeans without breaking the bank.  Note: I don't plan on using my US phone here, so I would advise against texting me!

At 9pm, our landlord held a party for us 6 girls to meet the rest of the residents of our apartment complex.  It started off with awkward conversation and us all huddling near each other, but by the end of the night we were all speaking French and sharing interesting stories with the residents.  I’ve found that I can understand much of what people say, but sometimes it takes a moment to gather my thoughts and correctly respond.  Natalie tried to compliment Phillipe on the wine, but it came out “I like your belly” instead of “I like the wine” haha.  In fact, one of the ladies we met used to be a professor at Princeton.  Everyone was very welcoming and gave us recommendations for nearby restaurants and markets.

Now that we’re settled into the apartment, I’m excited to do some exploring around the city.  I would love to leave in May knowing Paris like the back of my hand.