Paris!

Hello!

So, to get to Paris, I had to take three different flights. The first was Denver to Chicago from 10am mt to 1pm ct. I had a middle seat, which was like ~lol no thanks~ but it turned out alright. Then once we arrived in Chicago,  my gate letter for my London flight just like didn't exist anywhere near the entire airport so I had to switch terminals by taking a train that literally dumped everyone 5000 miles away from the rest of O'Hare. I had to call my mom to figure that out, though (thanks, mom). Then I had to go through security again, but luckily it was quick because it was an international terminal. The downsides to the international terminal (and maybe all of the airport or even Chicago???) was that the food options sucked. I ended up with fries and chicken fingers, which was like okay at the time, but by 3:00 I hated everything. I also kept losing my seat at the gate because I kept going up to get food, go get water, get a new boarding pass because British Airways can't stand American boarding passes, etc.

So then we get on the flight and it is legit the coolest plane. It was like double decker. Also, I could charge my phone so that was like the best thing ever. I watched Dunkirk, everything was great, but then the flight attendants were like "time for food" and my stomach was like "the food from before is still misbehaving, Emily, don't do it" but I did it because it was curry and rice and chicken. Airline food is like supposed to suck, but this was like not all that bad. Also, the dessert was so relatable. My stomach then proceeded to hate me even more, so I just went to sleep after Dunkirk.

Dunkirk 

Relatable Dessert

What was so wild, though, was the time differences and how the flight handled it. We had dinner and then like 2 hours later they were prepping to serve breakfast. The actual purest thing ever happened to me, though, so I'm not complaining at all. I was like asleep when they served breakfast, but the flight attendant who served breakfast put my tray down for me and put the cream cheese pretzel bagel on for me so that I would have breakfast when I woke up. (It was kind of a nasty food, though.) 

Fast forward, the flight ends, and I get to Heathrow. What still has me shook to my core, though, is that Heathrow airport, an airport on a different continent with a different culture and different wordings, has clearer signs for flight connections than O'Hare had. I ended up going through Heathrow's security super fast, then went to my gate area (they didn't assign my flight to Paris a gate until like 10 minutes before boarding began). The area in terminal 5 of Heathrow airport is lit, let me tell you. There was a Harry Potter gift shop right as you got through security, because they know who they're catering to (it's me). They then hit you with some Boots and a couple restaurants (like Wagamama's was there and a couple others). As soon as you pass Boots, though, you get hit with a mini Harrod's. This is an instance where they are not catering to me because I cannot afford to buy a designer hand bags while I wait for my flight. However, apparently someone can, because there were so many designer brand stores scattered throughout the terminal. I was like walking to my gate and I was like "oh, hey, Dior, oh Coach, oh yeah Cartier, Tiffany's." There was just so much happening. I love London, though, and like I felt more at home there than like anywhere else I was low key sad I was getting on a flight to Paris. (But not sad enough, I swear).

The flight to Paris was wild because I slept for a lot of it but it was also a 45 minutes flight so I'm not sure if I slept for most of it or I just felt like I did. Also, France is so cute and I wish the French countryside would get more recognition.

France from the Airplane

My least favorite part about Paris is the French people who just assume I'm French (or they hate me) and speak as fast as possible in the thickest French they can so that I stand there gaping at them and try to make a coherent French request for them to speak English (@every cashier I've had yet). Luckily, pretty much everything has English translations except for my hairdryer that wouldn't start and the nutrition facts on all the food I bought (maybe I'll die from a mystery French ingredient).

My Hotel Room

View from the Right of my Room

Today we went to church, which was SO COOL. First, the church building is high key over 400 years old which is ~so old. Also, the ward is so nice and welcoming and they have a little area in a separate room and they televise sacrament with English translation, so people like us can actually get something out of the meeting. Also, the room we met in was like the place to be, because it also had the English sunday school and relief society in there. Relief Society was AMAZING for like 100 reasons. 1) There was a woman who was like maybe in the presidency who spoke only English but there was another woman who spoke only French who was also definetly in the presidency, so this other woman was translating what both of them said and it was fun to watch her try and translate everything. 2) Relief society is apparently the same everywhere because they fought (lovingly) across languages about when the temple trip was supposed to be. (They were both right it was Friday the 9th AND Wednesday the 21st). 3) The teacher straight up taught in both languages. Every sentence she spoke in French was repeated by her in English immediately after, and like she was very very fluent in both languages I was amazed #goals.

After church a couple girls and I walked to Notre Dame because it was pretty close to the church. It was so fun, but my feet were literally so frozen I was having a very hard time walking. It was so worth it, though. I'm so pumped for the rest of my time here where we get to actually go inside Notre Dame and see the Louvre and do so many amazing things.

Okay, one of the best parts of this study abroad is how awesome everyone is. Like, everyone just gets along and like maybe it's because we're all just meeting each other, but I definitely could hang out with anyone in the group and have a great time. Also, we're supposed to try and not be a giant tourist group at all times and be in smaller groups if possible, and it makes me sad because I just want us all to hang out as one large group. It does give us a lot of freedom, though, which is nice. Especially in the museums, because we're ~really~ supposed to not be a group there.

~Emily