Bright and early... Well actually it was still dark out. I got up, ate breakfast, and got my host mom to drive me to the train station. Two train rides and an hour and half later I arrived in Namur with the birthday girl Marina (Brazil). On to the bus with 59 other just as excited exchange students from all over the world I went!
On the bus, we were given name tag's that we had to wear for the entire trip (if you fb stalk me you can see these 'styling' things in some of my pictures) and before I even got off the bus at the rest stop I had already lost mine.
A mere 6 hours later we arrived at the Versailles; the first of many stops on this crazy 3 day adventure.
Now I'd seen pictures of the Versailles before, but going into it I really had no idea what it was or why it was so important. Turns out Louis the Fourteenth and his wife Marie Antoinette lived, and they were forced to leave when it was invaded during the French Revolution. It was beautiful inside and out, and from the windows inside you could see parts of the HUGE gardens, but unfortunately the gardens were closed to us. Guess I'll just have to go back again! :)
We were given 3 hours at the Versailles before we had to be back on the bus on our way to our next sight, so after looking around, most of us exchange students ended up at the entrance of the gardens. Now when you put 60 exchange students from all over the world, who all speak different languages together singing is destine to happen. Now no one really knows who or when the song was created but us exchange students in Belgium have a theme song. It's in Spanish and Portuguese with a little English part, and everywhere we go we sing it loudly! From the time of getting a new name tag after the rest stop, to getting back on the bus at the Versailles I had lost my second name tag... Let's just say the leaders weren't liking me that much right then! So well killing time at the Versailles we broke out into it. It was soo cool seeing all the other tourist stopping what they were looking at to watch us! :)
Here is a video of us singing our song on the way up the Eiffel tower.
After the Versailles we went and had dinner. On the menu that night was tomato and tuna salad, ratatouille and chicken with creme brulee for desert. The restaurant we were eating at was kinda fancy, so the wait staff gave us crayons and paper napkins to keep us busy so that we wouldn't break anything well we were waiting for our food, but because I am so awesome I managed to not only spill my glass, but break it all over the girl sitting across from me plate. Let's just say the waiters didn't bring my table anymore refiles after that...
After dinner the bus drove around Paris, showing us some of the famous sights at night, stopping right in front of the Eiffel tower for us to get out, and see it for the first time... in the rain! :)
Paris at night+ Paris in the rain= Prettiest thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then we went to our hotel, got our rooms assigned, and had a meeting about rules, and the plan for the next day. Had some free time to experience life as a French-y and went to bed.
The next morning we were up bright and early, enjoying a french breakfast of crepes with nutella, fresh croissants and pain de chocolat, and french cheeses before heading out. First stop of the day was a choice between the Museum d' Orsay or a walk around Paris. After already surviving the Versailles and wanting to see all the typical Paris sights, I chose the walk. So me, Maranda (U.S.A.), Jennica (U.S.A.) and 3 cool leaders walked around Paris, seeing the National Music Academy of France, the Obelisk (that was stolen from Egypt by Alexander the Great and brought all the way back to Paris... but my question is how'd they get it to Paris, because this happened before ships, trucks, and moving sidewalks were created...?) The leaders knew that we were more interested in shopping and seeing things like The Ritz hotel, Channel, and Tiffany and Co. then being in a museum so they were really good about showing us what we wanted to see!
Ps. Any future Belgian inbounds who go on the Paris trip! Go on the walk instead of to the Museum, a billion times better and you get time for shopping! :)
After the walk we went to the Louvre for lunch (cheese pizza, and coffee flavored zebra cake) and then we headed into the Louvre. The Louvre is HUGE, there was so much that I wanted to see, but it was so big that I would get lost trying to find something or find something else I was interested in seeing on the way to the first thing, so I didn't get to see everything I wanted to, but I did see the Mona Lisa, and the Mummy exhibit which were on the top of my to see list. The leaders had put together a little quiz for the Louvre so me and my partner went on a quest. We wanted to win, and we did! (not only because we were the only group that handed it in, but because we got all the answers right)
In Europe they do Day Light Savings Time a week earlier then in North America, and because I only got my phone since I've been here I didn't realize that I had to change the clock back an hour manually, so I ended up leaving the Louvre an hour early, and because there was so many of us in our group. The ticket people just counted heads instead of giving us all tickets, so I has an hour to kill and no way to get back in the Louvre, so I went to the food court, found the 'classy version of MC Donalds' and WIFI and had an hour long break! :)
After the Louvre we went to a huge shopping street in Paris for awhile before having dinner at a restaurant right beside the Arc. On the menu this evening was the best mashed potatoes I've ever had, roasted chicken and ice cream. After dinner it was time for a boat ride down the Seine. The lady sitting in front of us on the boat was in Paris celebrating her birthday so we all sung for her. Not only was I on the boat with kids from all over the world, but I met a couple from Mexico, a couple from China and a family for Hungary. The boat ride just happened to finish right in front of the Eiffel tower, so we got off the boat, ran across the road, and hoped into an elevator going up, up and away... well actually to the top of the Eiffel tower!!!! :) It was so cool being up there, it felt like I was on top of the world. And well waiting in a really really really long line go to back down, we found flags and under the flag it told you how far away from that city you were. I didn't find Vancouver but I did find Seattle and it said it was 6500km away so I'm about 7200km away I'd figure...
Standing at the top of the Eiffel tower was absolutely amazing! I got to see all of Paris, and it was stunning. We'll standing at the top I realized that if it wasn't for my exchange I probably wouldn't have gotten to Europe for a long long time. I don't no what I would do without my exchange. It's still only the beginning, but I already can say that this is the best year of my live so far! :)
When you go up the Eiffel tower you have to take 2 elevators, so on the way down because we were in a rush to catch our tram (like a subway) we decided to only take the first elevator and run down the rest of the stairs. So 674 steps down, a couple of run in to's with complete strangers, and me tripping down most of them, I made it down the Eiffel tower, with no broken bones! :) We left the Eiffel tower, caught our tram, and went straight to bed at the hotel.
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, packed up our rooms and headed to Notre Dame, then to the most beautiful place in the ENTIRE world! The Montmartre is a huge church placed on the highest hill in Paris, and in front of the church there are stairs that look over all of Paris! Most definitely my favorite place in the world now :) Around the church are streets filled with tourist shops, and creepy old men artist who ask to draw you every time you walk past. From there we went for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Paris. *Going to the Hard Rock is a Rotary trip tradition and it happens on every trip! :)* for Hamburgers, french fries and ice cream. Then it was time to hit the bus for a 6 hour nap on the way home. Nap aka awkward movies and random dance party's on the bus! :)
We arrived in Namur just in time to catch the train back home. It was Halloween night and the trains were nothing like I'd ever seen before. There were so many people on them, and we got asked for ID when the ticket guy was checking our tickets. The station I always get off at;which seems to be one of the safest and the quietest, but that night it wasn't. There was glass all over the place, and the windows from the bench shelter had all been broken...
Over all this was the best trip ever! I had always wanted to go to Paris, and I finally got to cross something off my bucket list!
Now I'd seen pictures of the Versailles before, but going into it I really had no idea what it was or why it was so important. Turns out Louis the Fourteenth and his wife Marie Antoinette lived, and they were forced to leave when it was invaded during the French Revolution. It was beautiful inside and out, and from the windows inside you could see parts of the HUGE gardens, but unfortunately the gardens were closed to us. Guess I'll just have to go back again! :)
We were given 3 hours at the Versailles before we had to be back on the bus on our way to our next sight, so after looking around, most of us exchange students ended up at the entrance of the gardens. Now when you put 60 exchange students from all over the world, who all speak different languages together singing is destine to happen. Now no one really knows who or when the song was created but us exchange students in Belgium have a theme song. It's in Spanish and Portuguese with a little English part, and everywhere we go we sing it loudly! From the time of getting a new name tag after the rest stop, to getting back on the bus at the Versailles I had lost my second name tag... Let's just say the leaders weren't liking me that much right then! So well killing time at the Versailles we broke out into it. It was soo cool seeing all the other tourist stopping what they were looking at to watch us! :)
After the Versailles we went and had dinner. On the menu that night was tomato and tuna salad, ratatouille and chicken with creme brulee for desert. The restaurant we were eating at was kinda fancy, so the wait staff gave us crayons and paper napkins to keep us busy so that we wouldn't break anything well we were waiting for our food, but because I am so awesome I managed to not only spill my glass, but break it all over the girl sitting across from me plate. Let's just say the waiters didn't bring my table anymore refiles after that...
After dinner the bus drove around Paris, showing us some of the famous sights at night, stopping right in front of the Eiffel tower for us to get out, and see it for the first time... in the rain! :)
Paris at night+ Paris in the rain= Prettiest thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then we went to our hotel, got our rooms assigned, and had a meeting about rules, and the plan for the next day. Had some free time to experience life as a French-y and went to bed.
The next morning we were up bright and early, enjoying a french breakfast of crepes with nutella, fresh croissants and pain de chocolat, and french cheeses before heading out. First stop of the day was a choice between the Museum d' Orsay or a walk around Paris. After already surviving the Versailles and wanting to see all the typical Paris sights, I chose the walk. So me, Maranda (U.S.A.), Jennica (U.S.A.) and 3 cool leaders walked around Paris, seeing the National Music Academy of France, the Obelisk (that was stolen from Egypt by Alexander the Great and brought all the way back to Paris... but my question is how'd they get it to Paris, because this happened before ships, trucks, and moving sidewalks were created...?) The leaders knew that we were more interested in shopping and seeing things like The Ritz hotel, Channel, and Tiffany and Co. then being in a museum so they were really good about showing us what we wanted to see!
Ps. Any future Belgian inbounds who go on the Paris trip! Go on the walk instead of to the Museum, a billion times better and you get time for shopping! :)
After the walk we went to the Louvre for lunch (cheese pizza, and coffee flavored zebra cake) and then we headed into the Louvre. The Louvre is HUGE, there was so much that I wanted to see, but it was so big that I would get lost trying to find something or find something else I was interested in seeing on the way to the first thing, so I didn't get to see everything I wanted to, but I did see the Mona Lisa, and the Mummy exhibit which were on the top of my to see list. The leaders had put together a little quiz for the Louvre so me and my partner went on a quest. We wanted to win, and we did! (not only because we were the only group that handed it in, but because we got all the answers right)
In Europe they do Day Light Savings Time a week earlier then in North America, and because I only got my phone since I've been here I didn't realize that I had to change the clock back an hour manually, so I ended up leaving the Louvre an hour early, and because there was so many of us in our group. The ticket people just counted heads instead of giving us all tickets, so I has an hour to kill and no way to get back in the Louvre, so I went to the food court, found the 'classy version of MC Donalds' and WIFI and had an hour long break! :)
After the Louvre we went to a huge shopping street in Paris for awhile before having dinner at a restaurant right beside the Arc. On the menu this evening was the best mashed potatoes I've ever had, roasted chicken and ice cream. After dinner it was time for a boat ride down the Seine. The lady sitting in front of us on the boat was in Paris celebrating her birthday so we all sung for her. Not only was I on the boat with kids from all over the world, but I met a couple from Mexico, a couple from China and a family for Hungary. The boat ride just happened to finish right in front of the Eiffel tower, so we got off the boat, ran across the road, and hoped into an elevator going up, up and away... well actually to the top of the Eiffel tower!!!! :) It was so cool being up there, it felt like I was on top of the world. And well waiting in a really really really long line go to back down, we found flags and under the flag it told you how far away from that city you were. I didn't find Vancouver but I did find Seattle and it said it was 6500km away so I'm about 7200km away I'd figure...
Standing at the top of the Eiffel tower was absolutely amazing! I got to see all of Paris, and it was stunning. We'll standing at the top I realized that if it wasn't for my exchange I probably wouldn't have gotten to Europe for a long long time. I don't no what I would do without my exchange. It's still only the beginning, but I already can say that this is the best year of my live so far! :)
When you go up the Eiffel tower you have to take 2 elevators, so on the way down because we were in a rush to catch our tram (like a subway) we decided to only take the first elevator and run down the rest of the stairs. So 674 steps down, a couple of run in to's with complete strangers, and me tripping down most of them, I made it down the Eiffel tower, with no broken bones! :) We left the Eiffel tower, caught our tram, and went straight to bed at the hotel.
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, packed up our rooms and headed to Notre Dame, then to the most beautiful place in the ENTIRE world! The Montmartre is a huge church placed on the highest hill in Paris, and in front of the church there are stairs that look over all of Paris! Most definitely my favorite place in the world now :) Around the church are streets filled with tourist shops, and creepy old men artist who ask to draw you every time you walk past. From there we went for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Paris. *Going to the Hard Rock is a Rotary trip tradition and it happens on every trip! :)* for Hamburgers, french fries and ice cream. Then it was time to hit the bus for a 6 hour nap on the way home. Nap aka awkward movies and random dance party's on the bus! :)
We arrived in Namur just in time to catch the train back home. It was Halloween night and the trains were nothing like I'd ever seen before. There were so many people on them, and we got asked for ID when the ticket guy was checking our tickets. The station I always get off at;which seems to be one of the safest and the quietest, but that night it wasn't. There was glass all over the place, and the windows from the bench shelter had all been broken...
Over all this was the best trip ever! I had always wanted to go to Paris, and I finally got to cross something off my bucket list!
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