Bonjour!

Ya...I'm in Paris :)

I arrived yesterday morning after leaving Barcelona at 3:30am with 7 hours of travel till arriving at Grace's apartment! She lives on the same street as the Sorbonne and is only a 10 min walk from Notre Dame!
I don't have too much time to update on everything we have done, but let me just say that we have done almost everything! Paris is amazingly beautiful and we have had surprisingly great weather here (no rain yet!). I have seen everything I wanted to and more in the past 36 hours and it still seems surreal that I am even here. Tomorrow we are going to Chartres and Versailles and then we leave for Dublin on Wed. morning.

We truly are priviledged to have these opportunities. It is great to see all of the sites and such but it's the off the beat moments that in the end will define this trip. Things like trying to figure out the metro, strolling down random streets, asking for directions in french, etc. It is just such a great experience :)

Well sorry this is so short...I don't have the time to write a novel about each city!

3 down and 1 to go!

Well this week is finally wrapping up and honestly it hasn't been stressful at all! So unlike any midterm week I have had at Philly U! My 'hard' exam on Monday wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, granted it was intense but I tried to prepare as well as I could. So I did not leave the room crying like he said we all would be! All the other ones have been very laid back, which is just so weird to me. So now I just have one more tomorrow morning so I guess I should start studying :)

I am also in process right now of packing for my Fall Break European Excursion Extravaganza! Oooo that has a nice ring to it :) Sarah and I really don't know what to expect and we were just talking about that earlier- how even though we can be prepared something will always happen! But I guess there's always something to make it interesting. So all I can share with you is what I do expect to happen (aka our itinerary):

• Oct. 31st: Rome to Barcelona
• Nov. 2nd: Barcelona to Paris
• Nov. 5th: Paris to Dublin
• Nov. 7th: Dublin to Brussels
• Nov. 8th: Brussels to Amsterdam (train)
• Nov. 9th: Amsterdam back to Brussels (train)
• Nov. 10th: Brussels to Rome

Phew! It is going to be a busy 10 days! We have all of our hostels booked though and we are so lucky to be able to stay in Paris for free with Grace! Also another interesting hostel experience will be in Amsterdam, which has its label as being a 'crazy' city (i.e. legalized marijuana). However...Sarah and I will be spending the night at Shelter City, a Christian hostel in none other than the red light district of downtown Amsterdam! Ironic- isn't it?

Even though I really don't know what to expect from this trip I am sure that we will never have a dull moment. Which may be interesting considering that I have been developing a cold the past few days...so pray that that is not worsened from this trip...hmmm...I can only imagine what kind of germies I will be exposed to in 5 flight, 2 trains, and 5 hostels!

Also as far as what to expect- I know that I will be seeing Gaudi architecture, Le Louvre, Le Pomipdou Centre, Notre Dame, Ronchamp, Chartres, Le Tour d'Eiffel, and so many other amazing works of architecture. But I just cannot begin to comprehend it all. But can you tell how excited I am for Paris? I have dreamt about going to Paris since I was 9, I have studied these buildings and even watched a documentary on Le Pompidou Centre for fun! So in that way, I am sooo ready for this :)

Ah yes and in regards to a winter coat, I remembered (thanks to Megan!) that I love the cold! Haha! I feel dumb in saying that I 'forgot' how much I love cold weather...but it's true! So I will be enjoying (or braving) the 40 degree Dublin weather in the one sweater I have!