Au Revoir.

A lot has happened since Amsterdam. In fact, I'm not even in Europe anymore.

The last week was a busy one... trying to stuff everything in the last minute. It was really hard trying to do all that and then try to focus on getting a good grade as well. Because who thinks about that when you're in fucking Paris? But, hopefully all went well.

Our professor, Raj, took us out to this pedestrian bridge by Notre Dame. It was so nice, cuz no one was really walking on it. It was just filled with people sitting in circles, drinking wine and eating cheese. It was right as the sun was setting and it was just bittersweet. Plus, the Fat Tire Bike Tour kept going past us. Hey!

Princessa, Franny Pack, and Bon Qui Qui

Some of us went to the Luxembourg gardens, which I hadn't seen yet. It's so gorgeous. People just go there to read, chat, picnic, people watch, be seen... I wish we had somewhere like that in Austin. I mean, Town Lake (or Lady Bird Lake should I say...) is somewhat like that, I guess... but not. I wish we just had somewhere where we could watch people all day. You'd be surprised how entertaining it is, haha.

Rachel and Lauryn @ Luxembourg Gardens

Yea we went to a couple nightclubs too. The first one, The Duplex, was pretty nice. The only thing was we left before it got too busy because we didn't want to miss the metro. And... yeah. The crowd was a little older and the music was okay.


The second we went to was Le Mix which was pretty sweet! It was free to get into if you were foreign... haha.

Rachel bustin' out the dance moves...

We were all nicely buzzed from chatting in front of the Eiffel Tower beforehand. The only bad part was thinking my wallet got stolen. Oh god.

A blue Eiffel Tower marking the reign of
French President Sarkozy as President of the EU

But anyway, the best/worst day was coming home. It was such a pain trying to find the Roissybus to get to CDG. There were no signs at the Opera metro stop... it ended up being behind the Opera building. Who knew? By then, we were running a little late... thank god we left earlier than we meant to. We get to CDG and they have the American Airlines flights split up into lines. So mine was Dallas and Chicago. And it was a fucking long-ass line. So... finally, after standing in it for an hour... with 40 minutes left before my flight... I finally get checked in. And then security takes forever because the workers are on strike (what?! apparently they do this once a week) and... yeah. I get on the plane 3 minutes before the close boarding and leave the gate. AHH.

Eventually I make it to Austin and my baby. :)
It was so good to see him, sigh. Which made it the best day ever.
And he got me a new Uglydoll, which was so awesome... if you know me.
And I had Mexican food, so I was even happier.
And la la la :)

Target and Yours truly... Patate...

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It's so weird though being back here. Driving. Calling. Texting. Air Conditioning. Having a shower head. Being able to access Perez Hilton. Sleeping in. Eating Mexican food. Eating Asian food. Eating American food.

I miss all the good wine and good company!! :( I miss taking the metro to school, eating green beans at the cafeteria and getting free water, taking naps after class, stalking people from our window, gyros & falafels, raspberry gelato, nutella and banana crepes, good beer, going places...

sigh.

Home is home. There's no denying it.

But it looks like I will be going to Shanghai... my dad somehow pulled some strings and got the city of Shanghai to send me an official invitation... HAHA. Visa... yes.

<3

Pamplemousse.

I've kind of left out the happenings of Paris since I focus on my weekends so much. So there will probably be 2 updates.

It's really hard to believe that Paris is almost over. I've developed a love/hate relationship with it, for sure. It definitely isn't one of my favorite cities in Europe, but it's undeniably beautiful and cultural.

I found a nice park that I like to read in. It's the Parc Floral by the Chateau de Vincennes. Unfortunately, it's only free on certain days of the week. Lame!

Lovers @ the Parc Floral

We also went to Versailles which was extravagant. No duh. There were some cool photographs by Karl Lagerfeld. But at the same time, I thought... I could have taken those. It's just my name isn't Karl Lagerfeld. Sigh. I mean, how many angles of Versailles could you possibly take? It's like everyone's Notre Dame pictures. They all look the same.

Kristin, Me, and Meagan @ Versailles

The Marketing group went to one of the L'Oreal plants around Paris. It was pretty fascinating. It made me think of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If you don't know, L'Oreal is much bigger than just the L'Oreal brand. They own Maybelline, Redken, Garnier, Lancome, The Body Shop, and tons of other famous brands. I also found out McDonalds owns Chipotle... there's some food for thought!

Rachel and me in our L'Oreal gear.

Then after that, we hurried home to get dressed up and go to the ballet. It was so beautiful I wanted to cry. The chandelier inside the old opera inspired the Phantom of the Opera. Fun fact! They also played the song I played senior year ... Chopin's Ballade No. 1 ... also made famous by The Pianist ... sigh, such a good song. I decided I want a keyboard for my birthday.

Ballet

Joy, Larissa, and I also trekked back to Montmartre to find the "I Love You" wall. It's written in hundreds of different languages. Very cute.

The "I Love You" Wall

Sigh, then Wednesday was dedicated to SHOPPING! The French government only allows stores to have discounts at certain times. The first day is June 25th. All I can say is... it was madness. It was worse than tax-free/black friday/christmas put together, haha. But, at the same time, literally almost everything was 50-70% off... EVERYWHERE!

Then after that, I went with Rachel and Kristin to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. It was amazing. It also made me want to cry as well. Her selection of photos were definitely very personal. Very inspirational.

Thursday was also Rachel's 20th birthday. Except I had to stay home to edit a paper. :( Poop.

Ok, I'll update again later for Brussels/Amsterdam.