So... I've already been here for six weeks. WOW. Sometimes it feels like I've been here for a lifetime and others it feels like I left just yesterday. Also, apparently I'm terribly at blogging. I kind of knew this beforehand and thought I could change, but apparently not. In this post I will describe the first four days I spend in Paris with all of the other exchange students, and hopefully I'll post more soon...
When I left the United States for France, I left from JFK airport in New York at 6:25 pm and arrived at CDG airport in Paris at around 7:10 am local time. If you know me well, you know that I cannot sleep anywhere except for my bed. That being said, I did not get a wink of sleep on the plane. When we arrived I was expecting for us to go to the youth hostel where we would be staying first and then go touring, however, I was wrong. After waiting for all of the other exchange students to arrive, we went right into the touring! We spent the whole day touring and finally went hostel right before dinner. However, after dinner was over, we weren't finished. After dinner we went to the Eiffel Tower and didn't get back until around 11:00 pm local time 5:00 pm US time. Needless to say, I was pretty happy to climb into bed after being awake for around 32 hours. Over those first four days we spent in Paris, we went to sooooo many cool places and did so many cool things. Here is a list of some of the things we did with pictures to follow; toured the famous Notre Dame Cathedral; saw the outside of the Centre Pompidou; went to the Eiffel Tower late at night when it was sparkling; toured the Louvre; had free shopping time on the Champs-Élysées; saw the Arc de Triomphe; had a dinner cruise on the Seine River; toured the Sacré Cœur Basilica; had free shopping time in the Montmartre district; toured the Versailles Castle and gardens; and lastly went to the Musée Grévin. We did so much in those four days, and it was amazing! I met so many amazing people from all over the world.
After spending those four amazing days in Paris, all of the exchange students parted ways and went off to their separate host families. On August 29th, 2015, I arrived in Chartres to meet my host family. For those of you who aren't familiar with Chartres, it's about an hour southwest of Paris and is home to a very famous cathedral.
When I finally arrived in Chartres, tired, nervous, and with bags galore, I was met by my wonderful host family. They are seriously so caring and are some of the kindest people I've ever met. After I arrived and we deposited my giant suitcase, little suitcase, and overflowing backpack into their car, we went into the center of Chartres to get some drinks. I ordered pineapple juice and it was soooo good. Seriously though, in France there are so many options for juices. In the US it's basically apple juice and grape juice -- that's it. Here there is apple, grape, banana, pineapple, etc. I can't seem to remember the others, but I'm pretty sure there are more. After spending some time in Chartres, we went to their home outside of the town. It's so crazy to me that I arrived at my host family's house six weeks ago today. It's definitely hard sometimes and I miss everyone back home so much (s/o to you guys). However, that being said, I have already experienced so much that I wouldn't want to take back.
More to come soon...
-Kenna
More to come soon...
-Kenna