Ah, Paris. The city of relationships and romance. So basically, I'm the walking antithesis here. Now let me catch you all up on what I've been doing for the past week.
Sunday was our last day in London. We went to an early morning sacrament meeting where Elder Cook just happened to be. No big deal. Apparently he was celebrating his 50th anniversary with his wife. Following sacrament, some of us quickly booked it over to Westminster for a church service. That was pretty sweet. I think Westminster was my highlight of London.
We left for London that afternoon, but not before one final good-bye from The Tube. We had to catch the tube to get to the Eurostar. As I was walking through the entrance gate after swiping my card, the gates were kind enough to close on my suitcase and get it lodged. Like completely stuck. I pulled it forward, kicked my suitcase back in, but it would not move. So finally I crouched down, pried the gates open, and pulled my suitcase free. At that point, not only were my classmates laughing, but the Brits who witnessed this were having a good chuckle as well. Final score: Tube 3, Andrew 0.
Monday we spent all day at the Eiffel Tower. For some reason, I thought it would have more of a silver look to it. I met a teacher from Riverton while climbing it. She overheard us talking about school, and so she asked where we were from. When we said BYU, she was really excited to talk to us about the states.
On Wednesday we went to an immigrant neighborhood of mostly Northern African immigrants. Picture, if you will, a group of 15 American students from BYU walking around in a neighborhood of Northern Africans. Oh yeah. We stood out. It was pretty cool though. We got to see a part of Paris that most people don't even know exists. The people were nice and left us alone for the most part. Some of them would say "hello". One chap was even kind enough to offer me a Gucci purse. Why he targeted me out of the rest of the Americans in the group, I'm not sure. I can only assume that either he did it because I'm blonde, or because he thought I was gay. I'm hoping it's the former.
Following our excursion into Africa, we went to Moulin Rouge. Oh my goodness I have never seen so many sex shops on one street before. Several of them had names that were rather...creative. We took a picture at Moulin Rouge, and right then two rather scantily-clad girls showed up. I said, (out loud of course, I don't have a mute button) "Oh look the workers are even here now." Turns out, they were just tourists. Fortunately, they were tourists who don't speak English, so I got a freebie on that one.
On Thursday, the choices of activity were either art museums, shopping, or Disneyland. Of course, being in Europe, and with the themes of the Renaissance and Reformation and this idea of a new birth so prevalent, I chose to go to the art museums in order to do some soul searching. Just kidding. I definitely chose Disneyland. As I explained to a colleague, I will happily pay the price of Disneyland if it means avoiding a day of art museums and a 6-story mall. We snuck onto one of the trains to help save costs. We also took a bunch of the breakfast food from the hotel to avoid paying for food.
Paris is an interesting city. PDA is just kind of accepted around here. It's not completely ridiculous, but it is not really frowned upon like back in the states. For example, I saw a 40 year-old woman straddling her husband at Disneyland yesterday. So classy. Body odor is a prevalent scent. Like I-just-went-to-the-gym-every-day-for-the-past-week-and-never-showered kind of body odor. It's rancid. Oh, my personal favorite, the second day I was here I saw a woman changing shirts. On the street. I just kind of stopped and thought, Did that really just happen? Yes, yes it did. The language barrier is a bit frustrating. I've never had such a strong desire to learn to speak French. Of course, before this, I didn't have any desire to learn to speak French. However, knowing that I'm only here for a week kills any motivation to learn French because by the time I finally learn something, I'll be in Switzerland at that point, enjoying some gourmet chocolate. I lead such a difficult life.
1. I can just imagine you prying open the tube doors and all the girls swooning, You really are Thor.
ReplyDelete2. That guy knew that you needed to buy me the Gucci purse. Just kidding. 3. I can imagine how it would go down if I was there during your loud incident. ANDREW CARLOS!!!!!!!
4. "Of course, being in Europe, and with the themes of the Renaissance and Reformation and this idea of a new birth so prevalent, I chose to go to the art museums in order to do some soul searching. Just kidding. I definitely chose Disneyland." I laughed out loud.
Andrew- you need to call/email your mom. She texted me yesterday asking if I had heard from you. She thought you got hurt in the Paris subway accident (!). Kimmi's wedding was yesterday and your presence was very missed. I didn't catch the bouquet. I caught it by the flowers and some brat caught it by the stem and yanked it out of my hands. Miss you!!!!