THE ALPS!

View of the mountains from the train ride

I love this sign

the view part deux

the view

This past weekend was really amazing, as I went skiing in the French ALPS!!! I had so much fun catching up with my old time friend (from the Summer, lol) Danielle who worked at GE with me! I have to say that skiing in the mountains and Wisconsin have many differences. The primary one being that there is just a net between you and a 100 foot cliff fall (which I will come back to later)... and this was just by the beginner slopes. Which brings me to the story which I must tell... I wanted some more fun so I figured we would take on the medium slopes or in this case the blue ones. So after 20 minutes I persuaded Danielle that we should take the journey right on down the blue slopes seeing that there were literally 100s of little kids that could not have been more than  10 years old zooming past us down the slopes following their parents. Well to my surprise those kids were damn near professionals, because we were barely a 100 yards down the slope when there was a steep hill with a dreadful 90 degree turn. So in front of us stood another one of those nets and the side of a mountain! So after Danielle and I got to the top of the first hill, of course with about three falls, we saw that turn and decided that it was a NO-go!  We took off our ski's and decided to walk down the slope in our ski boots to check the slope after the turn with the hopes that we could just start from there. (Mind you, there are still babies passing us up with ease!) Uhhh-NOPE! As I approached the start of the slope slowly, I realized I couldn't see where it ended... i.e. IT WAS STEEP AS HELL!!! So after sitting on a mound of snow in our fatigue we realized that there were two ways to get back to civilization... either we walk the rest of the way down (which was not going to happen because ski boots still slide in the snow) or we start our journey back to where we started. By this point, my face was in bends of agony because walking up a ski slope not only looked dreadful, it also felt horrible!!! it probably took us an hour and a half to get back up the slope seeing that we had to take a break almost every 20 minutes! After that adventure, I was done for the day and my journey set off to the grocery store for a bottle of wine, a hot shower, and a nap!

I actually woke from my nap to the sounds of a very interesting conversation. There were a few of the other students that came from Georgetown talking about religion. I usually try not to put myself in these conversations but hey, I was invited into the convo. From the start of that one question it led to a 3 hour discussion about various parts of life. From politics, to the desire to invent things and how we wanted to make our impact on the world. After the discussions I realized that this was one of the first of many conversations I will have like this while in France!

MONOPRIX saved me!!!

So yesterday I set out on my journey to find an outlet converter. I looked up a store, directions and was keen on finding my way. But, as my story goes in Paris I got lost and ended up in the Parc du Luxemburg. I started walking the street discovering new stores, etc, etc. I'd notice days before there were these stores all over Paris called Monoprix however it never dawned on me to go inside and search for a converter. So, after walking for about an hour because I completely went past the store I intended to visit... I discovered Paris' version of WALMART; Monoprix sells EVERYTHING (the wine selection especially was really broad).

Now today I decided to hit up the infamous Champs-Elysee, but I had to keep my wallet on lockdown because I have to be here 5 more months. I discovered where I can buy some Beats Headphones and luckily got them on sale because the first ones I bought were defective. #WINNING

P.S. I walked into the Louis Vutton store and I dont think I can even afford to have my shoes touch their floor. My dream of that infamous duffle may have to wait until I am making that engineering money. Until then I guess it doesn't hurt to look!

ALOT of Walking

I found this quite hilarious while in the airport

My very first picture of La Tour Eiffel

Obelisk de Luxor

Champs Elysee--Arc De Triomphe

So I landed in Paris and it, by far, was the best thing I could've expected. The airport was pretty amazing however getting from the airport to where I was staying was not. The taxi ride was 50 Euros and anybody who knows me knows that I am cheap especially when it comes to stuff like this so I had to make a note to myself... NEVER TAKE A TAXI IN PARIS (unless it's after a late night and you are incoherent). So when I finally arrived at my hostel (ALOHA Hostel) I had to make sure I skyped some of my people so that they knew I was safe. I stored away my bags and hit the streets and when I say I hit the streets, I really did. I walked over 10 miles and actually within one day I hit up most of the major monuments. I walked to Eiffel Tower,which I must say is definitely one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen especially at night. I found it cool that people were just there chilling around 21:00. I stood on the bridge and probably just stared at it for 20 minutes just relishing its beauty. After the Eiffel I came back to the Hostel to eat some food. Then I set out again and walked to Le Pompidou, to the Louvre, then the Champs Elysee (Arc de Triomphe et Obelisk de Luxor) and back to the hostel! My walking totaled well over 6 hours all- together because you definitely have to include the mishaps for turning down the wrong streets because unlike the States, 98% (even though I doubt I have covered this much) of Paris streets are not in a straight path. But for me I just looked at it as an adventure, so every wrong street I turned down (and there were many) was just a new discovery! When I finally fell asleep it was about 4AM and I woke up at 11 to start my second day in Paris, which for me has encompassed reading my book and surfing the web for different stores because my legs told me they have to recuperate! I guess this was a good thing because it allows me to update you all on how everything is going!

2 MORE DAYS

It's crazy because today marks two days until my departure: on the list of things that have to get done is above all PACKING because all of my belongings are still in Champaign. Hopefully I can go from a full closet to three weeks of clothes. We will definitely see how this goes...

It's finally here!

So I purchased my plane ticket and I am departing on Sunday at 4PM. I know I am leaving so much behind but I have so much to look forward to on my journey. I must say that I am a tad bit nervous but who wouldn't be... I am now about to be on my own in a new world but that just means I get to meet so many new people and new experiences.

WISH ME LUCK!!!