Bonjour again :)

Today started just like any old school day - getting dragged out of bed because I am terrible at waking up to alarms! Erin nicely threw me out of bed around 8am and we headed to the breakfast buffet...French style of course. Then we went straight to class and had our first lesson on European history and the formation of the EU. Woo! Then we headed to lunch just lilke yesterday and ate with everyone in the program. :) It was really nice. Headed to french class after that and I realized I am starting to get the hang of where my classes are and this campus just after one day of going to classes. Virginia Tech is a tad bigger than this campus so if I can understand VT campus after a week, I can understand this campus in about a day. I feel like a pro already! French class was good but it was very fast paced and a little too difficult for me because I have not learned some of the vocabulary that was being said. So, it proved to be a difficult class for me! After that, I headed back to the dorm because we were planning on going to see the castle of Versailles!! We soon realized we wouldn't make it in time though because the castle closes at 6:30 which was a huge bummer. Som we reconfigured everything and we are going as a big group on Saturday to see Versailles! :) I cannot wait! I heard Versailles is gorgeous. Instead, we went into Paris to visit the Louvre. Before actually going in to the Louvre, we stopped by a little cafe and had the best dinner yet! I had a "Croque Madame" which is a sandwich with ham and cheese with a fried egg on top. It doesn't sound too crazy but it is actually absolutely delicious! Erin ordered the same thing. :) Our new friend, Keiry from Barbados, came with us too and she even ordered the same thing. Obviously it is THE sandwich to get when in France because it is so good. Hilarious enough though, Austin ordered duck pate because he said he was starving and needed real food and little to our knowledge, the duck pate was little circles of duck with crackers. It was pretty entertaining watching Austin have to eat the super swanky meal while the rest of us were scarfing down a sandwich!

Then, we finally went to the Louvre!! We took a billion pictures in front of the triangle looking things and then went into the actual museum. Everywhere in the museum is absolutely breathtaking. The ceilings are so intricate and the sculptured and paintings are even more unbelieveable in person. Of course, my favorite was the Mona Lisa. I wondered the same thing that everyone in history has wondered - "Who is that paintnig actually of and what is she smiling about?" The world may never know! I took some pictures with the painting and was a true tourist. :) We walked around Paris a little more and finally headed back home. Except the funny thing about tonight is that getting home was quite possibly the most dificult thing to do in the world. Long story short, it took us ten trains, twelve blocks, and a cab to get home. Oh, and it also took Austin practically breaking the metro door too because the doors randomly closed really quickly and before I could even step out the door, they were closing and I needed to get off the stop with everyone obviously...so, Austin grabbed the metro door while it was closing and slammed it open like the Hulk. It was pretty epic actually. He even helped hold it open for a French man that was trying to get on the train. It was Austin's good deed of the day. :) The trains weren't going where we needed them to and then we finally gave up and, since we had Austin with us, we walked around and found a taxi. The taxi driver spoke only French so I was the only one who could talk to him and tell him where we were going. He was by far the nicest taxi driver, or better yet, nicest person in France! I talked to him in French practically the whole way home and he told us about how he has been to New York, and how he thought it was so cool we were from Washington, DC. We finally made it home and relaxed after our crazy whirlwind of trying to get home.

Well, it is really late here so I am going to bed, and I need to get some sleep because tomorrow is "La Fete de la Musique" which is basically a HUGE music festival in France that is all day and night. It is basically supposed to be a mix of Bonaroo and Coachella. It may be almost as epic as Austin "hulk-ing" open the metro door to save me from getting stuck on the metro because the doors are psychotic and close really fast!! Overall, it was another great day!

Au Revoir!

Tori "Fete de la Musique here I come!" Marshall