"Little Me Back from Paris"

Eiffel Towers and Greek Signs

It's hard to believe that in less than two months I will be leaving Austria and heading back to the states. As my time continues in Europe, I continue to be enlightened by different cultures while learning more about my self. I apologize for not writing in a while I have been busy with traveling as well as my school work. Contrary to popular belief I do go to school! I know it's hard to believe. Since I last wrote, I have taken two trips one to Stuttgart Germany and the other to Paris. As many of my friends and family know I am part German on my mother's side. We have been fortunate enough to stay in touch with some relatives who still live in Germany. I had the opportunity to go visit them a couple of weekends ago. My journey to Stuttgart included a 5 hour train ride, lucky for me the ride was very scenic! Once arriving in Stuttgart, I attempted to only speak in German the entire time with my family. I now have so much more respect for all of my international friends who speak in only english to me. It is so hard to fully express what you mean when you are speaking in another language! My family assured me that my German was not that bad, I don't know if I believe them fully. My time in Stuttgart was super great and I am beyond grateful for the hospitality of my very distant family. Although it was rainy and a little cold, I enjoyed the city of Stuttgart as well as the Porsche museum I visited. 

City Center in Lille

Like life, studying abroad is made great through connections. One of the ways to make studying abroad great is to find friends who are studying abroad the same time as you but, in different countries! Over this past weekend I had the opportunity to visit my friend from Truman State who studied in France this past semester. After a train, plane, and bus ride I arrived in the town of Lille where she studies. It was great to talk to her about her experiences and talk about all our trips we have taken. It was also comforting to hear about all her struggles because I have dealt with and felt almost the same things as her. It is funny that we both studied in two pretty different countries yet experienced the same cultural differences with school and the all around culture. After spending a day in Lille we got up super early and took a 2 hour bus to Paris! 

I loved the tree line streets of Paris

Paris the city of love, lights, and romance, but also tons of history. I have never been prouder of myself than my trip to Paris. The entire time there my friend and I figured out the metro system without once getting lost or with a paper map. We even found our way to Versailles which involved getting on a city train. I feel like I can master any city now after figuring out the over 12 metro lines of Paris! After we found our hostel in Paris, Jordan and I headed towards Versailles. Note to all of my Missouri friends do not accidentally pronounce Versailles like the city in Missouri. I knew the difference but upon reading the name my mind automatically reads it like the town in Missouri. 

Although the day was rainy, windy and cold Versailles was absolutely wonderful. A note to anyone who is going to study abroad. If you visit Versailles and have a visa for your time abroad you get in for free, you just go straight to the entrance there is no need to wait in a line for a ticket. We waited in a semi long line to buy a ticket only to find out that we didn't have to! 

Once inside the Palace, I was overwhelmed by the beauty and extreme detail that was put into it. All the ceilings were painted with beautiful portraits and scenery. The molding around the doors and ceiling were also very intricate. By far the best room in the palace is the room of mirrors, the ceiling has beautiful chandeliers, on one side is a wall of mirrors and on the other is a wall of windows with a view of the breathtaking gardens.
 
After exiting the Palace, we embarked into the Gardens. The palace grounds are huge! It takes a few hours just to walk across all of them. Again, I was amazed by the shear beauty of if all. I was also amazed that the royal family of France took the time and effort to set aside all of the space and build so many gardens. 

While walking in the Gardens you are surrounded by the sounds of classical music, and once they turn the fountains on it is a feeling like no other. I felt like I had been transported back in time. If I had on a huge dress and was not surrounded by people on their cell phones I would believe I actually was! I was sad to leave Versailles, but happy to get out of the cold. If ever in Paris I 100% recommend heading to Versailles its fairly easy to get to and completely worth the time and money. 

When arriving back in Paris we headed towards the Eiffel tower. I always thought of the tower as a large piece of metal and never understood the hype but, upon seeing the tower for the first time I was pretty speechless. The tower is so much greater in person it also is so much larger than I expected! We ended our first day in Paris looking at a the best view you can get of the city at Sacre-Coeur which is at the highest point of paris and also happens to be near where our hostel was. 

eating my Galette

The next day we started off at a market at the Bastille stop. If you are ever in Paris on either a Thursday or Sunday I suggest checking out this market. It is filled with food, fresh fruits, fish, and various crafts. There is a lot to look at and, it is in the heart of a neighborhood. We both ate galetts here which is like a crepe but with meats and cheeses. It was perfect! After the food and market we made our way towards Notre-Dame. 

While at Notre-Dame there was a service going on so I can partially say I went to mass at Notre-Dame. It is amazing to me to think of the amount of work that had to go into building the amazing old churches and palaces of Europe. It is something that is incomparable to the United States. The United States may of gotten it's first European inhabitants in the late 1400's but they never built churches to the scale they did in Europe. I regret to say that I was not fortunate enough to meet the Hunchback of Notre Dame but, the church outshines all previous visited churches. 

 

Paris was never a city that was high on my priority list of places to visit. I usually thought of it as to touristy, to cliche, everyone wants to go to Paris. I was pleasantly surprised by Paris. It is almost just like the movies. When you walk down the tree lined streets and look at the very buildings you can not help but be thrown into your favorite movies set in Paris. Paris is exactly like you imagine it to be with the cafes, houses, breads, and of course tourists. I feel that paris is a city that everyone should experience at least once. I also suggest to go when the trees have leaves on them.

We spent our last night of Paris at Sacre-Coeur watching the sun set over the city and Eiffel Tower. It was like something out of the movie except of course for the many street vendors and my lack of a Knight in Shining Armor. As I watched the sun set on paris and my weekend trip, I had a feeling of complete content. I also had never felt more confident in myself. I had just spent the weekend navigating a different city in a language I knew nothing about. 
Somehow had not gotten lost or at anytime felt stressed. I couldn't help but compare it to the pre trip I took to Washington DC  with my mom a month before leaving for Europe. On this trip, when arriving in the city I felt lost, confused and wanted nothing more than to find our hotel and then not leave it again until our trip to the embassy. I even refused to eat Chinese food when we were walking through China town. I refused to ask for help and relied on my mom to navigate the underground of Washington. It is amazing how much has changed in the past 3 months. 

Ready for my next adventure

If you asked me now to go to a strange city, ask questions, figure out the metro, and eat Chinese food in china town I would do it without problems. The funny thing is I still have just under two months left before coming back to the states, imagine how much more confident I can become in myself in just that short amount of time. I hope the US is ready for the more confident Alex who is no longer afraid to ask strangers for help! I can't wait for all the adventures I have yet to experience and am beyond excited to continue to grow as a person.  "A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes No truer words have ever been said. 
As Always, Love Alex