|
  | |  |
paris and grafitti
Entry 3 of 11 | show all | print this entry |
Okay, so i know that i haven´t been blogging as much as i said that i would. It´s really just been because it is so expensive to get online in Paris. My hostel is charging 5 euros an hour! i mean, come on, that is just rediculous.
So John Simon, a guy i met in london, and i left for Paris the other day. Omg, talk about the quickest train ride that i have ever been on! We were in Paris and I didn´t even know that we had made it across the English Channel and into France yet! haha. Well I was glad that I had john with me, because the gare du nord in paris is just a freaking intense train station! There were people everywhere, and they were all speaking in French, German and Italian! I wasn´t hearing english or spanish, which just made things so scary. but john knows french as he lives in quebec so it was a little easier. Another crazy thing is that I expected to see signs in other languages, i.e., english....no, none! it was all strictly french.
I´ve decided that after being in london, im not a fan of paris...sorry to say it to all those in love with paris, but i just thought it was completely grafitti ridden and dirty! that doesn´t mean that it´s all bad though. Omg, the food is just phenomonal. As soon as john and i got on a bus from the trainstation, we snuck a quick look at the eiffel tower and headed for food! I was just absolutely starving because it was so expensive to eat in london, that lets just face it, i pretty much lost weight i think. haha. no worries though cuz i ate a lot more while in paris to make up for it. We saw the tour eiffel and next headed to a crepe shop a few blocks away and I had the most amazing dinner ever! It was made with a white cream sauce, not alfredo though, it was more sweat than that, and it had clear asparagus ( i know, weird, but excellent) and a layer of jam in it, followd by more of the white sauce and topped with cheese. omg, freaking ta die for! that and the lady that own the shop was just amazing and so i took a picture with her! so cute. Ill be posting pictures here soon btw, in case you were wonder.
Anyways so it was time to get to my hostel, cuz it was getting dark and, im not going to like, being a white, gay, skinny guys in the dark alleys in Paris kind of petrified me! haha. i was sure that i was going to get jumped in a back alley or something! Of course i thought it was ghetto, but i mean it´s a big city. I think parts of eugene are ghetto, so obviously i was going to be scared while in paris. I realize how naive and misinformed about the world I´ve been. the past week or so has just been a totall eye-opener for me.
Well back to the hostel. It was absolutely amazing! i had a single room with the best rooftop view of paris! you could see so many beautiful buildings! well, john left the next day so i was once again flying solo. it has actually been a good thing. Scary at times, but good. i think im learning alot about who i am and realizing that i can be independent and fine. I mean, i made it through london, paris, and now madrid completely alone. well not completely. ive met some of the greatest people ever who i would never have met had i not come to europe.
I decided that since i was just kind of out alone, i might as well just go see the sights! I saw the arc de triomphe, the eiffel tower numerous times, the royal palace, the moulin rouge, and la defense. monmarte was also just absolutely amazing! it was so fun to see all these places that you usually see on tv or in textbooks. I mean, who actually goes to these places. me now! yay. haha.
I think my most intense experience in paris was when i went to the moulin rouge! um, the amount of sex shops and places to buy lingerie is just incredible! leather underwear, whips, chains, porn, dolls....omg, you name it and they have it! that and there were so many live shows in the middle of the day! i mean, who is actually watching these? lol. I went into a couple of the shops, just to say i went in...mistake, but a good story. i swear you can catch a disease by just going into those stores! i didn´t want to touch anything. lol. that and after i left a shop, this lady from like a whore house or something, started yelling at me in french about her girls or something rather...long story short, she chased me down the street, literally running, and yelling at me until i got away...haha, oh female pimps and their whores!
So by now, ive decided paris is just not the place for me. I couldn´t believe all the trash and grafitti! i was just expecting cafes and quainte little foods, like all those baby quiches i ate, but no, it was filthy! it was so sad to see all these beautiful statues and sculptures just covered in spray paint and drawings and what not! but it was still cool. i saw so many great things! um the louvre, so cool. i couldn´t believe the size of it. I was there for like four hours and i swear i saw like nothing...haha. i did see the mona lisa and the statue of venus. both were so amazing. that and the egyptian artifacts and all the roman sculptures were just breathtaking!
The whole time in paris i pretty much just went sight seeing. there is just so much to see that you can´t do everything. that and it wasn´t fun to be out alone considering the asshole french people that i ran into. lolz. seriously, um totally hate their bitch asses! they are so rude and hold their noses so high, i just wanted to shove those cigarettes they were smoking right up there tight asses! haha...but seriously.
anyways, paris was fun, just really tough! i never realized how difficult it would be to not know the language. i was expecting signs in english and for people to know some english, but i didn´t really find any which made it difficult. i even had a breakdown in there one night when i had to call my mom and just talk to her. i kept getting yelled at, i could never find food when i really wanted it, and i swear i lost five years off my life from secondhand cigarette smoke.
so the last night im there, im luck, fuck it! so i took the metro from Glaciere and went to the eiffel tour to see it by night...best decision ever. paris totally redeemed itself, not all the way, but alot! its absolutely breathtaking and the view from the top is just incredible!
i think paris would have been better for me if i could have met more people. most the people there were like 16 and on group tours, so it wasn´t easy to meet anyone.
So going back a little, the day before im supposed to leave on an overnight train from paris to madrid, i find out that they wont sell me a ticket because i had to buy it like three days ahead of time....i freaked! aghh, all alone, i don´t know the language, how will i get to madrid? thankfully i bought a flight to madrid scheduled for the next day on some random airline called Vueling...i guess they do flights strictly to Spain from other countries. The plane was totally decked out in like MTV logos and they kep playing,....these boots going to keep walking, and that´s just what they´ll do....haha. i was sure i wasn´t going to make it to spain. i mean, wtf. i thought we were going to crash or something, it just seemed totally sketch. by now im sure you can see me just freaking out...haha. i couldn´t find a way to spain and i was literally being timed with internet access and i had a reservation to make....haha. then the sketchball plane. paris was interesting to say the least in a good way and a bad way.
I think my best memory of paris will be the metro ride back from the tour eiffel on my last night. i sat by this couple from mexico and we just started chatting. it was so great because it made me realize how much i love the states. i felt more at home speaking spanish with this couple than ive felt this whole trip! they were so nice and i totally could hold the conversation with them. that and the whole ride i sat next to this shit faced bum...haha. wow, what an i eyeopener this trip is already turning out to be. im sad at times to be alone...but at the same time im learning so much about myself. i can be independent figure things out alone. I mean i navigated the paris and london completely alone, well not completely, considering all the cool people that ive met. but still, i feel like ive just been so naive to the world before this trip. Ive learned to use these huge metro systems and how these huge cities work...well to some extent.
anyways, im writing this blog from madrid...yes, i made it safely thank god. so far i am just loving it and ive already met so many chill people at my hostel, which btw, has hot water! yay. i was out at this club the first night until 6am! omg, so many beers and double vodkas with friends from ireland and a girl from atlanta. i felt so hardcore. that and we just danced and danced and wandered through madrid. so amazing!m well i hope i can start keeping you better updated. i have a few more nights here in madrid and then its off to Sevilla! Hope you are all doing well and i miss you guys! keep facebooking, por favor! hasta luego!
Where I stayed:
PIAP Jean Monnet
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Īle-de-France, France or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
