Sami Sorensen : C'est Parfait Paris

C'est Parfait Paris. It means this is perfect Paris. My t-shirt I brought had C'est Parfait written on it and it seemed only fitting to wear my French shirt in Paris! I have been in Paris the past few days. It has been such a whirlwind of excitement and tiredness and everything else in between.  

Day 1 

The alarm went off at 3:30 am. I was to the point you get to when you don't get enough sleep at all so it's not that bad to wake up. If that makes sense. My eyes were awake but my body was exhausted. I slugged out of bed and put my stuff together real fast. We were all headed to Paris! We took a bus to the train station where we rode the Eurostar all the way to Paris. Yes under the ocean and everything! I wish I could remember it but I was out the whole time so I don't really remember much. All the sudden I heard a French announcement over the speakers of the bus. I knew we had arrived in Paris and I suddenly energy shot through my whole body. I was super excited! We struggled through the Metro as a huge group and headed to the hotel. Dropped our bags off and then headed to the LDS church to meet up with the BYU Paris Study Abroad students. It took awhile to find the church and in the end it was kind of pointless. After this we split up and my group headed to Notre Dame to check that out! All I could remember was my grandpa’s voice telling me about the flying buttresses last time I was there. I was able to tell my friends all about it. He would be so proud! We walked around for a while, and got lost for a while, then we all hit a wall. It was Jacqueline, Kristin, Lizzie, and I. I think our energy from earlier had worn off and we were all tired and hungry. We struggled for a while to find anything I could eat. We walked all around the twisting windy roads in Paris and we finally found this little cafe tucked in between a cluster of buildings that looked promising. We sat down and as Lizzie would say we were all super "hangry." Which means hungry and angry. We couldn't really read the menu but we ordered all ordered cheeseburgers. Typical Americans right? When we got our food it literally was the best cheeseburger and French fries I have ever eaten. (without the bun and cheese of course) I think it was probably because I was so hangry that it tasted so good. But either way, it was good! After that we took the greasy Metro back to the sketchy part of town where our hotel was and we literally all were out within 10 minutes.  

Day 2 

I woke up more energized today but I still haven't ever caught up on my sleep this whole time I have been here. I guess my energy comes from the excitement of seeing all the new things and experiencing life as a European! Sometimes I don't know where my energy comes from. Today we were going to the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, and the Louvre. We met up for breakfast with our big group and we found out some of the group was going to a hot air balloon! We jumped on board and took the Metro to this secret balloon ride. We should have known it was too good to be true. It was closed and way far away and it wasn't even really a true hot air balloon. Just a little balloon ride thing that takes you up in the sky real fast. I was over it. We took off and stuck to our original plans and headed to the Louvre. When I say "we" I mean Jacqueline, Lizzie, Kristin, and me. We are the fab 4. Haha jk... But really... Anyways at the Louvre we saw our main girl Mona, the Venus de milo, and many other great works of art. It was so gorgeous. I wish there weren't so many people swarming around everywhere because I feel like I could have enjoyed it a little more but it was still awesome! Next was the Eiffel Tower! Yay!! Such a gorgeous day to be in Paris! The sun was shining and there were perfect white fluffy clouds in the sky. It was a dream. We took the lift to the top and the view was unreal. We were so high and we were just looking down on the world. I stood there and looked out over all of Paris and I just took a few breaths. I am so blessed. I was in France, on top of the Eiffel Tower, surrounded by tons of friends, and it was a beautiful day! I tried to just sit there and make a memory of that exact moment. I want to be able to look back and remember everything I was seeing and feeling. I don't know how I got so lucky! After soaking in the view and taking many pictures we headed back down to the ground. We were starting to get hangry again so we found this awesome fruit stand and bakery for lunch. We sat on the grass right in front of the Eiffel Tower and ate our lunch. So chill. So fun. So relaxing. And so surreal! I still can't even believe it. Next was the Arc De Triomphe! (Say that in a loud French accent and it is really fun!) The fab 4 headed to the beautiful Arc De Triomphe and walked around the beautiful streets for a while. While we were there a guy whistled at me and Jacqueline and we both turned around. He told is we dropped something. We were both so confused. He pointed to this key on the ground and we shook our head at him. Then he pointed to his heart. We had dropped the key to his heart hahahaha! It was so funny! Sweet yet super creepy ha! What happened next was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip! We saw this little bike carriage thing on the side of the road. It was 20 euro to get to the Eiffel Tower and between 4 of us that was only 5 euro each. The 4 of us squished into a 3-person cart and we took off for the Eiffel Tower. The guy blasted music and everyone was honking and whistling at us! 4 cute blonde girls on the back of a bike with music blasting. We were laughing the whole time as we swerved in and out of the crazy streets of Paris! Looking back I still can't believe we didn't die and get hit by a crazy car or something! So worth it though. Justin Timberlake’s song cry me a river came on and we all busted up laughing. That was the theme song of or trip because the stop for our hotel on the Metro was Crimee and we remembered it because of that song. It was meant to be! Finally we got to the Eiffel Tower where we met up with our group and took a boat cruise around for awhile and then hung out under the Eiffel Tower eating crepes. It was so chill and so natural. I loved it. The fab 4 got some great videos of us dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower. I did the dance move from the vine where the guy dances to the song My Humps. It was pretty epic not going to lie. My father and Squid would be proud! After that we headed back to the hotel to get some rest. I passed out again as soon as I hit the pillow. Day 2 was a success! 

Day 3

 Today we wanted to hit the Lovelock Bridge, Saint Chappelle, Sacre Coeur and the Catacombs. All before 5 pm when we had to meet for the train to head back to London. We went first thing in the morning to the creepy Catacombs. The whole time I was walking through these big underground tunnels full of bones I was getting a very eerie feeling. I felt like I was walking through a haunted house. It was so interesting to see all the piles of bones. 6 million peoples bones! Next was Saint Chappelle. We headed over there with perfect timing. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds right before we walked in the church. The stained glass was gorgeous!!! It was on all of the walls surrounding me with different color beams of light shining in. I loved that church. After that we headed to Sacre Coeur. We took the Metro there and as we were walking up the stairs to our stop this girl put her hand in Kristin’s purse. She felt it and yelled at her, "What are you doing?! This is my bag!" She ripped her bag away and yelled at her like she would yell at her sister or something! It was so funny! It made me feel bad though because they were just 2 little 13-15 year old girls going around stealing stuff. After Kristin yelled at them they just moved on to the next group of tourists like it didn't even faze them. We had to warn the other people because they were about to get robbed too! It makes a funny story though and we yelled, "What are you doing??" To each other the whole rest of the day because it was funny! It made a good memory at least. So at Sacre Coeur we saw a beautiful basilica. We walked around behind the basilica to the cutest little town where there were tons of cute shops and artists. It was day 3 and I was living off of fruit and french fries the whole trip because that was all I could find to eat. I turned the corner near the Sacre Coeur and saw a Starbucks glowing in the distance. I don't think I have ever been so happy. I ran there and bought some granola bars and a nice big chocolate soymilk Frappuccino. I was so relieved to find something other than french fries or fruit! Seriously best frap ever ha. I even got to enjoy it while sitting there on a curb in the middle of the artist district in Paris. After Sacre Coeur we headed to the lovelock bridge! It was super cute! We bought cheap locks and locked them onto the bridge and threw the key into the water! My love is locked there forever! One day I will find my true love and I will have already locked our love on the bridge in advance :) I am just a thinker. Always ahead of the game. Overall Paris was a success! I was tired the whole time, my feet were blistered, and everywhere was super dirty BUT I still loved it! Three days was just enough time in France for me. As soon as I got back to London it seemed like a breathe of fresh air. Everything is cleaner here and the Tube is so much nicer than the Metro and I understand what people are saying around me and I feel safer and the list goes on.... I am so grateful to be living here for a few months! There is still so much to explore in London! Here are a few pics from the trip! When I say a few I mean a lot. Because we took lots of pictures and there are just too many cute ones!!!