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!!! 

 Off to Paris at 4 am

Notre Dame 

The Lovre

We "Lovre" Paris!

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Creepy Catacombs

Lovelock Bridge!

Arc De Triomphe 

My main girl Mona

Artist District behind Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur Basilica 

Throwing the key into the water! My love is locked in Paris forever! 

Becoming a London Local

First of all, we found out that we made the newspaper with Brad Pitt! Of course I am in the picture but I am on the side so they cropped me off! Either way, I still am going to tell people I was in the London Newspaper! Here is the link and the picture!

http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/angelina-jolie-and-brad-pitt-light-up-kensington-palace-to-promote-new-disney-movie-maleficent-9341294.html?origin=internalSearch

Hampton Court Palace was the destination yesterday. We started the day with a bus ride. This was the first time I have been on a bus since being in London. I liked the bus a lot! It didn’t feel quite as crowded and rushed as the tube did. We also got to sit on top and look at the city as we drove around which was nice because then I got to know where I was going compared to everything. After a long bus ride and train ride we finally made it to Hampton Court. This is where King Henry VIII lived and also King William III and Queen Mary II. Henry VIII was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty. He is known for creating the Church of England. The separation from the Catholic Church and the creation of the Church of England was so that Henry VIII could divorce his wife. The Pope wouldn’t allow divorce so Henry VIII just created a new church and new rules to get his way. Henry VIII ended up having six marriages. William and Mary later also lived at Hampton Court Palace. They were first cousins that were married and ruled over England, Scotland, and Ireland. Hampton Court Palace was huge! Right as we walked in there were free capes you could wear around for the day as you explored the palace. Of course we jumped right on that! We had so much fun running around and pretending to be creepy palace people. Outside there were beautiful gardens with bushes and trees that were perfectly trimmed into shapes. There were fountains and mini lakes. It was sunny outside with a blue sky and big white fluffy clouds. When I looked down there were swans swimming on the lake. It was a perfect situation. Everything was gorgeous. Everything was also very over the top as well. The king had so many rooms that were unnecessary. He even had chocolate rooms that were designated just for making chocolate! Just think, that is what all the people’s taxes were paying for. It made me feel a little uneasy. Even so, the palace was an amazing place and it was so fun to see everything!

Today we decided to go check out the markets. I think I get headaches at markets because I am so excited when I see all the fun stuff and I want to look at everything! The markets are great here though. Today we hit up Borough Market and Camden Market. Borough Market was all food. Every step I took as I walked around I would smell some new interesting scent. There was everything you could think of! I found this little booth that made homemade gluten free granola bars. I got a few of them so I could have them for breakfast in the mornings. There were also really good fresh juice and smoothie places all over. There were breads and bakeries and cheeses and everything! I passed these big pots full of curry and the worker lady asked if I wanted a sample. I agreed and she gave me a little spoonful. It was spicy! She noticed that I thought it was spicy so she thought it would be funny to have me try the even spicier one so she gave me a spoonful of that next! By this time there was a mini crowd of the workers and my friends all watching my reaction as I ate the spicy curry. Everyone was laughing at me as my face turned a little red from the spiciness. It ended up not being that bad.  Actually it was the best curry I have ever tasted. I am definitely going back! The whole time we were walking around the market everyone kept asking us if we were from Denmark or Sweden. I guess when you get a group of 4 blondes together you will get that question! We kept being told that we were beautiful blondes too. That for sure boosted my confidence a bit. It always feels good to be told you are beautiful. Next we hopped on the subway again and headed to Camden Market. Now this is where the good stuff is. This is where all the clothes and the fake purses and the SHOPPING is! There were people everywhere but it seriously was so much fun. I ended up getting a way good deal on this fake Vans sweatshirt. Such a Sami sweatshirt haha. It was freezing cold outside and raining on and off so I am glad I made that purchase. After the clothes we found this cute little bridge behind that market that lead to another food market. I think I liked this market even better than the first one. I got a Venezuelan meal for lunch. It was cornbread filled with black beans, chicken, guacamole, plantains (bananas), and vegetables. It was interesting but it was very yummy. There were also Paleo food stands, Indian food, Jamaican food, Vietnamese food, Japanese food, and seriously everything you could think of! Some of the food I had never seen before in my life. It was such a good day to chill with the friends and explore! The rush of the city excites me. I love London more and more each day!

 Our cute little group eating lunch by the bridge at Camden Market. 

We had so much fun with these silly capes! Also I am loving my new "Vans" hoodie!

Brush of Greatness

Another brush of greatness. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Elle Fanning this time! Can you even believe it? I cant. I don’t know why these past two weeks have been so lucky but I have met more famous people in these two weeks then in my whole life! So let me start from the beginning. This is just a hook to get you to read the rest. Tricked ya!

Yesterday was spent touring all day. First stop was the Warwick Castle. This is a medieval castle that was built by William the Conquer in 1068. The castle itself was beautiful and there was so much to do while we were there! We spent hours going around the gardens, watching the cute little shows, and doing all the fun activity booths. Inside the castle there were wax figures of the people that used to live and work there. Some of them creeped me out, not going to lie. One time there were 3 wax figures in the room and then there was this one guy leaning over this table reading something. He wasn’t moving for a while so I guess I just assumed he was a wax figure too. He moved his head and stood up and it made me jump so high! I was so scared for a minute! Everyone was teasing me about it all day. Next stop was Anne Hathaway’s cottage. (William Shakespeare’s wife) It was so gorgeous. This is the cottage where Anne grew up. The cottage itself surprised me. I didn’t think it would be so big. We then went to Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford Upon Avon. I loved all the fun wallpaper that was inside the house. It was all bold prints on the walls. After visiting the house we explored Stratford Upon Avon for a while. We went to the church where William Shakespeare was buried and the church was absolutely stunning. There were beautiful works of art and stained glass windows. After the church we explored more and we found this little fish and chips place called Barnaby’s. We all ordered delicious fish and chips and felt like locals as we ate this authentic English dish. After dinner we went to a theater where we watched one of Shakespeare's plays. We saw Henry IV part 1. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed the play. It was a little long but I was able to follow it and it was actually really funny! Fun fact: this play is where Disney got their idea for Lion King. The story lines are almost identical. The whole day was spent touring and walking around and on our feet. We were all so exhausted by the time we got back to our flat at 1 am!

Now here is the exciting stuff. This morning we had class as usual and then we had a London walk we had to complete. We walked to the British Library and the St. Pancras Railway station. We also walked past London University College. All the buildings we saw had so much history. It was beautiful Victorian architecture. After the walk we heard there was maybe a Maleficent movie Premiere at Kensington Palace. The premiere wasn't very advertised but somehow we found out about it. We thought we might as well go check it out since it is right across the street from our apartment. We walked around for a little while and didn’t find anything. It was pouring rain so we started to get frustrated and wanted to give up. Seriously my feet were aching, I was hungry, and the rain was starting to get to me. One side fence of the palace had some workers standing around so we thought we would ask them about the premiere. They told us that it is very rare to have premieres here but that when they do it is a strict VIP event. They were kind of sassy towards us and were getting bugged. Still we decided to walk around the corner to see if we could see anything. We noticed a small group of about 30 people crowded by this side fence. We walked over there with perfect timing! Just as we got there the guard said, “If you would like to get into the premiere you can follow me and we will get you wristbands.” I was like, “What?!!! This cant be real, Angelina must not be coming to the Maleficent premiere if it is this relaxed.” All the sudden the group started sprinting to the other side of the palace to get wristbands, naturally we followed. Girls were screaming, the rain was pouring, and people were getting whacked in the face by tree branches! We got right in front of the line due to my spectacular sprinting abilities. I must work out or something haha ;) just kidding. The giant security guards gave us special wristbands and they took us right to the premiere. We were standing right behind the rails as the stars walked past us! First came Elle Fanning. She was so adorable. When she walked up I said to her, “Can I take a selfie with you?” Our whole group started laughing at me and in my photo she is laughing with us. She was so nice and came to say hi to all of the fans on the sides. Then all of the sudden a car pulls up and Brad Pitt gets out!! Not only was Elle Fanning and Angelina Jolie at the premiere, but now Brad Pitt was there!! BRAD PITT!! Our whole group didn't believe it was Brad Pitt at first. My stomach dropped as soon as I saw him. Since he wasn’t part of the premiere he didn’t have to go along and talk to all the reporters so he just said hi to all the public. He walked down the line of people signing autographs and taking pictures. He also took a photo with me! I think I am still shaking! Finally Angelina walked down and she didn’t take individual photos with everyone but she came and said hi. She didn't really say anything the whole time. Brad walked down the line and posed for pictures and leaned into people to let them get a picture where Angelina wouldn't even lean in. She seems so edgy and hard to me where Brad was so nice and warm hearted. Still I was super impressed that they all took the time to come say hi to the public even though there were reporters and cameras everywhere. All I can say is wow. There honestly weren’t that many people from the public that they let inside so we got WAY lucky!I don’t think it has even hit me that I met Mick Jagger a few days ago. Now I have to let Brad Pitt sink in! All while trying to realize that I am actually living in London right now! Living the dream! I absolutely love it here.

Our group and Brad Pitt

Elle Fanning was such a sweetie. We are laughing about my selfie comment in this picture.

Angelina Jolie

BRAD PITT!!!!!!

He was so nice to take the time to take pictures with all of us!

The blue carpet event 

A park we discovered on our London Walk assignment this morning. This is a statue of Ghandi. 

Jess and I at Warwick Castle 

This is where Shakespeare is buried

Beautiful church where Shakespeare was buried

The theater we watched Henry the IV Part 1

Group picture at Anne Hathaway's cottage