Real College Student of Atlanta: Paris {the good, the food, the bad, & the typical}

Paris was...an experience.

The good

Getting ready to board our flight to Paris, we got there early!
Which was great because with RyanAir, it's first come, first serve. (It's as unorganized as it sounds).

I did appreciate their emergency/safety
instructions being attached to the seats - saving paper! Not as many germs.

About to take off to Paris! It was a great and fast flight.

Getting off the plane in Paris (channeling my inner Michelle Obama).

The food

France's first and only Chipotle! Erin, Brandon, and I are true Chipotle fans - we were very happy for the French.

Had to try a hamburger and french fries - pretty delicious.

Chicken, always a win.

Chicken with bacon and mushrooms - so good!

Expressos were cheaper than water & I needed the energy to deal with lots of rude French people!

Creme brule, best thing I had in France!

Duck steak with potatoes.

Salmon with potatoes.

Olives with a BBQ-like sauce...no thanks.

Eating dinner after escaping from the dark side of Paris. Why so many glasses??

The bad

After a crazy first day in the city, a waitress spilled Jasmine's drink all over her
shoe & let Jasmine be responsible for cleaning up the mess. So sweet!

DAY ONE DISASTER: We arrived in Paris at 9:30am. Took a bus for 1.5 hours to the inner city of Paris. Our original hotel was in Malakoff, southern Paris. After riding the Metro (subway) for about 45 min., we got off at Malakoff to find our hotel. No luck. But we did find: windows with gun shots, many homeless people, sketchy old men, people who thought we were prostitutes, and very rude locals. No one really spoke English (uh oh) and when we did find a woman who spoke English she warned us to "leave...just go...not safe for Americans...abductions...rape." And, we listened. I used an emergency call to call my parents who we hadn't been able to contact since landing because Wifi in Paris is rare. They agreed with our decision to move to a hotel closer to tourist attractions...and other Americans. CRAZY day of power walking and metro riding in heels, but it turned out to be a great night and great story!

The typical

Posing with models at the Paris Abercrombie & Fitch store, nice!

Mercedes Benz store...beautiful & full of my dream cars.
My dad would be so proud (and jealous).

This is an ATM machine, way cooler than the ones in America.

How beautiful is this?! Typical France streets, buildings, sky - amazing.

This is real life.

Outside of the Lourve with Brandon. Such a HUGE place - I got
tired at the thought of looking at all of that art.

Oh, Mona. We had to aggressively work our ways to the front of a very international crowd in order to see this painting trapped behind glass, from about ten feet away. It's the only thing we really looked at in the museum, so luckily, we got in for free! Thanks, Nicole!

This is how they board planes in France.

It's breathtaking to see in real life. Just imagining how someone built something so large and powerful. I love seeing new places and new things because it makes me feel so small & helps me remember how life is made up of so many great little things.