Ah Paris! This was a trip I had not even planned to go on during my semester abroad. "Paris is probably nice, but I don't care if I skip it during my travels" was my thought process. I am SO glad Toni got me to change my mind. Paris is an incredible city, and all the negative stereotypes that everyone warned me about going didn't even prove true, at least in our experience. The people were friendly, we successfully ate every meal for under five euro, and we had no trouble with pick pockets or robbers! We also had our very first couch surfing experience, and it went better than we could have expected. They say you can't see Paris in a weekend, but I think we managed to do alright for only 2 full days of being there.

Before I tell you about our trip, I'll have to explain that the night before we left Toni had some applications to fill out for Loyola. These applications were not quick, and she (much like I would have done) waited until the last minute to do them! So the two of us were up trying to get them finished (she was writing and I was proof reading) until about 2 a.m. Our bus left the next morning from Brussels Noord station at 8:00, which meant I would have to wake up at 6:00 and Toni would have to wake up at 5:00! Needless to say we were running on VERY little sleep. We caught the few winks that we could on the bus ride there, but I'll get to why that's important later.

So! When we finally got to Paris, our first stop was The Louvre museum! We hopped on a metro, grabbed a sandwich before going inside and ate it by the fountains outside the museum, walked in and checked our backpacks, then headed to purchase our tickets. Toni went first, and she got in for free since she has a Belgian Residence Card now. I explained that I didn't have a residence card, but the woman asked me if I had a visa and told me that should work instead. I ran back to my backpack, fished out my passport, and headed back to the ticket stand. After examining my passport she looked at me and furrowed her brow. "This is only valid for 3 months, so usually something like this won't work. Since you ran to get it though, I'll let you in okay?" Free things are even cooler when you don't deserve them!

Inside the museum we saw all kinds of neat stuff! Ancient Egyptian mummy tombs and sphinxes, Napoleon's living quarters, all kinds of cool art, Ancient Greek and French sculptures, and of course, The Mona Lisa. We didn't get to see all of the museum, but we got to see everything that either of us were remotely interested in, so we left satisfied. After the museum we decided we were hungry again, and Toni suggested the meal she had most been looking forward to... Crepes under the Eiffel Tower! We made our way to the famous monument and it really is something to see in person. There's something about the tower that can't quite be put into words, it's incredible. We got some crepes and sat in front of the tower, waiting for it to light up. When you first see the Eiffel Tower, it's amazing, you take pictures of it and chat with your fellow travelers and eat crepes. When you finally see it lit up however, you become transfixed for a short time, unable to break your gaze away from the masterpiece. The tower is NOT overrated by any means.

Once we were able to pull ourselves away from the awesome sight, we found a metro station and headed towards our couch surfing host's apartment. Emmanuel, known by his friends as Manu, was probably the coolest host we could have asked for as our first couch surfing experience. He is an international economics major who speaks English fluently and LOVES to party. He also has very good taste in music, plays the bass guitar and is a pretty good cook! When we arrived we were welcomed with the utmost hospitality and instructed to make ourselves at home. Now, I mentioned before that we were running on barely any sleep. What I didn't mention was that when contacting Manu about staying with him, he told me that they'd be throwing a party for us when we got there, and that we had better be ready to stay up late (he actually specifically said "I don't wanna hear that you guys are too tired to party!"). So there we were, trying to stay awake as late as we could, while drinking strong Belgian beer and even stronger Mojitos that Manu and a few of his friends had mixed up for us. At 2 a.m. I was nodding off on the couch we were supposed to sleep on, and one of Manu's friends noticed... Luckily, our host was also a very understanding and cool guy. He made his way over to us on the couch and offered that we head to his roommate's room and pass out in his bed for the night. We gladly accepted the offer, and assured them that they could be as loud as they wanted, we would sleep. They continued partying, apparently, until about 5 in the morning and I slept like a rock!

The next morning Toni and I headed out before Manu and his roommate woke up and made our way to the Arch de Triomphe, another jaw dropping monument in Paris. After taking a bunch of pictures in front of the Arch, we decided to climb to the top and see the view, since it sits at the intersection of 12 streets and offers a great look at the city. There's no elevator to get up, unless your handicapped, so we climbed all 284 steps to get to the top! It's all one big spiral staircase, I kept singing Kings of Leon on the way up and once you reach the top or bottom you kind of want to just keep walking in circles... it's fun! Anyway after taking lots of pictures, reading up on the history of the Arch and admiring the view, we made our way back down and found our way to Notre Dame.

On our way, we spotted the famous Hotel de Ville, which is really pretty during the day or night. We snapped some photos there, and continued to the Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral. Again, Notre Dame is breathtaking. The giant cathedral had a never ending line wrapping around it's walls, so we decided against going inside but took lots of pictures of the outside, and even got to see a street performance in the courtyard outside of the main entrance. Our stomaches started rumbling again, and we were close to the Latin Quarter, home to a particular kebab shop that Toni remembered from her previous trip. We started our way to the Latin Quarter, but made a quick detour at the Shakespeare and Company book store which specializes in English literature and also houses young writers in exchange for a few hours of work in the store each day. After having a look around the shop, we found our kebabs.

The Latin Quarter is a really cool area to just walk around and admire the array of interesting restaurants. We took our Kebabs to the River Seine and sat on the water's edge enjoying our pitas stuffed with fries, lamb, lettuce and samurai sauce, watching the tour boats pass by and talking about just how awesome it felt to be in Paris doing just that. This was extremely enjoyable until Toni HAD TO start feeding one of the pigeons near us, prompting a hundred other pigeons to flock over and beg for food. I couldn't take the dirty birdies swarming at my feet while I tried to eat my food, so we headed back to the Latin Quarter to walk around some more.

Until this point I've forgotten to mention that when we went to the Eiffel Tower I noticed a strange rash on the inside of both my ankles that started to bother me. At this point we decided to head to a pharmacy to get some cream for it. The woman at the pharmacy spoke fluent English and was very nice and helpful. The people working in the pharmacies here in Europe really know their shit. She got me some hydrocortisone anti-inflammatory cream and it totally worked.

ANYWAY, once we'd had our fill of the Latin Quarter, we decided to head to our last stop of the day. Montmartre is a hill that is 130 meters high (thank you wiki) and is a district in the north of Paris. The area has the best free view of the city and is home to a lot of art and culture in Paris. The apartments are beautiful and expensive, but awesome to just look at. We watched part of a marathon that was going on that Super Man and Super Girl were competing in (kind of unfair if you ask me, but I think they were running with a handicap cause they weren't in first). We took a look at some of the artists in the center of the district, watched some more street performers on the steps outside of the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur and gazed upon the city for a while. After resting our feet for a while we made our way over towards the Dali Museum and after some debate decided to go in. The museum was really cool, I've always been interested in Dali's work but never really took a moment to look at a lot of it. The museum had lots of his old sketches and sculptures and of course paintings as well.

Soon we were tired again and decided to head back to Manu's to take a quick nap. Manu's roommate Yvonick let us in the apartment and we pulled out the couch to catch some z's. Just before we could get some rest, the alarmingly loud doorbell rang. Yvonick had gone out so we were the only ones in the house to answer it. I did, and this couple that looked to be in their mid to late 20s asked if I spoke English. It turned out they were there couch surfing too, but their host wasn't answering his phone and they couldn't find his apartment! I told them I was really sorry but it wasn't my apartment and I couldn't help them and they went on their way. We got some sleep and when we woke up Manu had arrived home, and with the other couch surfers! I know what you're thinking and no, they were not supposed to stay with us. Manu just let them in to use the internet and see if they copied their host's number incorrectly.

The couple was from Greece, and they chatted with Manu about the economic crisis going on there now. It was really interesting to hear the perspective of people who actually live there, and hear them talk to someone who is very knowledgeable about international economics. Manu assured them that they'd be fine, and they seemed kind of relieved to hear that from someone outside of their home country. Once they found their host, who lived in the same building, they left and thanked us, and Manu started cooking us some dinner! Angel hair pasta with peppers, carrots, ground up meat and some really good red wine that Manu and his friend got from a wine tasting exhibition earlier that day... NOM!

After dinner we headed to a bar with Manu and his friend. Again we were expected to stay out really late, and again we were really tired... Regardless we went out to this cool bar that Manu said was one of the really cool places to go out for Parisians. We had a few beers and some really good cheese (that I didn't actually enjoy, but Toni did) and then explained to Manu that we were gonna pass out again if we stayed too late. We stayed just long enough to catch the last metro back to Manu's without him and his friend, but that was cool with him. 

The next morning we packed up our things, being careful not to wake Manu who was out cold on the mattress diagonal from our couch. We signed his couch surfing book when we were ready to leave, woke him up and expressed our thanks and said goodbye. After one more quick stop at the Eiffel Tower we jumped on a metro back to our bus stop to return home. The weekend was a great success, and a much needed enjoyable travel experience after our disaster in Ireland. 

This past weekend Jackie came to visit us with her friend Tara. It was awesome to return the favor of letting them stay with Toni for free for a weekend in Belgium! We went out to the Oude Markt the first night they were here and introduced them to Belgian beer and frits, took them to Brugge the next morning. This was not only their first time in Brugge but mine as well! The charming city is really cool. It's said that the best Belgian chocolate is found in Brugge but I'm pretty sure it's just a myth. Regardless, I got some chocolate and it was delicious! We took some awesome pictures in the Beguinage, saw the famous Bell Tower, and checked out all the cool Medieval buildings. When we got home we watched the movie In Bruges which was really cool to watch after we'd just been in the city. On Sunday I took Jackie and Tara to Brussels and show'd them the touristy spots that we had time for (Delirium, Mannequin Pis etc.) before taking them to the train station to catch a bus to the airport.

After Jackie and Tara left I headed back to Leuven to help Toni pack for her trip to Italy, where she currently is! And in just one hour I'll leave my house to catch a metro to Midi station, to catch a bus to the airport, to catch a plane to Rome! I'll be in Rome from today to next Thursday, hanging out with my friend Sean Scofield, Toni, and my boys from VeCo that are arriving on the 12th. Then on the 15th me, Joey, Ed and Sam head to Barcelona for four days to relax before we have to start school again on Monday! I'm really excited but kind of nervous, either way I'll be there soon and I'll see if I can update this blog from there, but I probably won't be able to!

Until I return, much love to everyone back home... Talk to you soon!