Finally, a little French history

Salut:)

Yesterday Dom and I explored Champs Elysees, which is the swanky part of Paris. We saw Louis Vuitton, the Rolex store (which we weren't even allowed in hahaha) D&G, and all that good stuff. I can only dream of the day I'll have nothing better to spend 850 euros on than a stupid handbag.

Last night, our ETHOS grad assistant Mark had a layover in Paris before he was off to Cameroon so we all went out to dinner downtown. I challenge you to find food in this city that doesn't taste amazing. I got a pasta carbonara-ish dish with pasta and smoked pork in it with an egg yolk on top. With wine, of course:) Mark then told us of this free walking tour that runs daily and that we should check it out...

Sooo today we did just that!! And THAT is exactly what I expected from Paris. Our tour guide was absolutely awesome and told us so much history behind so many little details I would've never paid attention to. She also sold us on a pub crawl tour tonight...11 euros to get into bars and clubs in addition to half off drinks...can hardly argue with that one:) I put some videos of notre dame and the louvre, and some pictures from dinner and our tour, mainly for my parents and those who've never seen paris:)

So much to say about the tour, so much history and awesome little facts. and it was FREE. and in ENGLISH. God bless America. I think I'm going to put together a little word document with all the pictures and the stories behind them simply cause they were so fascinating I don't want to forget them. I appreciate the city so much more now. I also appreciate good walking shoes, which I sadly do not have.

After 2 days, I love it here. We're pros at the metro by now. I can speak enough to get what I need. Very few things to complain about.

Only things that suck in Paris:

1) THE SMELL. I'm sorry people but it's true it is smelly a lot of the times.
2) Record breaking temperatures. Awesome. Yea yea yea, I know you're thinking "ooh it's hot there wait til you get to africa you little priss" but it's different. Expectations mean the world and I expect Africa to be freakishly hot but I expected Paris to breezy and comfortable. Not so much. To follow that..
3) No AC in our hostel. We do have a big sweet window that we leave open all the time but it still gets uncomfortably hot.
4) How expensive things are.
5) Lots of local girls only wear shorts with tights under them. dumbest.rule.ever.

Start taking my Malaria pills today! Africa in 4 days!!!!