Qu'est ce que cela veut dire?: Day One: “French tip for my French trip”

May 31, 2011

Disclaimer: Let me start off by saying that a trip just wouldn’t be a worthwhile trip without making my parents nervous about my punctuality. So, I’ll begin with me being “packed” and ready to go on Monday morning. After I told Tate bye, my Mom and Dad picked me (along with 47 pounds of luggage) up from Autumn Circle. Also, I had bacon for breakfast, so I knew it was going to be a good day. After navigating the two floors that Easterwood Airport offers, my parents and I sat just behind the glass doors to wait on the ground shuttle that would take me, along with Brandy and Hannah, from College Station to Houston. Brandy and Hannah arrived soon after, and my Mom gave Hannah strict instructions to not let me drink in Europe...my Dad, Hannah, and myself all laughed. The ground shuttle was slightly sketch, but on time- we piled in. After arriving at IAH, the three of us went through the baggage check line (thought they couldn’t find my flight in the system, had a mild panic attack) and customs fairly quickly. Chowed on some Panda Express. Now to the plane. Once on-board the plane, I found my seat across the aisle from Brandy and Hannah (had the center aisle all to myself. score.). My entertainment for the next 8+ hours consisted of Rango, House, CSI, seeing the Hudson River, and being really good at never catching the good songs on the different music channels. We ate chicken and rice for supper around 5, I napped with my fuzzy, pink inflatable plane pillow, woke up, and had fruit and a croissant for breakfast. We landed at CDG in Paris around 8 a.m. (Paris time). I got off the plane, seriously dominated some inclined moving sidewalks, and was greeted by the creepiest passport checker guy I’ve ever seen in my life. I wish I were kidding. but I’m not. After we passed inspection, the three of us went to grab our luggage and then hailed a taxi. 76 euro for an hour and half+ ride from CDG airport to St. Christopher’s Inn. ri.dic.u.lous. We went to check in but couldn’t until 2- so we rented a locker for our carry-ons and away we went. The three of us actually ran into another student on the trip with us, Claire, and her family, outside the hostel. Our posse walked down a side street to the left of St. Christopher’s, and then turned right to grab a metro stop for Claire and a café for us. Le Gymnase was our first French cuisine adventure. Water, lemonade, Hannah and I shared a margarita pizza, and had some of brandy’s pesto jazz. From there we walked back towards the hostel and decided to explore directly behind it. We walked along the river and discovered MK2, a French cinema, featuring (wait for it. wait for it.) A Very Bad Trip 2. Nice. After, we walked back up the other side of the river. We posed with some graffiti, forgotten Heinekens from the night before, and an aqua building. Brandy and I tried assimilating into the culture by holding hands while strolling along the riverside like the other French couples- that’s when Hannah and I discovered Brandy’s hatred of pigeons. Aye. The three of us sat outside St. Christopher’s awaiting 2 p.m. to check in, finally checked in, and then awkwardly got an employee because one of our beds was obviously still entertaining someone else. We napped for a good four hours because I’m a dingus and didn’t set the alarm right. Got up, got dressed, and asked where to find some good French pastries- so we explored to the right of St. Christopher’s this time. We found a cute little bakery, ate our dessert in a park, and walked back to St. Christopher’s for some drinks at Belushi’s (the bar/restaurant on the first floor of St. Christopher’s). We then found some Wi-Fi, showered, uploaded pictures, and said “Au revoir!” for the night.