On Sunday, we woke up bright and early to catch the 8:30 TGV
train from Macon to Paris. After arriving at the Gare de Lyon, the class said
our goodbyes to each other and to the professor. I’m not going to lie- I did
get a bit teary eyed. It hit me then that I was going to be leaving France soon,
and also how much I was going to miss France and the class. Afterwards, we took
the metro to get to our hotel in Montmartre, which was about 10 minutes away from
the Moulin Rouge!
After we checked into our hotel, we left to go to the Arc de
Triomphe. It was a fabulous and sunny day in Paris, and the Arc was absolutely
beautiful. We also saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.
We
then walked along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées!
The amount of shops and restaurants located there was absolutely astounding. We
visited a couple shops, including one that had men dressed up as Gladiators
dancing in front of the store…definitely not something you see every day. We were definitely intrigued, and decided to visit the shop. They
were around the store holding up some racks of clothing, and also, when the
song “Vogue” came on, they started dancing on a stage in the store! It was definitely
a funny sight to see.
Afterwards, we made our journey to our last stop of our
night in Paris, which was the Eiffel Tower. We stopped for dinner, and just as
the sun was setting, we took a boat ride along the Seine.
We saw the Eiffel tower lit up, which was a spectacular and beautiful scene.
After
our boat ride, we went up the steps to the top of the Eiffel tower. Even though I climbed more steps than I have ever climbed in my life, it was definitely
worth it. The views were breathtaking and beautiful, and overlooking look at
Paris lit up at night made me awestruck. Additionally, we saw the tower lit
sparkle when it was midnight!
We then took a taxi back to our hotel, and
called it a night. We had to catch our taxi very early (about 4 AM) so we
stayed awake after returning to do some last minute packing. After a long day
of traveling and very, very little sleep, I was definitely excited and relieved
to see my parents waiting for me at the airport!
This trip to France
was certainly a once in a lifetime trip that I will never forget. This was an
extremely fun and wonderful learning experience, and a great way to experience
Europe for the first time. Thanks to Leigh Newman Bell, Dean Young, Dr.
Haggblom, Dr. Reinert, and Catherine Healy for making this once in a lifetime
experience possible.
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