Insomnia

It is now 2:16AM in Paris and I can't sleep. Actually, I'm pretty tired but I'm waiting on my gel face mask to chill in the freezer because it's so freaking HOT in my apartment. Curse you, Europe for not having air conditioning. That is about the only thing I don't like about Europe. I mean, I'm in Paris for crying out loud. If I were complaining, I'd be an idiot.

On a lighter note, we are going to Disneyland Paris tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. Tomorrow starts our free weekend so I'm looking forward to that. A little break is going to be nice since we've been on the go ever since we got here. Next week, the women's haute couture fashion shows start and we are going to work a few and go to a few. I am sooooo excited. This is a HUGE deal and an amazing opportunity. It's one of the main reasons why I wanted to come on this trip, as a matter of fact. More on that is coming later though.

Today, we started off our day with a fashion seminar at the Paris American Academy, our school here in Paris. It was quite interesting because our teacher didn't really know English, so it was difficult trying to learn the couture technique she was trying to teach us. We eventally got the hang of it though. We had to hand-stitch an invisible dart and I actually did it! Go me!!! Then, Dr. Ellis took us to a quaint little street with shops and restaurants. We ate at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with amazing quiche. I had a chocolate and banana dessert that was pretty bangin' as well. After that, I went back to my apartment and took a 3 hour long nap. I know what you're thinking. "YOU'RE IN PARIS! WHY ARE YOU TAKING 3 HOUR LONG NAPS?!?" Well, my throat started hurting. AGAIN. And I popped two Extra Strength Tylenol and found out very quickly that they made me drowsy. This explains why I can't really sleep now. Great. Anyway, I woke up and got some things done in the apartment, then we cooked dinner (frozen pizzas, yum!) and we planned on going to the Eiffel Tower at 11 PM to see it sparkle. Well, that plan fell through. We ended up going to a bar on the little street we visited earlier today and that was fun. After that, we made our way back to Rue St. Jacques (the street where we live) and visited the bar directly across the street from our apartment. The bartender got a kick out of my accent and told me I sounded Scottish. Also, there were some really cute French boys there and they seemed to like my accent as well. Shortly after that, we left and went to our apartments because we were getting tired at that point. Since then, I've been messing around on the Internet while I should have been sleeping. Why do I deprive myself from sleep? OH, and I found out tonight that the Harry Potter movie comes out on July 15 (the day I get back from Paris) instead of July 17. Oh well...jetlag will have to wait because I refuse to break my tradition of seeing every Harry Potter movie on the day they come out. Looks like I'm going to have to make myself sleep on the flight home. Anyway, speaking of sleep, I really need to do that, so I'm going to wrap this up. More crazy adventure stories to come tomorrow! :)

Paris

I was reading my friend, Kiran's blog about her trip to Switzerland and Italy when I decided I probably should take some time out to document what's going down on my study abroad trip. I forgot I had made a Blogspot last summer and it's funny because the date I wrote my first blog is the day I'm coming back from Paris. Funny how things turn out, huh?

Well, I guess I should start by saying that I've been in Paris, France since June 14, 2009. I am here with the fashion program at Meredith College. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to travel with and I have been so blessed to have the best roommates ever. I have been learning a lot and seeing many things since I've been here. We've not only been in Paris but we've also traveled to Rome and Florence, Italy and Nice, France. We have seriously been on the go non-stop since the first second of the trip. Needless to say, I am going to be EXHAUSTED when I get home to the United States.

A few things we've seen are the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Ellysees, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur, Montemartre, the Statue of David, Duomo Cathedral, Trevi Fountain, the Colleseum, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and many more. We went to Antwerp, Belgium yesterday and I had the best waffle I've ever had. We toured the diamond museum (Belgium is not only known for their chocolate and waffles, but they are also known for diamonds) and we toured a fashion museum. We are going to Versailles on July 9 and I couldn't be more excited for that because I was fascinated with Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette when I was learning about them in 10th grade history class. Also, our free weekend is coming up this weekend and we are pretty pumped about that because there is a Britney Spears concert that we want to go to and we are planning on going to EuroDisney! I will keep you posted on what's to come. It's getting pretty late here in Paris (12:48 AM) so I'm going to head to bed. Thanks for taking time out to read this. I'll try not to bore you! :)

Sunburn

I love summer. I really do. I love everything about it. I love being with family and friends, not worrying about school (except when I'm in summer school like I am now), cookouts, swimming, summer concerts(the best concerts come around in the summer), vacations, and everything else that comes with summer. Even those darn tourists that crowd the restaurants and shopping malls. Although there is one thing that I hate about summer. That one thing is sunburn. Now I know some of you are sitting there thinking, "Well, why the heck didn't you put sunscreen on?" Well, I am asking myself the same exact question. I am fair-skinned so I am prone to sunburn. However, I have been laying out in the sun without wearing sunscreen for the past 2 summers and I didn't get burned once. I swear to God. BUT it has finally happened. I layed out for an hour and 30 minutes yesterday and I FRIED. My whole body is red except for a white stripe on my chest and where my bottoms were. I look like a candy cane. But that is not the worst part. Oh, get ready for this. My face is bright red except for the two white circles surrounding both of my eyes, which makes it quite obvious that I wore my sunglasses while tanning yesterday. So, I guess you could say I look like a cross between a candy cane and a raccoon. Oh well, now I have learned my lesson, and I will apply sunscreen from now on.

In the picture, imagine me looking just like this. Except RED.