I prepared for this past weekend by re-watching Marie Antoinette, my favorite movie ever, and Moulin Rouge.  I feel like nothing gets you quite prepared for traveling quite like re-watching movies that you grew up watching and loving. My roommate and I watched each movie and tried to pay attention as closely as possible, and noted European references that we hadn’t been able to catch before––most excitingly, when the Green Fairy popped out when the actors drink Absinthe in Moulin Rouge!  

When the plane landed in Paris the next morning, I was hit was a surreal feeling. If it wasn’t for all the AirFrance planes surrounding the airport runway, I would’ve just felt like I was at any other airport in the States, but BECAUSE there were AirFrance planes all around our plane, it felt like Paris. Real Paris!

We arrived in the afternoon on Friday and immediately got to seeing sights. Since we’re just poor college kids, we walked from our accommodation to the Louvre and waited until the sights became free at 6 p.m. for those under 26. I feel awful for saying this, and my mother would be so disappointed, but I’m glad the Louvre was free because I’m not sure I would’ve paid for it otherwise. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate art as much as the next person in their early twenties, but it was just SO much art. Overwhelmingly so.

WHAT WAS OVERWHELMING IN A GOOD, AMAZING WAY WAS THE EIFFEL TOWER. We got to the Eiffel Tower the next day at midday (which is actually the time the sun sets in Europe) and by the time we were done taking pictures from the bottom, the sun was just starting to set. We opted to walk (once again, the cheaper option and good cardio for our young, cheap hearts) and took the thousand stairs up to the second level of the tower. Climbing the Eiffel Tower was something that had been on my bucket list for some time, and I was eager to get to the top and see if it fulfilled my expectations.

It totally did.

In addition to many more sights, we also ate some really great food. We didn’t eat snails (I think I’ll save that for when I can afford the good snails and not just the five euro snail cart), but we did indulge in Ladurée macaroons and other French desserts. My favorite part about visiting a new country is eating all the local foods and just being SO EXCEPTIONALLY CONTENT, and Paris was no exception.

I really can’t believe all the cool places I’m getting to go this semester. I remember when studying abroad was a faraway thought at Freshman Orientation, and now here I am, writing these words from an apartment in Milan, Italy. People are already beginning to talk about what they’re looking forward to most when they return home next month, but I’m just trying to live in the moment and embrace what’s in front of me. Luckily, it’s not so hard when what’s in front of you is THE Eiffel Tower.