Bonjour Paris!

Last weekend, I jetted off to Paris and met up with some fabulous Chi Omegas, Stephen, and a few other friends from Tulane. I decided to be a rebel and ditch my German class on Friday morning in order to take the slow (and cheap) way to the Vienna Airport, and I ended up arriving WAY too early. The slow way really isn’t that slow, FYI. I didn’t really understand how the Vienna airport worked, so I went through security to get to my gate, only to be given the boot because I wasn’t flying to Helsinki. I had to walk back through the metal detector, and I beeped, so it was pretty embarrassing. When I arrived in Paris, I found Stephen at the airport (or rather he found me, I was a little lost…) and we took the RER and the metro to our hostel in the city. Thankfully the strike didn’t really affect us during our trip, though it did hinder our friends coming in to the city from right outside Paris. The whole journey  took about 2 hours, so when we finally arrived at our hostel at 5:30 we had only a couple of minutes to freshen up before we went to meet with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Tommy, who were renting an apartment for the week by the Louvre. I don’t get to see my aunt and uncle frequently, so it was really nice to meet up with them and have some delicious wine and cheese at their amazing apartment. After the little family reunion, Stephen and I met my friends for dinner at a small, but delicious restaurant. I ordered the escargot, the duck confit, and the crème brûlée; I was in heaven. We finished dinner at 11pm or so, as the Parisians do, and then took a quick trip to see the Eiffel Tower light up. So beautiful. After we took a bunch of pictures, we made our way to the Rue Princese where there is bar called the Princess and the Frog. It was getting late though, so Stephen and I took the last metro train back to the hostel at 2:30 in the morning.

The next morning everybody met in front of the Eiffel Tower at 11:30. We took tons of embarrassing Chi Omega pictures, and then decided to search for a café for lunch on our way to the Arc de Triumph. On our way, I ran into a girl who is two years older than me from my high school. Of all the rues in all of Paris…you know what I’m getting at…Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see her. After lunch, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe but found that because of the strike we couldn’t go to the top. In order to quell my disappointment, Stephen and I took a break from sightseeing and did some retail therapy on the Champs-Élysées. We then walked through the Tuileries Garden, where people were soaking up the sun around a huge fountain. The weather was perfect that day. We made our way to Notre Dame, only to find out that once again we couldn’t go to the top. We went to a big department store with my friend Kelly, and then got a drink before meeting everyone for dinner. The café we went to was full of bookshelves with stacks and stacks of books; in other words, my perfect café. For dinner we went to a fondue restaurant, and Stephen and I ordered what was basically a wheel of cheese set directly underneath a heat lamp, and the cheese just melted endlessly on to a plate. We got pieces of meat, potatoes, onions, bread, and pickles to eat with the cheese, and all of our friends had fun putting anything and everything underneath what basically looked like a cheese waterfall. After dinner we went to a little club called Pop In, where we were in a dark basement dancing to mostly American music.

On Sunday, Stephen and I went to the Catacombes de Paris, which was incredible but also very eerie at the same time. We walked through tunnels made completely out of human skulls and other various bones, all the while avoiding the water which was falling from the ceiling because we were so far underground. It was definitely one of my favorite things that we did in Paris. After grabbing a quick lunch, we toured the Musée du Louvre and saw all the important pieces of art: The Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Venus de Milo. I’m happy to report that tiny bits of information from AP Art History came back to me, and that was four years ago! (Oh my god, that was FOUR YEARS AGO…I’m so old.) From the Louvre, we made our way to Pigalle (think sex shops and strip clubs galore) and walked by the Moulin Rouge en route to Sacré Cœur Basilica. After lots and lots (and lots and lots) of steps, we finally reached the top and took in the magnificent view of the city. Bars with Happy Hour specials were plentiful in this area, so we had a few drinks before going to dinner at another super tiny, but incredibly delicious restaurant. I couldn’t help but order the escargot again, but I changed up my main meal with a steak and had chocolate mouse for dessert. After dinner, we went back to the hostel because we needed to wake up at 4am in order for Stephen to catch his flight. No public transportation is open that early in the morning, so we had to take a cab to the airport. It wasn’t cheap. After I said goodbye to Stephen, I had about four hours to kill, so I found a chair by my gate that was kind of like a recliner. The people next to me were sleeping, so after I did my homework I hid my purse under my jacket and clipped my carry-on to my person, and then promptly fell asleep. I’ve never slept in an airport before. I felt a bit like a homeless person. I woke up two hours later and got on my flight home. Paris was so much fun, but I met my parents at the Vienna airport and they’re in Austria until Monday. I’ve been loving eating real meals with them, as well as showing them around Vienna. Unfortunately, I have a German Midterm on Saturday for which I need to study. Guten Nacht!

Oktoberfest and More!

I’ve almost hit the 2 month mark for my time here in Vienna, and I can’t believe how fast everything has gone by. Classes seem to make the days go by faster, but the chilly weather makes all of my walks to and from the institute go by so much slower. Luckily, Mom gave me the go-ahead to stock up on some sweaters from H&M so I’m winter-weather ready! All I need now is a cute hat. Though the weather is chilly, we finally got 3-4 days of pure sunlight this week. It was wonderful; I had almost forgotten what the sun looked like!

Two weekends ago, I went with 10 other girls from my program to Oktoberfest in Munich. It was an incredibly experience, but not one I care to repeat. We took the 11:56pm train from Vienna and arrived in Munich at about 6am, just in time to watch the sun rise over the city as we walked to the fair grounds. We had heard from previous Oktoberfest-goers that we needed to get in line for a tent early so that we could get a table, since you only get served in the tents if you’re sitting at a table. We chose Hippodrom; it was colorful and we really weren’t that discriminating at 7am in the morning…We were close to the front of the line, and then they told us that the line started at the side door. We made a mad dash for the side door, during which we learned that the tent wouldn’t even be opening until 10am. Great. So we stood in line for another 20 minutes or so, and then they decided that no, the entrance wasn’t on the side, it was in the  back. So we sprinted to the back, because we were determined to keep our places towards the front of the line. The back was less of a line and more of a mob. We were towards the front, but everyone else wanted to be towards the front as well, so I slowly became smothered by crowds of drunken idiots wearing lederhosen and singing Journey. Because everyone in Europe knows “Don’t Stop Believing.” After two and a half hours, I had given up trying to move my limbs and was slumped against a strange man in front of me. When they FINALLY opened the doors, the crowd moved as one towards the entrance, and I nearly died. My purse got stuck between two people and my body got stuck between two other people about 7 feet away, so death by asphyxiation was definitely an option. Fortunately, we made it into the tent and started running around like crazy people looking for a table. One of my friends zeroed in on an Italian couple that had claimed an entire table for themselves and called over a security guard to point out that they weren’t drinking and, if given the chance, we certainly would be. So, the Italians got kicked out and we got an entire table! The rest of the day was a blur of pretzels, beer steins, wandering around Munich, and then waiting for the midnight train back to Vienna. I slept the next day until 3pm.

This weekend, though not as exciting as Oktoberfest, was still a lot of fun. On Thursday, my friends and I went to a club called Prater Dome that’s in the middle of the amusement park. It’s a little bit creepy at night. The club was really cool, but the drinks were priced at 18.50 Euros. I couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen a drink that expensive! The club played the typical American music we’ve gotten used to hearing: the YMCA, the Macarena…etc. Saturday was a friend’s birthday, so we went to a couple places to celebrate. The night ended at 2:30am on the subway, where I fell asleep against the window.

I know the next week is going to fly by, because on Friday I’m leaving for Paris! And then on the following Monday, my parents arrive! I can’t wait for them to take me out for some delicious dinners, I’m a little wary when it comes to cooking at the moment. I almost caused a kitchen fire today when I boiled pasta. I had the stove on too hot of a setting, and all the water boiled over and the pasta burnt the entire bottom of the pot. The whole incident is pretty typical if you know my kitchen track-record (setting a cutting board on fire, blowing up sugar in the microwave…). Well, once again I’m off to do German homework. We just learned the past-tense, so now I can say even more to cab drivers, who seem to be the only people willing to put up with my intolerable German. Probably because they’re being paid…

Auf Wiedersehen!