Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tiring day...

Tuesday, June 22

So I woke up waaaay early in the morning after that crazy night, like at 6am. So I showered checked my mail, ate the rest of the pizza, and skyped with my family back home.
The orientation meetings were soo long... and drained our group. However, we went to this square near the Eiffel Tower to watch the France futbol game. The park we walked through along the way


I saw some young breakers free styling and I so wanted to join in, but I didn't want to lose the group.

Pink smoke went off along with red flares when France made a goal.

We got there only in time for the last half of the game and there was no good shaded area to sit. So most of us just chilled on the grass and enjoyed our wine, cheese, and baguette. It was amazing!!! We stayed there just relaxing and chatting for several hours. At one crazy moment, a police van drives by the street and out comes running 5 cops. At that moment all the street vendors selling trinkets jammed. They all ran up the hill with their merchandise clinking in their bags.

I need to come back and take a better picture....

The Eiffel Tower, I'm gonna climb it to the top!

We then decided to leave and get dinner back home. We went to Chev Tony and got pizza. The waiter was a character, he kept making random remarks to entertain us and sang to us too. However, he was a bit racial calling two of our people chocolate and carmel, but he said he "like chocolate, mmm...".
Hello, meet Regina!

Afterward, most of the group wanted to turn in, but Brit and Phil were down to drink at a bar near our dorm, so we ended up at this wine bar. It was very quaint and awesome. There was good music playing in the background, great ambient lighting, and Parisians around. There was one pair that were making out and talking intermittently that really distracted me a lot.
We ordered a fruiti rose wine. It was strong; don't judge...

It wasn't as great as our first night, but we still had fun.

Monday, June 21, 2010

1st whole day in Paris(cont.)

hey hey!
my day was over, but my night didn't even begin.
I decided to visit Taylor, someone I met at check-in that is also from UCLA. It turns out he had some wine, and that made my day. Later on, we ran into more people and had a party of 8. We decided to take the metro eventually because there was some music festival going on. It was 9pm and the sun didn't even set yet.... We roamed around, saw random parties on the street with confetti flying out with fog machines and music. I didn't recognize any of the music, but my group did. The first one we ran into was really crowded and cool. Then muscular guys started taking off their shirts and some where dancing in short shorts/undies. Then it got crazier, it was gay. However, we decided to leave before things got way too intense.
We drank along the way and used the toilets too. Had to be a customer to use their toilets. They had bouncers at McDonalds to clear the entrance and only let customers into the eating area upstairs.
On the way back we followed suit with the locals and hopped the rail to get onto the metro. Our tickets weren't working. Back in our district, our group went into one of the sex shops. They had videos and toys and stuff. Downstairs, we found that they had individual viewing rooms with boxes of tissue ready. I don't know if it's the same in the states.

...sigh.... I wished I had pictures to go with this post, my batteries died....

1st whole day in Paris

June 21, 2010
1st whole day in Paris

8:00am woke up and ate some food with my dad's friend that picked me up.
yes... American Bread
Taxi ride was 50€ from last night.
The view they have is pretty nice. There's nature growing nearly everywhere.

9:30am took the subway, very efficient... I didn't take any video or photos of the graffiti on the tunnel walls, because I had to make sure I wouldn't get pick-pocketed.

10:00ish am I checked into the Accent Center


pretty nice room.

2:00pm orientation tour
5:00pm grocery shopping with Kristen 17.26€
I got bread, brie, dish washing soap, olive oil, dried spagetti, condensed tomatoes, onions, garlic spread, and bottled water. Seems like a lot.. but all the portions are pretty small....
6:00pm explored the streets myself for cheap food, cheapest was subway for 5€ or an American sandwich for 3€. Found another market that had toilet paper, frozen pizza, and eggs for 5.98€
Then someone pointed out in the dorm that we didn't have ovens...with a frying pan, olive oil, water, and a plate, here's what I made happen:

I still need to buy a sponge and baking soda, if I can find it...
Bottom line... today, I feel like I can't indulge myself with all the food that Paris has to offer, because everything is so damn expensive, even when I'm making the food...
i'm soo tired....

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Leaving LAX, Landed in London-Heathrow

Saturday June 19, 2010
LAX

Left house at 5:00pm
Arrived at airport at 6:00pm
Checked in luggage at British Airways- very nice lady at the counter
Ate dinner at sushi boy –expensive reheated teriyaki chicken and refrigerated sushi
Security check-a breezeOriginal flight time: 9:20pm
New flight time: 9:50pm


the sunset says goodbye as I leave LAX


In Flight:
they offered alcohol in-flight so of course.... gin and tonic!!!

best in-flight meal I've ever had. Lagnsana(other choice was orange chicken) w/ couscous and mango yogurt.

The in-flight movie was on-demand on a touch screen monitor that I could rewind and fastforward. Watched Up in the Air.



Got three coffee stains on my shirt from turbulence and one stain from cheesecake? I got most of it out, but missed a spot.


Sunday June 20, 2010
London Heathrow
Landed around 4:30pm
computer batteries die and I can't find a place to charge it


A 14€ crappy dish of airport "spicy" Ramen w/ chicken at Wagamama. Zagat rated, my ass.

Original Flight time: 7:00pm
New Flight time: 8:45pm
Arrival 11:30pm