Bonjour Paris!

Bonjour! Comment allez-vous?

I am officially a Parisian resident! I am all settled in my little lofted apartment in the Latin Quarter. It is such a charming place.

The airport was pretty stressful. Not only did we look like we were fleeing the country with the amount of luggage we had but it was just so hard to say goodbye to my dad, Mike and little Tay. Yep, we brought her to the airport. After a drawn out goodbye and some tears we got through security, grabbed one last Starbuck's coffee and got on board. The flight wasn't so bad except it was uncomfortable enough to prevent me from getting any sleep.

The Paris airport was extremely simple and easy to navigate, which I was very thankful for. We took a taxi to our hotel at the Westin Vendome (amazing, by the way). I was so tired I could have fallen asleep at the check-in counter but we forced ourselves to stay awake to catch up with the 9 hour time difference. We put our bags down and headed straight out for some lunch an then walked around and found our way to the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. My mom says "Oh look, there is some big arch at the end of the street!". Little did she know it was the extremely famous monument Arc de Triomphe.  Her first trip to Europe and she has seen more historical monuments in the last 48 hours than ever in her entire life.

We also picked up the world famous Laduree macarons and let me tell you my friend, they are better than you thought! We got back around 7pm and it took me a total of 12 seconds to fall asleep. Slept a solid 12 hours.

Yesterday we met my landlady's daughter and got move into my apartment. We were a sight, let me tell you. My apartment is on the 6th floor without an elevator and we had about 6 suitcases and two bags between the two of us. We had to lug those monsters up the swirly staircase. I didn't think we would make it.

In the past two days we have seen the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Sarbonne, Luxenbourg Gardens, Champs Elysees, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame (which is maybe 200 feet from my apartment), Paris in the snow and a lot more! We have had hot chocolate so thick you need a spoon to eat it, fresh baguettes from heaven, macaroons from Laduree, croissants so good you thought you died, and sights that make you second guess yourself.

I am already so in love with this city. It might be 18 degrees but I really feel like I might belong here. I am SO happy I took this opportunity and SO thankful to all those who have supported me on this adventure. Especially, my parents, siblings, Mike, Mike's family and all my friends. Thank you all!! I can't wait to keep you updated on everything this year. School starts on Tuesday...wish me luck!