Friday came before I knew it, and Natalie, Kelsey and I soon found ourselves sitting on train speeding across Europe to Paris! Our "Political & Economic Institutions of the European Union" class took a field trip to Brussels, Belgium, from Monday-Wednesday of this week, so we decided a pre-trip to Paris the weekend before was a must. We arrived in Paris late Friday night and were picked up from the train station by Bart, a family friend of Kelsey's family. We stayed with Bart, Christine, and their three teenage daughters all weekend and really loved and appreciated their hospitality! They lived about 20 minutes outside of Paris in an adorable small neighborhood. Their house was so cozy and they even had two Australian Sheppards so we were all totally at home. On Saturday, we woke up early to make the most out of our one day in Paris and headed off to the Louvre. We slipped right in and spent a few hours exploring the massive museum (that would take months to see in its entirety.) We were able to see the Mona Lisa (a LOT smaller than we imagined!), the Venus de Milo, two amazing Michelangelo's, Cupids Kiss, and many more incredible pieces.
It started pouring towards the late afternoon so we decided to catch a train back to Bart's. We loved throwing on cozy clothes and having the chance to just relax in a real-life house (hostels just don't have the same charm.) Christine made us all an amazing dinner and taught us about different dishes and famous french cheeses! We also got the chance to get to know their three daughters, who were so sweet and even invited us to join them at a local bar down the street later on. After dinner, we all went to the bar to watch the rugby game and the place was packed! Apparently rugby is a big deal!
The Louvre
Miss Mona Lisa
The Louve is SO huge!
We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe. It was a long walk, but totally worth it because of the lovely fall scenery! After seeing the Arc de Triomphe, we kept walking until we made it to the Eiffel Tower, which was stunning to finally see in person. I kept feeling like I was in the movie Midnight in Paris as we walked across the famous bridges and strolled along the cobblestone.. the only thing missing was Owen Wilson.
Majestic!
"Le voyage, pas l'arrivée, c'est ce qui compte." - T.S. Eliot
(The journey, not the arrival, is what matters.)
On Sunday morning, Bart and Christine drove us into Paris, helped us get our train tickets to Brussels, and then dropped us off in front of Notre Dame (they were SO generous!) Before heading to Notre Dame, we walked to the lock of love bridge on the river, which is a famous place for couples to leave a lock. (This is a cute NY Times article about the locks.) After admiring (and being super jealous) of the thousands of cute professions of love, we headed back to the Notre Dame. Fortunately, we walked into the Notre Dame in the middle of a Sunday morning service, so were able to see the service and hear the traditional music. After walking through the Notre Dame, we walked across the street and saw the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, where people like James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway hung out.. so cool!
Lock of Love Bridge
Notre Dame
Church service inside Notre Dame
We then headed to the train station to catch our train to Brussels and before we knew it, the Belgium countryside was out our window. We managed to track down our hostel (in the apparent Turkish region of Belgium + where everyone only spoke Flemish or French) since navigating public transport systems in different countries is our new speciality. We had found a great deal online and ended up staying in a 2-star hotel! Yes, TWO STARS.. we felt so classy since the rest of our class all happened to be staying at a hostel down the road. We then took much anticipated naps all afternoon and met up with Molly and Virginia for dinner and a movie! We saw Bachelorette, our first movie in Europe and the perfect rom-com to top off our lazy day.
On Monday we met up with our entire European Union class for a meeting at the European Commission. We spent a few hours learning (more) about the legislative process of the EU and being in the building where such big decisions are made. That night we explored more of Brussels and tried our first very delish Belgium waffle (highlight of the day, obviously.)
European Commission
Some of our class off to explore
Yay!
Tuesday was a busy day of meetings, starting off with a meeting at the European Parliament and walking around the high-security clearance buildings that look right out of a Jason-Bourne movie. After our first meeting, we headed to the Parlamentarium museum across the street. The museum was super cool and interactive, and after touring around that for a bit we had a break for lunch before meeting up again at the Committee of the Regions (the assembly of local representatives from the EU member states.) The last visit was my favorite. We were lucky enough to meet a great rep who kept us interested (and awake) while he explained the intricacies of the Committee of the Regions. Even though I've spent the last semester learning about the EU, being at the EU Headquarters made me feel so much more in the loop about foreign affairs.
European Parliament
Committee of the Regions
A bunch of us went to the Hard Rock for dinner later and it was fun to spend the night hanging out with people in our class. We had a rough wake-up call the next morning and were all barely alive heading to our early flight back to Torino. We weren't excused from our classes that afternoon, so we had to drag ourselves straight to class. It was a whirl-wind weekend & week, and I have a new respect for all those business people out there who travel every week - it's hard core! (Not to mention that constantly switching between languages takes a LOT of brainpower.. I said 'scusi' an awkward amount of times in London & balancing words like merci, scusi, pardon, salut, grazie & au revoir in one week takes too much concentration. Fun fact: people speak Finnish AND French in Belgium so everything - even street signs - are in both languages! Way to make things confusing, Belgium.)
It's hard to believe mid-November is here! How did that happen?! Without a Thanksgiving holiday in Europe, the holiday season is already in full force around here!
