Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Studying Abroad in London: A Parisian Adventure



Another week gone, another exciting adventure to talk about!



Monday
November 11, 2019

I slept in since I was still feeling some of the drowsiness from taking Dramamine the night before. After that, I got lunch with Isaac before going to my lecture. Usually after that lecture I feel really anxious about the upcoming assignments but I was actually a lot better about them after that day. After lecture, Isaac and I went to grab dinner and brought it back to eat while we watched Psych amongst other things. 



Tuesday
November 12, 2019

Tuesday was a lie-in and productive day for me. I finished reading a book for review, wrote three blog posts, and made progress in reading two other books I needed to get through. Then I went to ASDA for groceries and cleaned my room before making dinner with Isaac. After that, we headed in to watch Psych before heading to bed. 



Wednesday
November 13, 2019

I went to my morning lecture and then went to watch Isaac do some acting in a friend's short film. After that, we got a super late lunch and messed around a bit before I had to leave with another flatmate of ours to go to a Jack the Ripper tour through East End.

It was an interesting tour. It was raining and a bit cold but I felt like that only added to the spooky feeling we got when visiting the different places and hearing about all the murders. I also enjoyed getting a tour of  it all because then I was able to get a bunch of new information that I didn't know before.

When I got back, Isaac made us a steak dinner and it was so freaking tasty. After dinner, we had some sweets and watched Psych before heading to bed. 



Thursday
November 14, 2019

I slept in pretty late on Thursday and then made bacon for breakfast. After that, we went into London to Borough Market to wander around a bit. I got some really yummy food: a salt beef sandwich with beef dripping chips and also a wild mushroom dish with parmesan and bread. I also bought some artisan bread and cheese as well as a fancy nut butter to bring back to campus.

Once back on campus, I met up with some friends to finalize plans for Paris before I watched Psych with Isaac while packing for the morning. We turned in early (or tried to). 



Friday
November 15, 2019

I woke up at 2:45 in the morning and met up with the other two girls I was going with so that we could leave for the airport. I got quite nauseous on the bus to the airport so I took some Dramamine that  knocked me out hard for the plane ride.

We landed in Paris and took the train into the central area and came out around the Notre Dame. It was rainy and cold but we were still having fun wandering about. On our first day we got some lunch, went to Shakespeare & Co Bookshop, and then wandered over to the Champs-Élysées.

We wandered up the Champs and saw the Arc de Triomphe and went into different stores and whatnot to have a wander around before heading into Ladurée to buy some macarons. I'd been waiting years to go back to Ladurée and I was in heaven. I actually ended up eating all 6 by the time we'd left the hotel the next morning because I couldn't control myself.

After shopping for a bit, we headed to our hotel so that we could drop our bags. We got checked in and then we all settled in to take a nap for a bit. We ended up sleeping for a couple hours since we were all really tired from waking up so early.

When we finished our naps, we headed back into central Paris to go to the Louvre. We were able to get free admission in since we were younger than 26 which was awesome. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around looking at different exhibits and taking silly photos.

After we left the Louvre, we went to dinner at a small cafe around the corner. It was pretty yummy and a nice little sit down after being up and about most of the day. When we finished, we just headed back to our hotel to shower and go to bed.



Saturday
November 16, 2019

Saturday we slept in a bit too late and went to lunch at a small cafe near the Catacombs before we were able to go in. It was a really cool tour of the catacombs and I definitely enjoyed getting to learn a bit more about the history behind it all.

After that, we went to a bakery and had some pastry before heading over to Montmartre area. We wandered around a bit going in different stores, looking at different views, and taking a lot of pictures. We hiked up to Sacre Coeur and saw the beautiful views from that high up of Paris.

When we left Sacre Coeur it was starting to get darker so we headed over to the Eiffel Tower area where we were able to catch the light show at the beginning of the hour which was super cool since I'd never been able to see it. After that we wandered around a bit waiting for our entry time. We went into a couple shops and wandered around the river for a bit.

We got cold and went into the Eiffel Tower area and got some hot chocolate which came with a free cup! Then we went up. The last time I did the Eiffel Tower it was the middle of the day in June and  we walked to the top. This time it was a bit colder and we were able to take the lift to the top at night, which was really cool to see. I loved getting to see it lit up at night.

After heading down, we went to a cafe across the river from the Eiffel Tower and ate some dinner and had a glass of wine. I had the most amazing caesar salad and it was so yummy. We sat around and chatted for a while before making our way back to our hotel for the night.



Sunday
November 17, 2019

We accidentally slept in too late again so we got out just a bit before check out. We finally left our hotel around 10:30 and went for lunch at a cafe near Notre Dame. I had a really yummy meal though I do think that the sickness I got Sunday night might have been from it.

After lunch, we wandered around the Notre Dame area since it finally got sunny before we hopped our train back to the airport. It took us a bit to find the check in area since it was so out of the way but after that it was smooth sailing back to London. From when we got on our plane to when I got back to campus it was less than two hours, which was pretty great.

That night, I just ate some curry for dinner with Isaac before heading to watch Psych before bed. Later on in the night, I ended up getting sick but more on that in the next post! 



Overall it was a really amazing week. I had a great time in Paris with a relaxing week leading up to it. We're getting closer to the end of the semester which is sad for two reasons, though. Number one is because I'm obviously leaving in a month and the second is that I have to focus more on studies instead of exploring in a couple of weeks. Still, I'm excited for what the rest of the semester will bring and I'm hoping it won't be too difficult to say goodbye.

For past weekly diaries, check out my study abroad page here.

(Pictures from Paris can be found on my Facebook for those who are interested)



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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