La Dolce Vita di Kierea: The Eiffel Tower and French People! Finally :)

This morning we were all dead tired! I was excited to see more of Paris, but a part of me felt ready to be in Italy—I think it's because I just miss meeting and getting to know people...when I'm living in Italy and learning the language, I'll have more of an opportunity to learn about people (which is pretty much my favorite past time) and build friendships. That said, everything about today was absolutely amazing, and it ended more perfectly than I could have imagined. :) Today is actually a holiday in Paris, so while a lot of museums were closed, there was still a TON going on! There was a big rally for the current president of France (ya know, the kind of protest-thing they tell tourists to avoid), and we got a free French Flag and T-shirt out of it :)

Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower—I’m trying to decide exactly how to describe it. It’s hard. Everything is hard to describe here because words just don't do the city justice—there’s a different feeling in Paris. I think it's the fact that culture, history, and pride oozes from every corner in the city. That mixed with the pure excitement of everyone visiting and taking pictures with statues, buildings, artwork, and monuments that they've only seen on TV or in books. The Asians, though, seem keener on taking pictures with me than any statue (haha) several more asked me to take pictures with them today—it still catches me off guard, but I'm seriously starting to consider that I chose the wrong continent for my field study. Not to worry though, I got a picture with quite the attractive Frenchmen as well! Shawn did get some pictures with French girls—the problem is that he is an AWFUL judge of age! He started hitting on two 14 year old girls and asked them to take a picture; they offered to show us where something was, so we all started walking together. That's when Shawn found out how old they were haha, so I took the reins and just started chatting with them instead, so that he could avoid anymore awkwardness...oh mercy.

The Asians here love me haha, but this one definitely conned me into giving him my French flag,
so maybe it wasn't my blonde hair that caught his eye after all...

A picture with a true Frenchman in front of the Eiffel Tower, bucket list check!

We've had some difficulty with transportation after the Eiffel Tower. For starters, we couldn't figure out how to rent bikes; there are these stations where you can rent bikes for the day—and it's free for the first 30 minutes, but our debit cards weren't working. Then, we spent over an hour in the train station trying to figure out how to get to Rome. We were planning on taking a night train, but it got cancelled, and all the Eurorail seats were full for the train from Paris to Rome. Luckily we found an alternative route, unfortunately that means that we leave at 6:30am one day and get to Rome 24 hours later—the little joys of traveling :) Ah well though, we may have a couple nice layovers in some random towns, and end up finding some brilliantly amazing sites!

After buying tickets, we decided to go back to the Louvre and relax outside. I made a seat out of a random platform, while Shawn and Hayden rested up aways away against one of the glass pyramids. I was people watching and taking random pictures when a couple—around my age—caught my eye, mainly because the girl was wearing a skirt that was pretty much identical to mine, except for the color. I kept watching them and their seemingly heated conversation. They were going back and forth for a couple minutes—clearly upset—and, all of a sudden, the girl turned and stalked off in the opposite direction, obviously trying to put as much distance between herself and him. He followed her, not saying anything, just staying near her. Right when the thought crossed my mind that it was sweet that—even though they had been arguing—he didn't immediately leave her, he walked away in the other direction. My attention focused on her—as she realized he had left. She walked into a big open space in the Louvre, crouched down, and kind of bowed her head between her legs—it looked like she was crying...

Without really thinking anything through, I got off the platform and started walking over to her. I wasn't sure what my plan was, and figured that even if I’d had one, there was a pretty good chance that she didn't speak English anyway. So, I crouched down next to her, put my hand on her back, and after a couple seconds asked, "Are you okay?" I think it surprised her to hear my voice, she probably thought I was her boyfriend at first. She looked up and me and kind of shrugged, so I asked her if there was anything I could do—still unsure if she understood me. Turns out she did. She said no, but was clearly upset. I gave her one of those 'understanding smiles' and said that I was sorry. She, unaware that I had seen anything, told me that she had been arguing with her boyfriend and that that was why she was crouching down. I was a little relieved that she spoke English. I'm not even sure when the conversation changed, but we just started talking about random things. She told me that her name was Alexandrine. She spoke nearly perfect English, but was born and raised in France—she’d done a lot of traveling and had really improved her accent. We laughed about the fact that she lived in France and had been to New York, and that I lived in the States and hadn't. She told me how she worked in fashion, and I told her a bit about myself. I told her that I felt I was missing out on a huge portion of French culture because I hadn't been able to meet many French people... We sat there—crouched—for five or ten minutes before standing to continue our conversation. She told me that she wanted me to meet her boyfriend; she looked around for a minute and spotted him sitting near some stairs. I walked over with her; Shawn and Hayden—who had obviously been worriedly watching me (because they thought she may have been a gypsy)—walked over as well.

We all introduced ourselves and had a great conversation, we were all laughing—everyone that is, except her boyfriend, who was very nice, but—Alexandrine explained—was a true Frenchman, and in tradition, he did not smile (or speak English. :) Shawn joked about wanting to kiss a French girl (I use the term 'joked' loosely) and told her she should help me kiss a French boy. Her boyfriend understood that and offered up himself; rather than responding how any American girl would, she seemed keen on the idea as well. "Yeah, you can kiss him! This is Paris, the city of love—we don't care about things like that." I just laughed, mainly because I had no idea how to respond, mmm 'no thanks'? She was such a fun person! She is well traveled, spoke 3 languages, and had a passion for life. We asked them to take pictures with us; Alexandrine tried to teach me how to take pictures like a French girl aka: no smiling. I failed epically. :D Shawn, Hayden and I had to get going, but she showed us the best spots in Paris before we did. She told us it was a pleasure to meet us and that we weren't like typical Americans because, "You want to travel and you care about history. And you're not fat." Ha I hope that's not a stereotype held by all French people about Americans, but I have a feeling that it is. She told me that she believed in destiny and that we meet the people we do for a reason. She thanked me for coming over to talk to her, told me that she could tell I had a good heart, and then offered to show me around her store in Paris the next day! Sounds like a plan! Oh, and I got two kisses from a Frenchman! One on each cheek! Perfect.

Today was the best day by far, I can't help it, I loved meeting people and getting to know them. I felt like we really bonded in that short amount of time; Alexandrine and I exchanged information and decided to stay in touch. And to top off a good thing with a strawberry (I don't like cherries), Shawn and Hayden were taking pictures the whole time! These are by far my favorite pictures of the entire trip thus far—sentimental value, I suppose :) And here they are:

People watching at the Louvre

Hayden and Shawn relaxing outside the Louvre

This was after we'd talked for a bit, she was writing down her name and email address

It's kind of funny how you can always find a common bond with someone,
everyone who is put into your life is definitely there for a reason.
I also love the fact that we are basically wearing the same skirts in different colors haha
hers is from Paris, mine is form Utah