Diana's adventure in Paris

Hey everyone!

So...last Friday my friends and I decided to check out the Versailles mall. It was pretty fun, and we saw some cool stores. On the way home we talked about going into Paris again the next day, but most of my friends wanted to do some shopping. I wasn't interested...so I decided to go into Paris by myself!

On Tuesday of last week our history professor told us that we were to meet in Paris for another walking tour. Meet...in Paris. That's right. No meeting at the train station. Well, I was completely terrified. I didn't understand how the train system worked and was feeling really stressed about it. Transportation(buses, trains, airports) is not something I naturally embrace in life, so I felt the fear(haha) but knew this was something I had to learn how to do on my own. A friend met me at the train station and explained to me which train to take and what stop to get off at, and we met the rest of the students just fine that morning. We had another small tour of Paris and did some sketching, then were dismissed for lunch and were free the rest of the day. My friends and I decided to stay in Paris and do some more sketching. I sketched Notre Dame! It was a great day.

But anyway, getting back to last Saturday...I didn't want to go shopping in Paris, I wanted to see more monuments and architecture like the Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle cathedral, etc. so I decided to go by myself! As you can imagine, I was somewhat scared because this would be the ultimate test to see if I could navigate the train system and make it back to Versailles alive(haha...I'm not exaggerating, transportation scares me that much), but I also felt excited because I was going to learn something new and really grow as a person!

So I got a map of Paris from the tourism office and planned out where I wanted to go in Paris! On Saturday morning I got there early, got on the train, and arrived in Paris getting off at Notre Dame(the usual stop). I got off the train and exited the train station(Go me!) and there I was, in Paris, on my own and free! I was super excited. I walked to the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral(for those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's probably my favorite cathedral because it has the most stained glass of any cathedral I know, it's so pretty) and since it was early in the morning there was so much light shining in it made the interior absolutely breathtaking! I am also doing my research paper on Sainte-Chapelle, so I was super anxious to see that cathedral first!

Then I walked down the street(not really knowing where I was going, but willing to explore) and shopped at various street shops and bought a few souvenirs. As I was exploring the area I saw a few of the buildings we had seen on the walking tours and began to understand more of where I was and how the city was put together. That's right, I was learning how to get around Paris!

I had lunch and then went back to the train station to get off by the Louvre. I used my map to walk to the Louvre, but ended up exploring the Tuileries gardens instead. Suddenly I saw the Arch de Triomphe in the distance and decided to walk to it! Unfortunately I was deceived by the distance and ended up walking over a mile...haha. But it was totally worth it, and I got to see many Parisian shops and other beautiful architecture along the way. I finally got to the arch and went underground in order to stand right beneath it(the arch is on an island in the middle of a road, so you have to come up from beneath). It was very cool to see it.

Then I did something else that was very exciting...up until going to the arch I had been walking on my own down the same street, but this time I pulled out the map and was figuring out how to get to another place I wanted to go(the Opera house). I had walked a really long way to get to the arch, so walking to the Opera from the Louvre seemed liked nothing! I walked all the way back, navigated the streets, and successfully made it to the Opera house.

By that time I had done a lot of walking and was ready to go home. I walked back to the train station(keeping in mind which train I had to take) and made it back to Versailles. I had an absolutely fabulous day in Paris, my own adventure, where I went everywhere I wanted to go! More importantly, though, my confidence sky-rocketed in terms of taking the train, reading maps, finding my way around, etc. I've never had to do that on my own, and with Paris being such a big city, it was a great learning experience and now I know I can do it!

My friends ended up shopping the whole day so I was really really glad I took the chance and had my own day in Paris, hehe ;) Now I have overcome my fear of the train station and map-reading.

This weekend all of the students are going on a three-day trip to Orleans, Tours, and Saumar. It is a sketching trip, so we are required to document our experience through multiple sketches, sort of like a scrapbook except all hand drawn. I am very excited to do this and get more sketching experience. I'm sure I will enjoy the trip!

On Monday we start our first studio project. This project will be a challenging one because we are put in teams with french students, and possibly students that speak languages other than french, so communication will be difficult and we will have to do the best we can. Studio life is different here-we kind of have to assert our own workspace, we are not given one. We really have to make an effort to communicate with the french students in order to accomplish a goal. The french students have their own classes in french, so they are not directly with us, but come studio time we will be seeing them most days. I am excited to meet new people and use my language skills. This will be like nothing I have ever done before!

Until next time,
Diana :)