Bonjour America! I'm back from my two-week study abroad to Europe and am already having travel withdrawals; there are so many amazing sights to see in the world and I can't wait to hop on another plane!
My "Intercultural Communication" trip took place over two weeks in January, getting me home just in time for spring semester classes to start, and hopped all over France and Spain. It was honestly the best experience of my life thus far; I can't recommend traveling and immersing yourself in new cultures enough!
There were 10 K-State students on our faculty-led trip, and we all grew to be close friends by the end of the trip! I'll have to keep this post brief because there's so much I could talk about and this blog will already be super long with all the photos. I'm chronologically posting everything that happened and sharing my most memorable experiences from the trip, so keep scrolling for an inside look at my study abroad experience!
P.S. - You can shop all of my outfits at the bottom of this post!
DAY 1 - PARIS
I landed in Paris at 6AM in the morning; the jet lag was REAL but we got to take a nap in our hotel before going out and exploring! It was a dream come true of a day: we walked along the Champs-Elysees which was lit up with sparkling red holiday lights to the L'arc de Triomphe. Afterwards, we had a wine tasting, and then rode the metro to see the Eiffel Tower by night.
DAY 2 - VERSAILLES
On day two, we caught a train to the Chateau de Versailles, one of my favorite sites of the entire trip! The castle was so grand and gorgeous and we had a guided tour and I was just awe-struck! I couldn't believe I was actually strolling through the gardens of Versailles and admiring the Hall of Mirrors!
DAY 3 - PARIS: Louvre & Eiffel Tower
Our third day in Paris was super memorable. We started off with a tour of the Louvre museum, where I viewed many priceless pieces of art, including the Mona Lisa! (spoiler alert, she's a lot smaller in person) As you can see, I was pumped to finally get my photo op with the infamous glass pyramid.
One thing that surprised me about Paris was how much English/American influence we witnessed. Before arriving in Paris, I felt a lot of anxiety over the fact that I would be stranded amongst a strictly French-speaking population; a minority in a foreign country. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the majority of the French people I interacted with spoke English, or at least comprehended what I was trying to convey, and having taken three French classes came in handy!
My favorite memory of the trip happened on this night; we had some free time in the evening, and a group of booked tickets to go up on the Eiffel tower, but we underestimated how long it would take us to get to the tower, and ended up running pretty late and were afraid we would miss our chance to go up. We accidentally took a few wrong trains in the metro and ended up having to sprint to the Eiffel tower, and as we were running, pedestrians and souvenir sellers were cheering us on! In the end, we ended up making it up on the Eiffel tower, despite running late and having trouble locating the entrance to the tower, and it was magical! To see all of Paris lit up from above while the Eiffel tower sparkled beneath my feet - just look at the pure joy on my face!
DAY 4 - PARIS: Musee D'Orsay & Notre Dame
On our last day in Paris, we visited the Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral, and rode a Batobus tour boat down the Seine River. That night, we boarded a train, drank some wine, and arrived in Aix-En-Provence around 11PM. It was actually an extremely memorable night because when we got to our hotel, myself and three other girls got trapped inside an elevator for over an hour, and the fire department had to come rescue us!
DAYS 5 & 6 - AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Aix was so much more quaint and quiet compared to the bustling streets of Paris! Aix, labeled “The City of 1,000 Fountains”, is located in the South of France, and was a drastic change of pace from our experiences in Paris. On our first morning I found my favorite restaurant of the entire trip and ordered banana nutella crepes and a virgin pina colada; we ate there twice while in Aix!
Apart from my negative experience associated with being trapped inside a tiny hotel elevator for over an hour, my first impressions of Aix were that the town was a much more intimate, quiet setting from that of Paris’ hustle and bustle. I personally felt more relaxed after constantly feeling on edge in Paris, worrying about pickpockets and stressing about using the metro to travel. In Aix, we could walk everywhere on foot, and it felt refreshingly slow-paced.
DAY 7 - MARSEILLES
Our last day in France consisted of a day spent at the port of Marseilles on the Mediterranean. It was stunning in the South of France! We started out with a visit to the Notre Dame de la Garde cathedral, which rests on a hilltop over the city. The views were spectacular; the above photo was taken atop the cathedral!
We spent the day walking around the port, souvenir shopping, eating macarons, admiring all the boats, and we also rode a huge ferris wheel right above the water!
That night we boarded a plane to Spain and said "au revoir" to France! Stay tuned for the second half of my Study Abroad blog, set in Espana! I'll speak more to the "study" portion of the trip in my Spain blog. ;)
P.S. - In preparation for this trip, I bought the ugliest little Walmart cross body bag to carry my money and phone in and close to my body because the pickpockets in Europe are no joke! My friend Caroline's phone and cards were stolen the second she stepped off the plane in the Paris airport and my other friend Dom's wallet was pickpockets in Spain!