After a long flight across the pond, we were all relieved to have landed in one of the biggest airports I have ever seen, the Charles de Gualle. We quickly connected with the other girls in the airport to find our guide, Thomas, who works for WorldStrides in Paris. Soon enough, our bags were thrown into the Coach bus waiting for us and we were off to the city. Riding into the city of Paris for the first time was so unique. Though I have been to Europe before, this was my first time in France and I was already picking up a difference. The effort of the French to incorporate art into the environment was evident. I saw murals on every other building and colorful street art along the sides of the highway. One thing that I also didn’t expect was green grass and even flowers blooming! It was certainly refreshing to see after leaving Boston where there was still two feet of snow on the ground.
Our first stop was the hotel, where our bags were dropped in a safe place so that we could head off to lunch (we weren’t able to get into our rooms yet because we arrived before check-in time). Thomas guided us on our first trip through the famous Metro to get to our destination. We all grew to know and love the Metro very quickly as it, compared to Boston’s subway system, was extremely easy to navigate. Upon arrival to lunch, we were served a delicious meal of French Onion soup, a chicken and rice dish, and a very much needed coffee (which turned out to just be an espresso shot).
After lunch, we walked as a group to the WorldStrides office where AnneMaria led our arrival orientation which turned out to be extremely helpful. She explained to us all how to be safe in and around the city with recommendations on places she thought we would like and places she felt that we should avoid. She also helped us understand the layout of the city as well as how to use public transportation like a local. Most importantly, she taught us how to act. Parisians are famously judgmental and so small tips like the importance of greeting someone with “bonjour” or ”bonsoir” when you enter any place, and of course our pleases (s’il te plait) and thank yous (merci) were essential for our ease with fitting in.
After orientation we were set free to explore the city! Abbie, Sarah, Julia, Lilah, and I chose to stop back at the hotel to get settled and changed then headed out for dinner. We simply couldn’t help ourselves from going straight to the Eiffel Tower to finally see what we had all dreamt of seeing since we were girls. It sounds funny to say, but I was blown away at how big it really is. It is truly a marvel and I would advise everyone I know to see it in person at least once in their life. We chose to take the metro to the Notre Dame where we found some great restaurants for dinner. Considering having a long day of travel, we were starving and could eat practically anything. Being a Sunday night, the town was calmer and we were able to sit and eat right away. Our waiter was extremely friendly and generous to us and the food was like no other. We headed back to the hotel with full stomachs and went to sleep ready for the next day ahead.