"There's something missing, something missing I know...there's still one place I've gotta go!" - Sabrina, 1954

 

    The Eiffel Tower! It was so exciting for me to see it at night because I never have before! I felt like it was my first time being there. The temperature here has dropped significantly since I arrived last week and we were definitely feeling it tonight. It was Diana's 21st birthday, so despite it being a Tuesday, we had to celebrate by going ice skating on the first level! It was the last night of the year for skating and we went late at night, so we were the last skaters until next year! It was so much fun sliding around like fools and freezing our butts off and it's something I will never forget.

It sparkles on the hour.

Ice skating like a fool on the Eiffel Tower

Happy birthday, Diana!

    Visiting the Tower was a welcome break from the stresses of real life in Paris. On the way to class, I tried to get an Orangina from a machine in the Pernety station just to fill my stomach with something, but the machine ended up eating my two euros- and hey, that's a lot of money! After class, I had thirty minutes to find the EUSA office for a meeting to discuss my internship interview at French Travel Partners next week, where I will (if I'm hired) help book accommodations and make phone calls in French all day long. Since I haven't quite figured out myself here yet, I didn't eat breakfast before my morning class at 11 and then had no time in between class and the meeting to eat. By the time I made it to the meeting, I was exhausted, grouchy, parched and famished, which coincided with the time of day when I really just want to be American and eat a piece of pizza and be funny in my own language (Apparently being funny is one of the hardest things to do in another language/culture). On the way home, I continued my good mood by sitting on the métro, full of rage about life, and wanting everyone to stop staring at me all the time. The métro passages are also chock-full of Jean Dujardin smiling on The Artist posters at every turn, which made me want to punch him in his charming face, too. I also just found out I'm auditioning at the Schola Cantorum tomorrow for piano lessons, which I didn't know I was signing up for. Prepared? Nope. At the end of a stressful day, going to the Eiffel Tower does a person good.

Rachel