Let me start off this overdue post by warning you that it will be lengthy. After all, since we last talked I was heading to Vienna with the group for four days and then it was off to Paris for 10 glorious days.

I’m not going to say a whole lot about Vienna to be honest with you, it was really nice to be in a big city again and I was able to be apart of some cool activities. Such as going to a ballet with friends, visiting The UN, going to an amusement park at night and waiting in absolutely no lines, among other things. This is now where I’ll share a few pictures from the 4 days we had in Vienna.

But the true highlight of my time away from the blog was Paris, France. Heading to Paris I had pretty high expectations set which I’m aware can be slippery slope. I’ve been told my whole travel abroad experience not to have high expectations or really any expectations of things/places and then no matter what I won’t be let  down. However, Paris has always been a dream city so I couldn’t shake the expectations and ideas I had in my head. I am now happy to report that Paris was everything I have ever hoped for and more.

After arriving a little bit later than expected on Tuesday the 21st due to delayed trains (which may I add had me running across the train station in Stuttgart, Germany in order to catch my connecting train to Paris.I guess that’s part of the joys of traveling. Right?!) I found my hotel and then it was off for my first meal and my first glass of wine in Paris and lets just say I haven't been disappointed once when it comes to food or wine. While I’m on the topic I might as well apologize now for the abundance of food pictures you will see on this post. 

 On Wednesday the 22nd the real fun began. Starting will the Eiffel Tower. 

To say that I was excited would be a bit of an understatement. This is something that I have dreamed of seeing for years and years now, and to be standing in front of one of the places I’d never thought I’d get to see was a really emotional experience for me. Feel free to judge me if you wish. :-)

After seeing the Eiffel Tower in the morning, I walked around and took in my surroundings. Including visiting Shakespeare and company per my brothers suggestion/request. Which if you’re not aware, it’s a cute little bookshop filled to brim with hundreds of old books by some pretty amazing, and influential authors. 

In the evening I headed back to the Eiffel Tower to go to the summit. I was there early enough to see the tower be lit up and sparkle. My Paris dreams were coming true right before my eyes. Seeing Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower, at night, was an experience I won’t soon forget. I talked with a mom and her daughter while waiting for the elevator and we boned over how absolutely freezing it was. Even though it was cold I wouldn’t change that experience for anything!

On Thursday the 23rd I went to a few places that my family (mostly my mom, Thanks Mom :-D) told me were things I just had to go to. 

I started the day off at Lebon Marche which is the fanciest department stores I will ever step foot in. There was Chanel, Dior, and so many other amazing designers. Walking though the shoe department was amazing! Never have I seen so many things I want but will never have. Haha. I didn’t even want to touch anything because everything was just so expensive.

After the department store, I went somewhere a little more my style which was La Grande Epicerie. Which is a rather large grocery store. But I refuse to call it a grocery store because that’s just disrespectful to the store. It was so much fancier than a grocery store. Think whole foods, just bigger, fancier, and a prettier layout to the store.

After the market I headed over to an open air market with a view of the Eiffel Tower while you were browsing. It was beautiful outside and the perfect environment to do a little shopping.

Lunch on Thursday was wonderful!! I had salmon on a bed of fresh veggies and wine of course. You can also just assume that at every meal there was usually some sort of bread. I was burnt out on bread before coming to Paris because the bread I have at my host mom’s house is just meh…however, Paris did a nice job at making bread delicious again.

After lunch I was walking along the river seine, heading to Notre Dame but on my way I came across a pretty sweet sculpture and hammocks along the river. Needless to say plans changed. I just sat next to river, in a hammock, soaking up life, trying to wrap my head around the fact that this is my real life.

Friday, the 24th is when my inner art nerd really came out. It was time to visit museums. The first stop of the day was The Louvre. 

Now, everything I have ever heard about The Louvre, was that it was just absolutely amazing, so I went in kind of optimistic. 

 I was there right when it opened so I was able to walk right to the Mona Lisa before she was swarmed with hundreds of people. I even took a selfie. :-)

But honestly, after seeing that, and a few other things I didn’t care so much for The Louvre. (You can now keep your gasping to yourself.) There was so much there and I can guarantee you that I didn’t even see a fraction of it all so my judgement may be too soon. But the kind of art I enjoy wasn’t as prevalent I was hoping for. So with that in mind I headed out after having lunch at The Louvre. I went to Musée d’Orsay, which ended up being one of my favorite museums I went to in my time in Paris. They had a whole room dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh’s work and I just about died. Van Gogh will be forever be one of my favorite artists because you can see so much of the emotion he was experiencing in his work. It was truly beautiful. As a side note, it is a completely surreal experience to be inches away from some of your favorite pieces of art. I was a bad person and snuck some pictures of a few of his painting. This particular museum you were not supposed to take photographs. In my defense I wasn’t the only one doing it. :-)

 It was a long day of exploring and once I got to my hotel I was FaceTiming with my Mom, who just so you’re all aware makes a pretty amazing travel agent. She wears many hats, well I may add. Anyways, I was saying that I wanted to go somewhere a little nicer for dinner, I wanted seafood as well so a few minutes later she, found from 5,000 miles away found the perfect restaurant for me. It was my fanciest meal at restaurant during this trip and it was well worth it. I started off the meal with a glass of Rose and lobster ravioli as my appetizer which was just so incredibly rich and creamy and wonderful.

For the main course I had prawns and jasmine rice which was also amazing. Add in the most wonderful glass of white wine I have ever had and I was a very happy person.

Finally for dessert, I enjoyed an apple tart with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and glass of champagne. Needless to say I spoiled myself more than just a little bit. Thanks again for finding the restaurant Mom. 

On Saturday the 25th I woke up and it was off to a few more museums. But before heading out, I stopped at what was my favorite restaurant in Pairs and had an amazing breakfast. (I warned you of food pictures earlier so it’s now fair game to post more.) I had fried eggs with mixed greens on top along with the best cup of coffee I had in Paris. My family would be so proud as well because I usually don't eat my fried eggs with that runny of a yolk. But it was fantastic.

What I guess was my second stop for the day, after breakfast, was Musée de l’ Orangerie.

I saw works from Monet, Picasso, and many, many more.

 After I finished at Musée de l’ Orangerie, I headed over to Musee Rodin which was a nice change from any of the other museums I saw previously. There was a lot more sculpture work which is either hit or miss for me but I was pleasantly surprised.

Just so happened that Rodin was a fan of Van Gogh and had a few pieces of his work when he passed so I got to see more Van Gogh which is something I will never complain about.

After leaving there, I went to Musée de l’ Armée, which I went for really just to see Napoleons tomb. It was beautiful and with the museum pass I had I didn’t have to pay anything extra, which is always nice.

I also saw the cathedral on the grounds. It was Cathedral Sanint-Louis Des Invalides. I really enjoy that craftsmanship put into all the cathedrals and churches I’ve seen abroad. I don’t care so much for the religious aspect much anymore but that’s a whole different conversation.

Then I took a fairly brisk walk through the museum just to say that I went in. I don’t care much for war history to be honest with you. Plus, there are only so many uniforms a person can look at before they start to all blend together.

Here are a few photographs from my brisk walk. :-)

With that finished, I had dinner and wine and my day was complete.

Sunday the 26th I turned off the alarm and I slept in. I didn’t have anything to do until early afternoon so I took that opportunity to catch up on sleep. I had an earlier lunch along the river and then I went to the summit of the Eiffel Tower once again. I went up a total of three times, at different times, just so I could get the feel for it at different hours of the day. It was fun seeing Paris during the day as well. An added bonus being that it wasn't absolutely freezing. I enjoyed a glass of champagne at the summit which I though was necessary at least once. The champagne was wonderful and I was able to take some cool photographs with it. Which was the whole purpose.

Monday the 27th I started my day at Notre Dame, where I stood in line for an hour in a half to go up the tower, which ended up being time well spent. Even when cold. 

 In the afternoon I went with 2 friends who were in Paris as well, to a behind the scenes tour of the Eiffel Tower. We saw the bunker attached to the Eiffel tower, the mechanics room and then went up to the 2nd floor of the tower, with the option of paying to go to the summit if we so chose to do so. I stayed on the second and first floor this visit because I had not seen them yet. Plus the first floor has glass flooring in parts so that was a must see.

Tuesday the 28th, bright and early I got on a bus to Versailles. Which had many people testing my patience. I am under the assumption that when in a museum or an exhibit of any kind you keep your voices low and are respectful of other people but there were many people there that day that seem to forget museum etiquette. Other than that, and the fact it was beyond cold outside I really enjoyed my time at Versailles.

Wednesday the 29th, my parents spoiled me and treated me to a lunch cruise on the river seine. It was beyond wonderful and I was able to dress up and really enjoy myself. 

 I was brought to my table which was at the front of the boat (Is the bow or stern of a boat? I don’t speak boat.) and my waiter started pouring me a glass of champagne and he then started pouring a glass for the second guest who didn’t exist and I told him “oh no, just one” and he then proceeded to pour the second glass and said that it was for me. Then another gentleman came to take my order and he said something to his buddy (the guy who poured the champagne) and proceeded to sit down and toast with me and asked where I was from and why I was in Paris. I was appreciative of the gesture and it helped that this guy was an absolutely gorgeous french man. :-) After two glasses of champagne I received my pre-appetizer I guess you could call it which was little savory muffins that had olives in them. I’m not huge olive fan but I told myself I had to try one of each kind, which I did. Then it was time for the appetizer which was a salad and it was delicious. It was then time for first of many glasses of wine.

After finishing that and sipping on wine my main course appeared which was salmon with veggies and cabbage. It was so yummy and the fish was fresh. Give me salmon any day of the week and I’m a happy camper. 

After finishing the main course, and before the cheese course came a photographer came around to take pictures of everyone. I will post the pictures but keep in mind that I do not have a scanner so these are just pictures of pictures.

Then it was time for the cheese course which has two different kinds of cheese which I enjoyed with bread and more wine. :-)

Then it was time for dessert, which, I took the suggestion of the gorgeous french man I talked about earlier and he was right, it was delicious. I finished off my third glass of wine with dessert as well. They just kept pouring it so I kept drinking it. Not the best method I know, but I’ve decided it’s disrespectful to Paris not to drink wine when it’s offered. :-) After all I had to go back to Salzburg soon where beer is most popular so I had to get my wine fix.

After dessert it was time for coffee and then sadly the cruise was over.

After the cruise, the rest of my day was pretty quite. I won’t lie to you, I was a little bit drunk at 3 o’clock in the afternoon so all I really wanted to do was take a nap and sleep off some of the alcohol I drank.

Now, we’ve made it to Thursday the 30th which was my last full day in Paris. It’s so incredibly bittersweet to know that I soon had to leave the place that stole part of my heart but schools calling.

I woke up and went to the Arc, and was there about 45 minutes before they were scheduled to open and it turned out they were having a ceremony at the grave of the unknown solider. I stayed and watched for a little while but I don’t speak french so none of it made much sense. The one thing I know they were doing for sure was calling up individuals or groups of people to place flowers. I didn’t end up going to the top of the Arc because the ceremony was still going on and I had other things I wanted to do. Got some cool pictures and thats all that I really cared about. 

 

 From there I went shopping on Champs-Elysees which is one of the more popular places to shop in Paris. I pasted by some of the really expensive stores, such as Tiffany’s and then I went into stores as simple as the Disney Store. 

I got back to my hotel for a quick break before getting sushi for lunch which I wish I had a picture of but at the time my phone couldn’t hold any more pictures. From there I went shopping around my hotel and found the most perfect pair of shoes. They are so pretty and I am very much in love with them. Then I found a Starbucks right by my hotel (I would find one the last day! I guess it saved me money because I only saw it the last day there. P.S. I’ve now had Starbucks in Germany, Austria, and France.) so I sat outside and enjoy coffee and a cookie. 

From there I went back to my fancy grocery store to get the Eiffel Tower cookie cutter I told my sister and Mom about who then told me I had to go back for it. I guess that means this year it will be gingerbread Eiffel Tower cookies. Now I just need one to represent Austria. 

And with that, my time has come to end. It’s currently the 31st and as I write this I’m on the train back to Salzburg and will post when I get home. If you have read this all the way through you are a trooper.

But before I sign off I would like to emphasize one thing…

Being away has been one of the best experiences for me. I have proved that I can truly be independent and live life according to my own values and beliefs. I can live life in the way I have dreamed about. Yes, I still struggle but I don’t see those struggles as something that have to dominate my life anymore. I have the choice to stand up and say enough of this shit I will not cave into what the eating disorder voice says.

But more than any of that, more than any class I’ve taken or the places I’ve seen or traveled to, I’ve been able to feel what happiness is again and that is something that is truly priceless. Truly laughing, smiling, and enjoying life is something that I don’t take lightly. It truly is a gift that I am blessed to have. There have been so many points in my life when I thought all hope was lost, and I was a lost cause and that my life didn’t matter and I have learned that by doing the things that scare me, they can truly change your entire life.

I never thought I would be sitting in a hotel in Paris writing this right now or spending a semester in Austria. I never thought I would have formed some of the relationships I have now. I truly never thought that I would even make it past my freshman year of college.

It has been a really emotional experience for me to see so many of my lifelong dreams come true. Some may seam unimportant and maybe even stupid but for me, it’s everything. Life right now is just so much more than I ever thought it could be and I am just so extremely grateful for the people in my life that have helped me get to this place.

I know you’re reading this, and I want to take a moment to thank-you. Thank-you from the bottom of my being for fighting for me when I wasn’t strong enough to fight for myself and fighting for me when I didn’t think I was worth fighting for. Thank-you for never giving up on me and for being my shoulder to cry on, my person to lean on, my guardian angel, my person. I’m not sure that I would be where I am today without all the love and support you’ve given me. Words will never truly express how grateful I am to. I love you all.

And with that I say goodbye until next time.