I think I'll stay put for awhile...

As you all may have realized, I've travelled quite a bit during my time in Europe. However, not only is it expensive to travel almost every weekend, it's also tiring as hell to be constantly on the move. So instead of depleting my bank account and pushing myself to exhaustion (both are generally thought to be bad ideas), I figured I'd stay in Paris during the month of May and explore the city that has been my home base since February but haven't seen too much of because I've been so busy. Even moreso, I'm getting the opportunity to share the place I've called home with a few friends that happen to be visiting during the month :)

First to visit (during the first weekend in May) was Cassie- Tom's friend from Frankfurt who generously showed us around the city and let us crash at her place, so I tried to return the favor. I showed her around Montmartre, Notre Dame, and St. Michel before we met up with Boubacar and Romain- two guys who also studied with Junior in Bonn. Later that night, we were treated to a picnic right in front of the Eiffel Tower- it was gorgeous :)

Montmartre- a very picturesque part of Paris

As tacky as some French think it is, I love the sparkles :)

The next day, Romain (who is a history teacher) took Cassie on a walking tour of the city, and  I decided to tag along because, believe it or not, there are still parts of Paris that I haven't seen yet. We started off in the Luxembourg Gardens, then saw the Pantheon, Sorbonne, St. Michel, Notre Dame, the quais of the Seine, the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysees, and finally, the Arc de Triomphe (which I hadn't really seen yet, except in passing- I'm not really a fan of all the tourists surrounding the Arc and the neighboring Champs-Elysees). We decided to go up the Arc and see the view from the top, so after arguing with the ticket vendor for free admission (she wanted to see my passport to confirm that I was a legal resident of France- funny story: I don't carry that on me everywhere I go, lady), I got my free ticket and we climbed the 250+ spiral stairs to the top. And the view was amazing- you could see the entirety of Paris laid out before you.

284 stairs later...

After all the walking (and all those stairs), we were pretty tired so we relaxed in nearby Parc Monceau for a while before we headed the Romain's friend's apartment, where a Champagne Party was being thrown (note to friends in the U.S.: we need to have one of these).  There were about 35 people crammed in a space the size of my Eickhoff dorm room, but we made it work. It also turns out I'm not nearly as awkward in French social situations as I originally thought. The people there were really nice and forgave my conjugation errors and verb tense mistakes. And all was forgiven/forgotten when Cassie and I talked everyone into having a dance party :)

Bachelor party gone wild at Parc Monceau. Apparently, bachelor/ette parties are a big deal in France. Here, the groom was dressed up as Mario from Super Mario Bros. (complete with pillow in the middle to fluff up his midsection) while his groomsmen had t-shirts with different characters from the game. It was pretty epic.

Partytime. And legit- it was the size of a room in Eick.

Stealthmasters (that were dying from heatstroke) haha

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see Cassie on Sunday or Monday- womp womp :( But I hear she had a great time at Versailles and the Louvre with Boubacar :)

I haven't really done too much else lately, to be honest- just finishing up papers and exams as the semester winds down, and releasing some stress (which is basically non-existent here for me; it's wonderful) through a little bit of bar-hopping and dancing (sorry Daddy- but I promise I've been smart about it!) :) Most of the American students are leaving within the next week or so, so many of the final exams are being given early- this means that I'll essentially be done with classes by May 30th (my last art history exam) and I'll just have to attend class for the following two weeks. And as I just typed that, I realized how little time I have left here: only 29 more days until I step on American soil again. It's crazy how fast the time is flying by.