A Very Lucky Girl

We woke up in London early Sunday morning and took ourselves and our packs to Kings Cross St. Pancras train station. Our Eurostar train was scheduled to depart at 8 AM. We settled into our reserved seats and arrived in Paris at 11:47 AM after entering another time zone. We were now 7 hours ahead of our family in Oklahoma. Zee, my friend from the study abroad program in Dundee, met us at the Gare du Nord train station. He was our tour guide for the afternoon and he absolutely crushed it. First order of business was ditching the packs at our hostel, Smart Place Paris , which was just a few blocks away from the Gare du Nord train station. We grabbed sandwiches and cheese at a nearby Monop before taking the metro to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic lunch. Along the way we stopped at the Champs-Elysees for the Arc De Triomphe and my one request: an authentic french baguette that I promptly chomped into.  We found a shady spot at the Eiffel Tower and devoured our lunches while catc...

The world-wide race to find love finally takes off in Paris this week. The girls try out their French accents and dub "Pair-ee" the most romantic city around!! Their home for the week is a house boat/apartment building on the Seine. They declare it soooo Parisian (How?) and take turns claiming beds before shouting "Bonjour Arie!" like the embarrassing American tourists that they are.  The aforementioned Arie is benched up with Coach Harrison reflecting on the weeks past and wondering at what lies ahead. Being with 10 women is difficult and Arie is shocked that he is falling in love with more than one. What does he expect with free plane tickets, champagne, and ABC-orchestrated dates?  After his huddle with his player, Chris boards the apartment boat to welcome the ladies and lay out the plan for the week. In Paris there will be four dates: 2 one on ones, a group date, and a two on one date. Krystal smirks and wonders who will be paired with her on that two on on...

We took an early train out of Switzerland, bound for Paris! We passed endless yellow field on the way in and when we arrived and tried to navigate the metro a guy handed me a free metro ticket. Paris was off to a great start! Until we got to the Louvre. We walked all around, looking for an entrance, until we saw the sign stating it was closed on Tuesdays. Guess what day it was? Typical. No Mona Lisa for me this trip. I had arranged to stay with one of my friends, Penelope, who I knew from my North Carolina days, so with our afternoon plans shot to hell, we headed toward her apartment through the Jardin de Tuileries. We only got slightly lost and I threw myself down on the ground in the nearest park and prepared to have a slight breakdown. I hadn't been there 3 seconds before a policeman asked me to move to a different patch of grass. I still have no idea as to why. But I followed his instructions and moved myself and my emotions. I was tired of planning, tired of plans not going as...