Day 2 started as a lazy day as well (we don't often get to sleep in until 11am back in Chicago with 8am classes!) but became productive when we decided to make a trip to the local supermarche!
We walked into a really upbeat district and came across the supermarche right away, so we made our way into the store. As soon as we walked in Mana stopped in her tracks. Wine at prices as low as 3 euros! Ohhhh...gotta love French wine. We quickly stocked up on some French wine before moving on to cheese, and croissants, and baguettes, ooh la laaa...
The most hilarious part of our experience was watching Sahil get into a frenzy over the detergent. He learned French in high school but apparently the packaging of laundry and dishwashing detergent left him in a frenzy. Again, Mana pulled out her random London detergent knowledge to decipher the laundry detergent and we eventually made our way out of the "grocery store" an hour and a half later with pure indulgence and some detergent that was worth 90 euros! Ohh loving the exchange rate.
We made our way back to what felt like our european home for years now, and indulged in some wine and cheese. We have friends coming over today since tomorrow will be CRAZY and exciting on New Year's Eve. Mana's friend from Kellogg will be coming over in the morning and after not having seen her for 4 months since she studied abroad in Paris last quarter, she is thrilled at the opportunity to catch up and hear about all of her experiences. We both are really excited to bring in the new year with a bunch of friends tomorrow night along the Champs-Elysees - HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Welcome to Paris
After an overnight flight to Copenhagen that involved a tiny seat, a few mediocre movies, and little to no sleep, we made it to Europe. We went through customs, had a million people ask Sahil where he was going skiing (smart guy decided we should bring his skis from Colorado to DC to Paris being that we will be skiing in Geneva), and finally made it to the gate to embark to beautiful Paris. We boarded the flight and arrived within 2 hours at Charles de Gaulle and gathered our luggage, although for some reason, while our flight was on time, our luggage was delayed...not sure how that works. Sahil's explanation was, "This is Europe - Things move more slowly. They get 2 months of vacation for pete's sake!" We eventually gathered our luggage (after the skis finally arrived) and moved on to the taxi stand, only to get rejected by the first taxi driver because the skis were too much of a nuisance. Luckily, the second taxi driver welcomed us and the skis and we were off to our new home.
In the cab ride, the cab driver began conversation by asking where we were from. When we responded with Chicago, he exclaimed "You come from Obama-land!" He then proceeded to tell us his uncensored opinion of Bush. It was a warm French welcome.
We finally arrived to our new home and after debating whether we should tip the cab driver or not, Mana remembered that during her year in London it was not customary to tip cab drivers, so we went with our instinct and learned later that we were right. We stared at the front door with the instructions that our landlord would meet us there, but did not realize we needed to press a button in order to get into the building itself. So after asking a few people on the street if we could borrow their phone to call our landlord, a kind woman finally walked in front of us, pushed a button, opened the door and let us in to our building (which she was not a resident of).
We were greeted by our landlord who was REALLY sweet. She and her husband had collected a bunch of Paris brochures to help us get an understanding of the lay of the land, showed us around our adorable Parisian loft with huge bay windows which overlook other typical European buildings, and left us a bottle of champagne in the fridge to celebrate our first time living in Paris!
In true form, we made ambitious plans to go around the city for the rest of the day and planned to take a short nap which turned into 6 hours :P oops.
We woke up eventually and went out to dinner with a few friends from home and enjoyed Tapas in the Latin Quarter and great french wine into the wee hours of the night. We even stopped at a gelato shop for some yummy hazelnut and cream gelato. Our first day in Paris definitely set the tone for an exciting 3 months to come!
In the cab ride, the cab driver began conversation by asking where we were from. When we responded with Chicago, he exclaimed "You come from Obama-land!" He then proceeded to tell us his uncensored opinion of Bush. It was a warm French welcome.
We finally arrived to our new home and after debating whether we should tip the cab driver or not, Mana remembered that during her year in London it was not customary to tip cab drivers, so we went with our instinct and learned later that we were right. We stared at the front door with the instructions that our landlord would meet us there, but did not realize we needed to press a button in order to get into the building itself. So after asking a few people on the street if we could borrow their phone to call our landlord, a kind woman finally walked in front of us, pushed a button, opened the door and let us in to our building (which she was not a resident of).
We were greeted by our landlord who was REALLY sweet. She and her husband had collected a bunch of Paris brochures to help us get an understanding of the lay of the land, showed us around our adorable Parisian loft with huge bay windows which overlook other typical European buildings, and left us a bottle of champagne in the fridge to celebrate our first time living in Paris!
In true form, we made ambitious plans to go around the city for the rest of the day and planned to take a short nap which turned into 6 hours :P oops.
We woke up eventually and went out to dinner with a few friends from home and enjoyed Tapas in the Latin Quarter and great french wine into the wee hours of the night. We even stopped at a gelato shop for some yummy hazelnut and cream gelato. Our first day in Paris definitely set the tone for an exciting 3 months to come!
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