Bonjour!
I figured it was about time for another update... Okay.. it's embarrassingly late, but here it goes: (Actually this is going to come in two installments. I think it will make it easier to read if it's in two emails instead of one massive one.)
I don't remember how many weekends ago it was now, but I headed off to Paris once more. This time I went with two girls from my course on Saturday. We went to the Notre Dame and the Sacre Coeur as the highlights. The Notre Dame is beautiful... there is something profound about being in a building where people have worshiped for centuries. Granted, during the Revolution it was turned into the Temple of Reason or something opposite of sacred like that, but it still feels like a holy place even when it's full of tourists. I still want to yell SANCTUARY when I'm inside and pretend I'm in the Hunchback of Notre Dame movie. (Don't worry.. I restrain myself.) The Sacre Coeur is more beautiful from the outside, in my opinion. Inside, they don't let you talk or take photos, so it feels much more like a real church rather than a tourist attraction. We paid 5 euros to climb the 295 stairs (yes, I counted them- they told me it was 300, but they lied) to the top of the dome. The view was awesome! We were able to walk around all 365 degrees and see all of Paris from the second highest point in the city. (Just the Eiffel Tower is taller.) We girls had a blast all day, taking imitation model photos, shopping (and getting free key chains from the store owner that flirted with us), and eating nutella crepes.
That Saturday night, I met up with the brothers Calderon. Luis and Jesus are good friends from my college days at U of M... I say that like it was soooo long ago. :) It was just over a year ago. Anyway, we had dinner at a pub and watched Portugal play Turkey in the EuroCup (that's basically the European World Cup for soccer). I got the run down on players, teams, strategies, and how to cheer properly from Luis. I decided that I'm now a Portugal fan. They speak Portuguese, have the coolest jerseys and Cristiano Ronaldo is my favorite player. (Ladies, look up his picture!) What's not to like? (Since I started writing this email, Portugal lost, and Spain beat Germany in the finals.) We hung out by the Eiffel Tower at night, which is cooler all lit up at night than in the daytime. Jesus was taking nonstop pictures, and Luis was the most popular subject :). One of the highlights was Sunday evening when we went to my favorite bridge (Pont des Artes). We sat down on a bench, and we were talking and munching on some delicious chocolate. Three guys sat down behind us, and started speaking... in Portuguese! They were speaking about personal stuff (juicy gossip).. so after a couple minutes, I turned around and asked them where they were from.. in Portuguese. I felt funny eavesdropping when they probably assumed that nobody could understand them. They just about freaked out when they realized that I could understand them! We ended up becoming friends and talking in Portuñol (Portuguese and Spanish) for about an hour and half until I had to catch the metro back home. It's so cool to meet people from other parts of the world. Every time I meet Brazilians, they are so friendly and cool. I love it! About halfway into the conversation, another girl from the other side of the bridge said hello and apologized for eavesdropping… she spoke English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Who would have guessed: a bridge full of Portuguese speakers on a bridge in Paris! It was great :)
Two weekends ago, a big group of us spent our Saturday at Disneyland Paris. It was fun. Honestly, it's nothing compared to Disney World in Orlando, FL, but we still made it a good time. We made our way from big rollercoaster to rollercoaster, getting as many fast passes as possible, and stopping on the way for overpriced cheeseburgers and waffles topped with chocolate. I paid prices for food that appaled me. The number value would have made the food expensive in US Dollars.. and then I started converting to Euros in my head. I had to stop before that went to far. :) Those darn exchange rates cramp my style... Anyway, it's always fun to run around with other adults and feel like a kid again. Skipping, dancing, and singing Disney songs at the top of our lungs in a symphony of accented English are all perfectly normal activities within the magical world of Disney. The highlight of the whole day was one particular bridge that bounced like a trampoline when you jumped on it. We must have spent a collective hour jumping on that bridge- we crossed it at every possible opportunity. Everyone would be bouncing across, and every couple jumps, you would catch some else's bounce and get launched in the air. It was impossible not to giggle the entire time. The act of bouncing across the high traffic bridge was hilarious feeling, everyone else looked hilarious in their bouncing, and it was just plain funny how easily amused we all were.
There is really so much to talk about... I really need to update more often. Anyway, I'll just summarize the school part of my life quickly. It's funny that's it's what I spend most of my time doing, but really, it doesn't make the greatest stories. I've lead a job on the practice rig, worked as a roughneck (kinda like in Armageddon... but not really.. haha), and taken multiple exams (and done well so far). I've received multiple nicknames, including: Soupy (short for supervisor- from the first job we did), Miss Michigan (apparently I wear lots of U of M apparel), Jessie (despite my efforts to make everyone call me Jess or Jessica, Jessie is apparently the easiest to say on the soccer field), and Double T (my friend called me a Teletubby- those furry, colorful, round-bellied characters as a joke. I was appalled, but I think my adverse reaction made the nickname stick harder.. darn).
Until the next chapter,
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