Just Another Day: Bonjour, from Paris: 2

Something I learned to love when I still went to College of Charleston was to get lost in a city and see where I ended up. I stumbled upon a lot of great little finds and favorite spots. It's something I have always missed since transferring. Clemson is beautiful, but a lot of that beauty requires a car, hiking boots, and some bug spray. I often miss just being able to walk out of my dorm and go down whichever side street I felt like until I hit the water at the Battery.

Being in Paris has given me a chance to relive those freshman year glory days. A group of people decided to go out on Friday, but I was feeling really homesick and just wanted to stay in and watch Friends on Netflix and eat my feelings in whatever was in my fridge. I ended up getting a text from one of the girls in my group asking if I wanted to go explore. I thought it would be good to get out, so I said yes.

Side note. As I'm writing this there is a pigeon picking around at my feet. I'm indoors. I came indoors to get away from this pigeon.

Back to my story. We decided to go to just pick a random metro stop and see what was around there. I'm not exactly sure where we were, and by then it was kind of late so a lot of the shops were closed, but we ended up just walking towards the Eiffel Tower and found a restaurant to grab some creme brûlée because we decided we were craving it. It was a simple evening, but it was something I really needed. I've gone exploring a few times on my own –– which has always been fun –– but it was nice to have someone with me this time.

Yesterday two other girls and I decided to explore Le Marais. Towards the end of the day, we decided to stop in and try some random pubs. The first one was a Mexican pub so we each had a drink and some nachos. Next, realizing how close we were to Notre Dame and decided to look for a place towards the Latin Quarter and ended up in having a drink in a pub from a table near the window where you could see Notre Dame(forever an obsession of mine). Finally, we ended up in another Spanish pub in the Latin Quarter.

Doing things like this is definitely making it feel more like I'm actually living here, and not just on a vacation. All of the touristy spots are well worth the trip, but just purely exploring and seeing what you stumble upon is part of the adventure.

Today has been a good day mood and homesick wise. I miss my family, but I really feel like I'm settling in here. I told myself over and over before coming here that the first month would be the hardest. I think I was right.

-Kelsey