Paris

So this has probably been one of the hardest entries for me to write. I'm not really sure why but I have put this off for weeks, refusing to even look at the pictures we took in Paris. So bear with me if this is not as detailed as it should be.

We arrived in Paris to Charles DeGaulle Airport around 6:30 pm from Prague and culture shock set in immediately. Just after we had gotten off the plane we were passed by three heavily armed men in camo uniforms. Mind you this was the day before the attacks and therefore this was normal procedure. After that initial shock wore off we set about trying to get a train to our hostel, which was around 5 minutes from the Louvre and found the customer service employees to be extremely rude and unhelpful. We finally managed to find our train and get near the hostel and decided to eat and then gather around to plan the next day.

Now to explain about our hostel, as many people didn't quite understand why they couldn't contact me the next day. Our hostel was in a beautiful old building a short 2-3 minute walk from the Louvre. You had to pay for wi-fi and after living abroad for so long, I've discovered that I can survive just fine without being hooked into the internet 24/7 and so chose not to purchase wi-fi. Alexis, Jayden and I all slept in girl's room on the 3rd floor while Darby and Jeff slept in the boys room next door.

So the next day we grabbed a map and planned out a route around Paris that would take us to all of the major sights we wanted to see, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre  Dame, and the Bastille. We decided the next day we would go see the Catacombs and Moulin Rouge. In total we walked around 17 miles that day seeing some of the most beautiful buildings and statues in the world.

Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower which is where I took a snapchat of myself  that didn't actually send to anyone until right before the attacks began. I had always heard that there are a great many Parisians who don't actually like the Eiffel Tower and found that to be the most ridiculous thing until I saw it close up during the daytime. It looks like scaffolding. I'm sure that's mean to say and props to the guy who built it for not caring what anyone said.

Scaffolding can be a monument if you make it big enough.

We stopped to eat lunch around the corner where I had my very first crepe. For all of the Texans, these are the French versions of pancakes and are lighter, and thinner than our pancakes. This was the main thing I wanted to do while in Paris and looked forward to sitting beside the Eiffel Tower and eating a crepe. Darby, the more adventurous of the group when it comes to food, had Escargot otherwise known as snails.

"No really! They're good!" -Darby (probably lying)

It was at this restaurant that one of the weirdest things I've experienced since I've been traveling happened. We were all sitting around talking when I finally voiced the odd feeling I'd had since we arrived. One of the others in the group agreed with me that something didn't quite feel right and we both expressed our desire to leave Paris. The rest of our group thought we were crazy, we had just arrived in Paris! But for some reason I couldn't shake the feeling about this place I had been so excited to visit in the weeks leading up to our trip. I remember expressing to people before I left how excited I was about Paris, even choosing to stay and extra night there rather than Prague and yet when we got there all I wanted to do was leave.

We continued our path, parting with Jayden who went to visit a family friend, and made our ridiculously long journey around the city. One of the suggestions I had gotten before the trip was to take a night tour of Paris and so as we neared our hostel that night we found a tourist agency and booked the tour for 7:30 that night. 

Now remember when I said that during the day the Eiffel Tower isn't much to look at? The exact opposite is true at night. I had never seen a more beautiful sight in my life as we pulled up and saw the lights begin to twinkle as they to every hour for five minutes. The night tour was amazing and is recommended for anyone who goes to Paris although be aware, it is very cold as the top is open.

After arriving back at the hostel around 9:30 pm, we considered going back out and watching the France vs. Germany game at a bar or even just walking around a bit more but decided to conserve our energy so we could enjoy the next day. This was the exact time that two bombs exploded at the Stade de France around 7 miles from our hostel. 

There were no televisions in our hostel and as such no news of the attacks reached Alexis and I in our room, so we fell asleep around 10 pm. The two of us were woken up multiple times during the night by sirens and noise from the lobby of the hostel but didn't think too much of it and ignored in until the next morning when one of the girls in the room began to let us in on what had happened. 

Around 10:30 pm La Petit Cambodge a restaurant about 2 miles away from our hostel was attacked by gunmen who shot and killed 15 people who had simply wanted to go out for dinner on a saturday night. 

At 11 pm a shooting was reported at the Bataclan concert hall around 1.5 miles from our hostel where the Eagles of Death Metal were performing a concert. The gunmen stormed the concert hall, killing people and taking hostages.

By midnight the President of France had declared a state of emergency and enforced a curfew, causing many to seek shelter in buildings and homes, unable to return to their own homes. 

By the time I woke up the next morning, the Paris I had seen the day before had changed forever. In the course of one night evil had permeated the city and attempted to destroy all that was good. It wasn't until we got on twitter that we saw just how unsuccesful they had been. People all over Paris were offering their homes to those who were displaced or could not return home that night. We learned that someone had opened their window next to the Bataclan and helped people escape the shooting. We learned that a man carried two young women down to the basement after they had been injured during one of the restaurant shootings. Taxis turned off their meters, getting people home safely that night.  

Darby and Jeff had stayed up most of the night, keeping in touch with what was happening outside as well as our worried families and friends. They chose not to wake us and I couldn't be more thankful. That day was spent in the lobby of the hostel, too scared to move about the city for anything more than going to get food. This led to a lot of boredom.

The new fashionable headwear. 3 hours into our 10 hour campout.

That day I was flooded with facebook messages, texts, and facetimes and realized how thankful I am for everyone in my life who cared enough to contact me. The CAPA program was wonderful, finding us a hotel near our airport in the hopes that our flight would leave on schedule the next morning and our school was in touch with us from the moment they heard about what happened and continued to check on us until we had landed safely in Ireland. 

When you get the email that Howard Payne sent out telling all of the students that you are safe in Paris, you get some school pride.
"Ahhhhh STING'EM!"

The rest of our trip was uneventful although the plane ride was a bit nerve racking. Needless to say we had never been more thankful to be in Ireland in our entire lives. Adjusting after what happened has been easier than I thought it would be, mostly because we try not to talk about it. This probably isn't healing the pain and fear we experienced but it's the best we can do right now. 

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”  -Mahatma Gandhi