Casey's Semester Abroad in Europe

PARIS

Bonjour from Paris! I have been here 3 weeks exactly and have finally decided to get this blog going. I'm no longer keeping my Parisian adventures a secret :) So far I have had an amazing experience here. The weather has been a little aggravating though. When I arrived it was below freezing and snow was falling. That's how it was for the first week. We finally saw sun on our first excursion to the Champs-Elysee, which is equivalent to 5th Avenue in New York. It is always grey and rainy here which often deters Emily and I from exploring, but we manage to make the most of it.

Classes started a week after we arrived. I am taking Metaphysics (a branch of philosophy) and Religions of the World for my Theology credits. I have class Monday - Thursday from 8am-12pm. The mornings are rough... and the stingy breakfast doesn't make it any better. Parisian breakfasts consist of coffee, tea, orange juice, unsweetened cereal, a baguette and yogurt. No pancakes, bacon and eggs unfortunately.

Aside from breakfast we also are served dinner, which isn't too shabby. They have a select meal freshly made every night. I am happy I am not a picky eater, or else this could be a rough experience. We are served breakfast and dinner Monday- Thursday. The weekends allow us to venture out and try new things to eat. Emily (my best friend and roommate) and I have found a few great places. Our favorite place so far is a cute Italian Restaurant a block away from our campus.

The St John's Paris campus is located in a very nice part of town. It is more up-scale with its shopping, clientele and dining. It is fun to walk around but expensive on our wallets so we often walk a little further to find better deals. We found our go-to crepe stand just 10 minutes from campus...best crepes so far..... and trust me, we've tried a lot of places :)

My favorite places I have visited so far are Versailles, Disneyland Paris and Normandy. The Chateau de Versailles (The Palace of Versailles) is massive! It was built for King Louis XIV a long time ago. It was freezing when we went, snowing and all. Emily and I toughed it out and walked around outside in the gardens. The ponds were all frozen over! We made our way to a little restaurant on the premises and enjoyed the best coffee I have had yet.

Disneyland Paris was awesome. It was also snpwing there when we went but we didn't care at all. Me, Emily and our two other girl friends Sharron and Victoria went. Sharron and Victoria are from San Diego and Los Angeles so we definitely loved seeing the difference between Disneyland in Anaheim and the one in Paris. They had two parks. Walt Disney Studios..more like our California Adventure and then Disneyland. Disneyland Paris is actually celebrating their 20th anniversary so they had a special parade and decorations. It was a full day of Disney magic and adventure!

This is the Notre Dame Cathedral. Every Sunday we have a nun, part of the Daughters of Charity, take us to mass at a new location. One Sunday we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral.