First day in Paris - Success!

“I’m tipsy, drenched in sweat, and I can’t hear out of my left ear. I LOVE PARIS!” – Moi, a midi aujourd’hui.

Je suis ici! The four of us—Julia, Michael, Sawyer, and myself—made it in one piece. The nine-hour trip from Houston to Paris seemed to fly by (no pun intended). It wasn’t very comfortable, and that made it difficult to sleep even with Benadryl in my system, but hey, it got us from A to B, right? There were no complications at all, and we found our baggage claim and train terminal in no time. None of our bags got lost, and we made it to our hostel in Montmartre with little difficulty and no stress at all. Unfortunately, we arrived at our hostel around 10:30, and check-in started at 4 pm, so we stuffed our luggage into the luggage closet and headed off to explore Montmartre!

I very quickly discovered how to get in the best shape of your life: Visit Le Basilique du Sacre Coeur. Seriously. For those of you who have been, do you remember how many steps you climbed to get there (if you took the lift, you cheated)? It was probably a couple hundred at least. Mais mon dieu, the view was worth it. You could see all of Paris, including the Notre Dame and La Tour Eiffel. We explored a nearby tucked-away neighborhood of little shops and restaurants, managed to find one with reasonable prices, and killed a few hours eating lunch and sipping glasses of kir outside on the patio. There is nothing as pleasant and relaxing as sitting in a restaurant or café in Paris outside with friends. It’s cliché, I know, but gosh darn it, this cliché happens to be one of the more wonderful ones. The streets were quiet, very few tourists in sight, and the food and drink was delicious.

We explored the inside of Le Basilique du Sacre Coeur after lunch. I’m not much of a churchgoer myself, but if there were a church like this close to where I lived, I would certainly attend, even for purely aesthetic reasons. In fact, I think I will attend this Sunday, if not for just a little while. Cathedrals like that blow my mind, and I found myself dreaming of what it would be like to sing in such a space. I expect I’ll find out soon!

After Le Sacre Coeur, we ambled back down to the main streets of Montmartre. We window-shopped, bought some sorbet, and searched for pharmacies to give me a cure for my plugged up ear. Being deaf sure is uncomfortable! Hopefully it’ll clear up by tomorrow. By mid-afternoon, we were starting to wear down as the jet-lag started to kick in, but we still had hours before check-in. There are only so many souvenir shops you can pass by before it starts to get old. We decided instead to sit for a long while in a little shady grove and people-watch (or in my case, doze off) until our check-in. After fighting through the mountains of luggage that had piled up from the time we first got there, we made it to our room. Aside from being crammed into an average-sized bedroom with three bunk beds, it was pretty nice. It’s clean, which is what’s important.

After freshening up for a while, we all took a much-needed nap. Then we all got dolled up, had some fantastic Indian food, and headed back up to the Sacre Coeur area for a nice bottle of wine, gateau de pomme and crème brulee. It was so cool on the streets tonight, and the air was lightly perfumed with the scent of sweet Jasmine. We went back to the steps of the Sacre Coeur afterwards to sit on the steps and admire the view of the city. And now I am here, sitting in the no AC zone of my hostel – the only part with decent internet connection. Tomorrow, we hit inner Paris! Pictures to come. A demain!

Introduction To My Journey

So, this is it! I'm sitting alone in my room, my bags are packed and ready to go, and I'm practically trembling with excitement. I have been waiting for nearly a year for this trip, and I can hardly bear waiting another few hours. But in the midst of my excitement, here I am, starting a blog on my journey. This will probably be more convenient than sending out lots of email updates to everyone I know. I took my Tante Jeanine's advice, and I'm going to do my best to keep this blog up to date as much as possible while I am overseas this summer. I'm no poet or journalist, just a student keeping record of her adventures!

Let me start by stating my purpose of this trip. Of course I will be one of the millions of Americans who travel to France every year to support the French tourism economy. I'm spending my first five days of this trip in Paris just to sight-see. Afterwards, however, I am going to spend roughly two months in Périgueux to sing in an opera, "Orphée aux enfers" by Jacques Offenbach, and I am singing the role of Orpheus. The sponsor of this opera is the Franco-American Vocal Academy, headed by Professor William Lewis and his wife Frederique Added.

I will be leaving my home in Austin at 1 pm and land in Houston at 1:50. From Houston, I will leave at 3:40 and land at the Charles de Gaulle airport at 8:15 am, Paris time. I will be flying Continental airlines, and no matter what happens, I will be asleep through the entire flight (isn't Benadryl an amazing invention?).

I expect this experience will be a positive life-changing one, and goodness knows, I need it! It's been a difficult past few years for me. My immune system is, well, practically non-existent at this point, and therefore susceptible to a lot of unpleasantness. It'll be a challenge to get through this time overseas in one piece, but I'm not going to let my weakened body hold me back. Even now, I will be traveling with the after-effects of a nasty bout of bronchitis. A trick I learned is to take Affrin nasal spray before your flight so your sinuses don't explode. We'll see if that trick can pull me through again. I will be on the lookout for any French homemade remedies for various ailments. If you know of any, send them my way. I really don't care to know what's in it.

So with a bit of money, a moderate amount of luggage, a huge amount of medicine, and an open mind, I bid you all bonsoir as I await my arrival to the land of butter and wine. So long, USA! Paris, à bientôt!