Friday, July 15, 2016

Day 3: July 13, 2016

Today was a slightly slower day. We met up with Dr. V to really go over our syllabus in detail. There was a lot we had to talk about and go over, just for the sake of understanding. Yes, it is kind of rigorous, but it's the type of rigorous that makes you do more to get the best out of this experience, so I very much appreciate it! I'm hoping to gain knowledge that the average tourist doesn't, but in search of my own with a personal planned agenda. Even though it's only Wednesday, I feel like my time here has been so short. Before I arrived, I felt like I didn't have enough planned. And now that I'm here, I NEED MORE TIME!! The days seem to past so quickly. The interesting thing about Paris is that the amount of daylight is so long!! The sun comes up around 5:30AM-6:00AM, but doesn't go down until about 10:00PM, so it may seem like time is going by slower, but in reality, it's been a full day!We headed to Chatelet- Les Halles today to finally so some well needed shopping!!! Believe it or not, it's already the third day and I have yet to shop! The mall at Chatelet-Les Halles is called The Forum, and it's absolutely and overwhelming beautiful!!! It's four fabulous floors and every single store had a sale!!!! It's just that time of year in Paris! However, the time we had was short because we had to meet with Dr. V at the Counterfeit Museum. Our group had split up because I needed to shop around in the electronics store, computer problems, and the rest of my group went to Zara. The store I visited was called FNAC, and it had everything anyone could imagine, except a computer charger!! But it was still amazing. But, in the midst of looking, I lost track of time, and was already ten minutes late in order to meet Dr. V!!!
Since I've bee in Paris, navigating the trains and metro system hasn't been a problem in the least bit sense of the word, but at this moment, I never thought I would make it!! Something about the metro underground where every hallway looks the same and trying to read directions in French is harder than it sounds!!! Regardless, I made it just in time! Dr. V arrived just shortly after I did. We all marched on to the Counterfeit Museum and it was so cool!! Counterfeiting has a great many wasy of income and so many things have been counterfeited, it may cause you to sometimes to question the real thing. Either way, it was very interesting to see!!!

After we left, we headed to the CHAMPS-ELYSEE, which was just as beautiful in all it's glory and more than I ever expected!! It was amazing and I fell in love with it, as so many do! After, we headed back to the mall to do some real shopping and grabbed some pizza for dinner before heading back! It turned out to be a great day!