July 9, 2014
Today is day number four of seven in the Capital of
France: Paris. As I think of my expectations of what Paris would be like, this
is exceeding all of them. I reflect on today and realize that I appreciate the
fact that I have a car, a driver’s license, and free will to go and come as I
very well please. The day began slow because it was not supposed to rain,
however, it did. I was prepared for rain as Dr. Shanklin explained in
orientation that it could start raining on the drop of a dime or even while it
was still suspended in the middle of the air.
Rain is not a bad thing. Here in Paris the people
have not stopped and I have not heard any grumbling about it either. We the academic
tourist, on the other hand, have had enough. Anyway, Tao, Tjaya, and I began
our journey today looking for sports stores for Tao, a radio station for Tjaya,
and Perfume/Cosmetic stores for me to do research for our papers.
First things first, the traffic here is terrible,
but no worries, we took the subway and made it to our destination just fine. It
is amazing I have never taken the city bus in Nashville, yet I have been on the
subway every day since I have been in Paris. This proves to me that I can do
anything that I put my mind to do. The secret to riding the subway here is to
know which direction you need to go and get on the correct number line of the
train to get you there. It was frightening at first, but I trusted God and Tao
to see me through. Yes, Tao was instrumental in navigating the subway. We
ventured back to the Musee Du Louvre so that we could scout out businesses that
fit the criteria we needed to get our work complete.
This is a process that is taking time because one,
we have to map our route out so that we don’t waste time back tracking or
overlooking stores that are in the immediate area. Paris is known for having
top fashions and perfume aromas that are sweet to the snout. Today I found out
that it also is the home of SkyRock radio station. This is a station that touts
itself as a premier rap station. If you want to visit its website it is www.skyrock.com I plan to log on tonight to see
if they are true to what they say: premier. I can say this; they had photos of
the rapper 50 Cents, Alicia Keys, and Common plus many others on their walls
advertising the fact that they are in the music business.
To move on through the day, we hustled through the
streets of Paris searching for perfume stores and Nike or Adidas stores for Tao
and me to get information pertinent to our causes. We ran in and out of the
rain, happy as can be. Notice I did not say happy and gay. Speaking of gay, we
had a conversation today about how the world is changing. The world view of
homosexuality is increasingly shifting. We all need to realize that it does not
matter what sexual orientation a person is, but it matters how you treat your fellow
man. Enough of that!
On to one of the highlights of the day: falafel. Dr.
V told us about chickpeas and how they made the falafel. Ironically, none of us
even ate what the restaurant is famous for, but all of us had pita sandwiches.
Dr. V was oh so excited about the FIFA World Cup. He hopes that the Dutch wins
the game tonight so that when we arrive in Amsterdam we can see the final while
in the capital of Holland. If the Argentineans win then the game will be held
on Saturday with no hoopla for us to enjoy while in Holland. Last night the
Germans skunked Brazil 7 – 1 and pushed them on to the finals. I know nothing
about soccer, but I love the excitement of the hostel and am eager to see how
it ends tonight.
